SAN JOSE – Center Michael Misa and defenseman Sam Dickinson were naturally both elated to be on the San Jose Sharks’ roster to begin the regular season.

Now it’s a matter of when they’ll make their NHL debuts, and if they stick around all year, how often will they play?

Misa, 18, and Dickinson, 19, each found out they had cracked the Sharks’ season-opening 23-man roster on Monday and went through their first practices as NHL players on Tuesday. Still, there is no guarantee they’ll play against the Vegas Golden Knights in Thursday’s season-opener, which begins a three-game homestand.

Dickinson was on the fourth defense pair Tuesday with Vincent Desharnais, and Misa was left out of the Sharks’ initial line rushes. The Sharks had Macklin Celebrini, Alexander Wennberg, Ty Dellandrea, and Adam Gaudette as their four centers in Thursday’s practice, with Misa later replacing Gaudette on the fourth line that had wingers Barclay Goodrow and Ryan Reaves, a line Misa would not be with in a game.

Typically, such patterns indicate who dresses for the next game, but Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky cautioned not to read too much into Tuesday’s practice.

“Just kind of getting some different looks at some guys,” Warsofsky said.

Whatever happens, arriving at this point has been a thrill for both teenage prospects.

From the moment he was selected No. 2 overall at June’s NHL Draft in Los Angeles, Misa, a Memorial Cup champion in 2024 and the CHL’s leading scorer last season, said he was focused on playing in the NHL this fall and not thinking about going to the NCAA like other first-round picks in his draft class.

“That was always the plan,” Misa said inside his new locker stall at Sharks Ice in San Jose, “to sign here and try and make the team right away.”

Misa excelled at the Rookie Faceoff last month in Anaheim, and although he didn’t have a point in four preseason games, he had good moments, Warsofsky said. Dickinson had two assists in five preseason games, occasionally logging big minutes as the Sharks’ coaching staff felt he showed tremendous growth from his draft year until now.

“I was trying to get into as many pro habits as I could last year, doing the right things on the ice,” said Dickinson, who was drafted 11th overall by the Sharks last year. “Obviously, there are a lot of things to feel out and understand what’s going to work here compared to what worked before. But I think I’ve done a pretty good job sort of going with the flow, just learning by trial, learning by practice.”

With the Sharks not expected to make a serious run at a playoff spot this season, continuing to develop their top young players must be among their top priorities. Determining the best approach for Misa and Dickinson, who may not be in the lineup every night, is a work in progress.

“There’s no magic stamp. There’s no magic button,” Warsofsky said of both players’ development.

“We as an organization have a good idea of how we want to do things. We’ve seen it from the Collin Grafs and the (Shakir) Mukhamadullins. We’re starting to develop some players, but I think every player is on a different plan.”

The Sharks also had two teenagers make the team as first-year professionals last season in Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, who were both put on development plans by the Sharks after each played one full season in the NCAA. Misa and Dickinson come from the Ontario Hockey League, where they regularly played roughly twice as many games as the typical college player does.

“I think they’re on (slightly) different plans,” Warsofsky said of Misa and Dickinson compared to Celebrini and Smith. “But we’ve learned a lot from going through that with two 18- and 19-year-olds, and we have a good idea of how we want to approach it. But we’re going to take it day by day. We really are.”

The Sharks can send Misa and/or Dickinson back to the OHL at any time this season, and if they remain in the NHL, there’s a chance both will be released to play at the IIHF World Junior Championship in Minnesota in December. If they play 10 or more NHL games, their entry-level contracts will begin.

“It’s hard to (say exactly), ‘Hey, they’ve got to do this to stay,’” Warsofsky said. “They’re each putting a lot of work into it, a lot of video, a lot of one-on-one meetings, a lot of work on ice, a lot of work off the ice, in the gym. So we’ll take it day by day, and when they get in there and they show that they’re ready to rock, then we’ll keep them in there and they’ll keep going. But we’ll just (start) with practice (Wednesday) and see how it shakes out.”

CAPTAIN ANNOUNCEMENT COMING

Warsofsky said the Sharks will announce their leadership group before Thursday’s season opener, but wouldn’t confirm if the team would have a captain this year.

The Sharks have some candidates for the captain role, notably Tyler Toffoli and center Macklin Celebrini. Toffoli is entering his 14th NHL season, his second with the Sharks, and is signed through the 2027-28 season. Celebrini, 19, is entering his second NHL season and figures to be a cornerstone of the Sharks franchise for years to come.

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Logan Couture served as the Sharks’ captain from 2019 to 2025 but announced in April that his playing days were over due to a chronic groin/pelvic area injury. With Couture unavailable to play last season, the Sharks had several alternate captains, including Mario Ferraro, Toffoli, Luke Kunin, Barclay Goodrow, and Mikael Granlund. After Kunin and Granlund were traded, Alexander Wennberg was named an alternate.

ROSTER NOTES

The Sharks placed Couture and defenseman Ryan Ellis on injured reserve. They designated forward Egor Afanasyev, defensemen Lucas Carlsson and Jack Thompson, and goalie Carey Price as injured non-roster players.

Thompson and Afanasyev were both injured in Friday’s preseason game against the Golden Knights and are considered day-to-day with lower-body injuries, Warsofsky said. Unless the Sharks create room for them on their roster, Afanasyev and Thompson will need to go on waivers once they are healthy.

Price, acquired last month from the Montreal Canadiens, and Ellis, acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday, are also not expected to play again.