For the first time in Sharks training camp, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Yaroslav Askarov, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic have skated, albeit on their own, coach Ryan Warsofsky said.
Vlasic has an upper-body injury, while Mukhamadullin and Askarov are nursing lower-body injuries.
“There’s a plan in place for all those guys to skate on their own and then implement them back into practice,” Warsofsky said last Thursday.
So that’s the next step for this trio, who have been hurt since the beginning of San Jose’s training camp — can they return to practice?
It will be a welcome sight, because Askarov, Mukhamadullin, and Vlasic all are key players on the Sharks’ depth chart.
Askarov, arguably the world’s best goaltending prospect, expected to push veterans Mackenzie Blackwood and Vitek Vanecek for a job on the big club.