Smith activated as Kostin goes on the IR

SHARKS

Sharks center Will Smith returned to the active roster on Saturday after missing the previous three games. NICK WASS — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Curtis Pashelka

Bay Area News Group

SAN JOSE >> The Sharks replaced one forward with another on their injured reserve list Saturday, activating Will Smith after he missed over a week while shelving Klim Kostin for at least two games.

Smith, who sustained an upper-body injury against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Dec. 5, played Saturday as the Sharks faced the Utah Hockey Club to start a three-game homestand.

Kostin left Thursday’s game with St. Louis late in the second period with an upper-body injury after he hit Blues forward Brayden Schenn and got into a skirmish with Dylan Holloway.

Kostin will now have to miss the rest of the homestand, as the Sharks next play the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday and the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. The soonest Kostin can be activated is Dec. 20, a day before the Sharks play the Edmonton Oilers, one of his former teams.

Before Saturday, Kostin had dressed for 13 of the last 14 games and played some of his best hockey of the season.

After being a healthy scratch for eight straight games from Oct. 29 to Nov. 14, Kostin responded with four points in eight games to finish November. Although he didn’t have a point in five games this month, his ice time increased from around 10 minutes per game to over 13 minutes as he regained some of coach Ryan Warsofsky’s trust.

Smith had missed the last three games after he was banged up in Tampa Bay. He didn’t practice the next day and was placed on IR on Dec. 10 when the Sharks activated Barclay Goodrow.

Smith had five goals and six assists in 24 games this season before Saturday. In his last six games before his injury, Smith had three goals and four assists and averaged close to 14 minutes in ice time.

Saturday morning, Smith skated on a line with Goodrow and Alexander Wennberg.

VLASIC’S STATUS >> Marc-Edouard Vlasic skated again Saturday morning and is close to a return, Warsofsky said, although it remained unclear when the veteran defenseman would be activated.

Vlasic, who has been out since the start of training camp in October with an upper body, has been skating regularly with the Sharks for most of this month.

“He’s getting close,” Warsofsky said. “The road trip was probably really successful for him as far as getting up to speed. So we’ll get through tonight and kind of circle back.”

Defenseman Henry Thrun was scratched for the third time in five games on Saturday, as Shakir Mukhamadullin, recalled from the Barracuda of the AHL on Tuesday, dressed for the second straight game.

Mukhamadullin had 15:40 of ice time against St. Louis and will again play with veteran Jan Rutta, as the Sharks kept their defense pairs intact to start Saturday’s game.

“I thought he was really calm,” Warsofsky said of Mukhamadullin’s game in St. Louis. “I’d like to see him assert himself defensively a little bit more. He’s got more time in with the puck than he thinks, and that’s all to be expected. He hasn’t played in the National Hockey League (this season), so that’s something we discussed this morning with him.

“He has more time with pucks and he can make a better decision with it. But I think he’s going to get more and more comfortable as he plays and gets up to speed.”