The Sharks surprisingly had to play without an All-Star on Wednesday night.
Defenseman Erik Karlsson missed San Jose's season opener against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena because of a "personal matter," the team announced shortly before puck drop.
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SIGN UP HERE Sharks coach Peter DeBoer told NBCSN analyst Pierre McGuire during a second-period break that he didn't know about Karlsson missing the game until about an hour before puck drop, and called it "a tough spot" for the team.
Karlsson returned to the Sharks this summer after signing an eight-year contract worth $92 million, according to Cap Friendly. The two-time Norris Trophy winner came to San Jose in a trade from the Ottawa Senators last September, and scored 42 points (three goals, 39 assists) in 53 regular-season games.
Recurring groin injuries caused Karlsson to miss 27 games down the stretch, and those ultimately proved to be too much to bear in the Stanley Cup playoffs, too, as he sat out San Jose's season-ending loss to the St. Louis Blues in Game 6 of the Western Conference final.
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With Karlsson out of the lineup, the Sharks were down some major offensive firepower in their season opener. Winger Evander Kane served the first of a three-game suspension, and San Jose played its first game following the offseason departures of Joe Pavelski, Joonas Donskoi and Gustav Nyquist, among others.
Karlsson, Kane, Pavelski, Donskoi and Nyquist combined to score 91 of the Sharks' franchise-record 289 goals in 2018-19.
