SAN JOSE – Collin Graf carried two messages with him as he returned to the San Jose Sharks lineup this week after a brief spell in the AHL.
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One was from the Sharks’ coaching staff. The other was from his dad, who got in touch with his son sometime before the Sharks played the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday at SAP Center.
“I was fortunate enough for my parents to be here,” said Graf, whose family is from Massachusetts. “My dad actually called me when he landed, and he was like, ‘If I flew all the way out here, you better score.’”
Graf took it to heart, scoring his first NHL goal in the second period by streaking up the wing and firing a shot past Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault.
“I made sure his trip out here was worth the money,” Graf added with a laugh.
Graf’s parents, Robert and Terri, didn’t see an all-too-rare Sharks win, though, as San Jose, after a turnover, allowed a shorthanded goal to Canadiens forward Joel Armia with 4:04 left in regulation time in a 4-3 loss, which began a three-game homestand that continues Thursday night against the Vancouver Canucks.
Macklin Celebrini and Tyler Toffoli each had a goal and an assist for the Sharks, who lost for the eighth time in the last nine games.
Although the game was an improvement over the effort the Sharks’ displayed in their 6-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken last Thursday, it still marked the 17th time this season that they’ve lost by one goal, as they remained in 32nd and last place in the NHL’s overall standings.
“That’s part of the learning we need to do,” Celebrini said. “We’ve had a couple of those this year, and we just need to find a way to win. It’s not good enough to just come close anymore. We’ve done it enough, where we just need to win.”
“I understand working hard and coming close to a win,” Toffoli said, “but at the end of the day, you lose games, and that’s not good enough, in my opinion.”
Tuesday’s loss came three days after the Sharks began an annual tradition: a pre-trade deadline selloff of pending unrestricted free agents.
San Jose sent No. 1 center Mikael Granlund and top-pair defenseman Cody Ceci to the Dallas Stars for two 2025 draft picks, including a first-rounder.
Those picks are far from helping the present-day Sharks, who will likely make more deals before the March 7 deadline and thereby proceed with some less experienced players.
San Jose has five other pending UFAs: forwards Luke Kunin and Nico Sturm, defenseman Jan Rutta, and goalies Vitek Vanecek and Alexandar Georgiev, who finished with 16 saves Tuesday.
“Obviously, when we trade key players from our team, things are going to change a little bit,” Toffoli said. “But it’s an opportunity for guys to step up. I’ve been in the league long enough when I’m on a playoff team, and we’re playing teams that are calling guys up, and guys are getting really good opportunities, they work (hard), and they’re really hard to play against.
“That’s what we’re going to have to do here.”
Graf was up with the Sharks from Dec. 31 to Jan. 24. He acquitted himself well defensively, but the message from Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky was that he needed to be more assertive on offense, especially after he had 30 points in 33 games with the Barracuda this season.
“Play with the puck,” Warsofsky said he told Graf. “I think he’s got a knack for creating offense and playing with the puck. He did that (at Quinnipiac), so it takes time to get comfortable doing it. We saw that with (Will Smith). So go down there and have good details, make sure your pace is high, and then when you get the puck on your stick, try to make some plays.”
With that in mind, Tuesday will be a day that Graf will never forget, especially considering the sacrifices his parents made for him as a child to help him fulfill his dream of playing in the NHL. He, in particular, spent a lot of time with his dad.
“He drives me to practice for all those years when I couldn’t drive, and he drives me back,” Graf said. “And then, as a young kid, games are not at good times. On the weekend, it’s 8 a.m., and he’s worked a hard, long week. He wakes up at 6 a.m. and makes sure I have breakfast. He’s making sure that everything’s ready for little 10-12-year-old me and making sure that I can go out there and keep getting better at hockey.
“Those are just a couple of things I can think about, and then obviously, he helped me find skills coaches and stuff like that as a kid. It’s great that I was able to get a goal and give him the puck.”
It likely won’t be Graf’s last NHL goal, particularly if he keeps listening to his coaches — and his dad.
“I got it, and I was just thinking, ‘I have to shoot this puck,’” Graf said. “I told (Kunin) sorry after, but he was like, ‘It’s good.’ That was about it. I just wanted to shoot.”
