There were reports of Smith skating, but this is the first news I've seen of him back at practice in a non-contact jersey. Pashelka, Peng, and Max Miller have posted videos of Smith skating around and even shooting the puck, but noted that he did not take part in other drills such as line rushes.
I'm not expecting a conditioning stint. Those are pretty uncommon for top players unless they've been out for a long time and/or had a very serious injury.
It'll probably be 6 weeks and I don't know if I qualify him as a "top player" yet so much as a young kid on the cusp of stardom. Throwing him back out there would be foolish and depending on when he's actually expected to return it may not even make sense considering the team is on break for almost 3 weeks come early Feb.
Doubt it imo, it wasnt a major injury and Grier has shown in the past conditioning stints are more used (in fact i cant think of any that werent like this) for a "he cant technically play in the ahl but we want him to".
Iorios injury (if he truly had one) was like this and Misas was like this and even then his injury was worse
![[Curtis Pashelka] Will Smith is on the ice as well today in an orange non-contact jersey. #SJSharks](https://i.redd.it/wxyzss74udcg1.jpeg){kind=link}
Progress! Hopefully back in the lineup within the next few games.
I just hope his teammates respect the jersey and dont talk to him
That took me a sec, lol.
There were reports of Smith skating, but this is the first news I've seen of him back at practice in a non-contact jersey. Pashelka, Peng, and Max Miller have posted videos of Smith skating around and even shooting the puck, but noted that he did not take part in other drills such as line rushes.
Imagine Smith will be back sometime next week.
Watching the clips from Sheng, Curtis, and Max Miller - Will and Mack are always together on the ice.
https://xcancel.com/Sheng_Peng/status/2009717619868479860#m
https://xcancel.com/CurtisPashelka/status/2009712906859098376#m
Mack looks so happy to have his bestie back
https://preview.redd.it/2ssienttaecg1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d1990f70d56411a05333fbe35d757bdeeb77876e
Their friendship bracelets are so cute
https://i.redd.it/l8m5png9ydcg1.gif
Great news! Will really be curious how the lines will play out with Misa and Smith and Kurashev back in the fold. Good problem to have.
Smith-Mack-Kurashev Cherny-Misa-Eklund ?
That’s the dream top 6 for me with some Graf sprinkled up and down, but I don’t know if Misa is ready to center a line
I don't see how you separate Mack and Cherny at this point. I think we all want to see Cherny-Mack-Will.
Misa was taking shifts on the third line with a mix of Gaudette, Skinner, and Graf.
I’d really love to see one game with this healthy lineup (kept Goodrow in to be realistic):
72-71-2
51-77-92
96-21-73
23-81-84
I was hoping he'd be back soon! Especially with Bedard back, since they got injured around the same time
Best news I've heard all week
The prince is back!
Klingy was also first on the ice today. Hoping he joins back in the lineup soon
Technically speaking, we can say that this news really slaps!
I used to pray for times like these
Getting him back healthy and hopefully a motivated/angry Misa too should be pretty cool.
https://i.redd.it/96amnki0tecg1.gif
Getting him back during this stretch would be huge. Obviously though he shouldn’t be back until he is 100%. Not 90, not 95.
I'd be surprised if he doesn't get a conditioning stint with the Cuda first.
I'm not expecting a conditioning stint. Those are pretty uncommon for top players unless they've been out for a long time and/or had a very serious injury.
It'll probably be 6 weeks and I don't know if I qualify him as a "top player" yet so much as a young kid on the cusp of stardom. Throwing him back out there would be foolish and depending on when he's actually expected to return it may not even make sense considering the team is on break for almost 3 weeks come early Feb.
We'll see, it's not impossible depending on how "ready" the front office thinks Smith is.
Doubt it imo, it wasnt a major injury and Grier has shown in the past conditioning stints are more used (in fact i cant think of any that werent like this) for a "he cant technically play in the ahl but we want him to".
Iorios injury (if he truly had one) was like this and Misas was like this and even then his injury was worse
Downvoting a conditioning stint is peak fanboy Shark delusions.