Surging Sharks set to begin road trip with scoring winger nearing return

SAN JOSE – Forward William Eklund appears set to return from a lower-body injury this week as the resurgent San Jose Sharks begin a three-game road trip on Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul.

Eklund was the Sharks’ second-leading scorer through the first 12 games of the season. But he was bothered by an injury for about a week before he finally had to sit out the team’s game against the Detroit Red Wings on Nov. 2. Eklund had to miss the last four games and was placed on injured reserve on Friday, but he is eligible to return to face the Wild as San Jose looks to extend its winning streak to four games.

Coach Ryan Warsofsky said the Sharks will finalize a decision on whether to activate Eklund from injured reserve after the 23-year-old forward takes part in the team’s morning skate on Tuesday.

Before he had to miss time, Eklund was arguably playing some of the best hockey of his NHL career with four goals and five assists in six games. Eklund, Alexander Wennberg and Philipp Kurashev had formed an effective second line.

Eklund was reunited with Wennberg and Kurashev on Monday as the Sharks held a brief practice before their flight to the Twin Cities. Eklund is now the Sharks’ third-leading scorer with 11 points, trailing only Macklin Celebrini (24 points) and Will Smith (16 points).

The Sharks went 3-0-1 without Eklund as they moved to within one point of a playoff spot before Monday’s games. Celebrini and Smith did their part to make up for Eklund’s absence, combining for five goals and seven assists during that time.

The Sharks are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games after a 0-4-2 start. They haven’t won four straight games since the start of the 2021-22 season.

LEDDY ACTIVATED

The Sharks activated defenseman Nick Leddy off IR on Monday, but it remained unclear as to whether he’ll play against the Wild.

Leddy hasn’t played since he sustained an upper-body injury in the Sharks’ Oct. 23 game against the New York Rangers, but has been a regular participant in recent practices. Monday, Leddy was paired with Timothy Liljegren, and Dmitry Orlov skated with Shakir Mukhamadullin as the Sharks adjusted their defense pairs. Orlov and Liljegren had formed the Sharks’ top pair for most of the last two weeks.

Asked if Liljegren could be a healthy scratch Tuesday, Warsofsky said,  “We’ll see. We just wanted to give it a look today with our pairs. We’ll get to (Tuesday), and we’ll figure it out.”

With Leddy off IR, the Sharks, as of early Monday afternoon, had 23 players on their active roster. If they want to activate Eklund, they’ll have to clear a roster spot for him.

TOFFOLI’S STATUS

Tyler Toffoli is dealing with an upper-body injury and did not practice on Monday. Still, Warsofsky said that the team is “pretty confident” the veteran winger will play against the Wild.

Warsofsky said Toffoli has been dealing with the injury for a little under a week. Still, after a lukewarm offensive start to the season, Toffoli has seven points in his last eight games as he’s returned to the top line alongside Smith and Celebrini. Six of those points have come at even strength as the Sharks’ power play enters Tuesday on an ice-cold 1-for-21 stretch.

Toffoli, 33, entered this week with five goals and five assists in 16 games.