San Jose's players skate onto the ice through a giant shark's-mouth tunnel at SAP Center, one of the NHL's most distinctive pregame entrances since the franchise's 1991 arrival. The Sharks reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2016 behind captain Joe Pavelski and longtime center Joe Thornton, though a championship has remained elusive. Teal has represented the club's identity since its founding season.
As of Nov 2, 2026, here are the most recently projected forward lines, defense pairings and power-play units for the San Jose Sharks. On the top line, the San Jose Sharks are currently projected to run left wing Tyler Toffoli, center Macklin Celebrini and right wing Will Smith together, a trio expected to log the heaviest 5-on-5 minutes on the roster, though without last change on the road it does not always draw the other team's top shutdown pairing. On the blue line, the top pairing is Sam Dickinson and Jacob Trouba, who typically log the heaviest 5-on-5 minutes on the back end and face the toughest zone starts, though the team's primary penalty-kill pairing is not always the same duo. On the power play, the PP1 unit runs Mason Marchment, Ivar Stenberg, Tyler Toffoli, Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, the unit most teams send out first on a power play, though a delayed-penalty scramble already in progress or a late matchup change can put a different five over the boards. These combinations reflect pre-game reporting rather than real-time tracking, and can change between games and even between periods, so check the today's lines tool for the most current deployment before puck drop.
| # | Player | Off | Def | PP | PK | OVR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Macklin Celebrini | 74 | 25 | 69 | 0 | 95 |
| 2 | Erik Karlsson | 78 | 34 | 93 | 57 | 92 |
| 3 | Timo Meier | 76 | 43 | 79 | 0 | 91 |
| 4 | Tomas Hertl | 54 | 66 | 96 | 50 | 88 |
| 5 | Tyler Toffoli | 62 | 46 | 59 | 0 | 84 |
As of Nov 2, 2026, the most recently projected lineup for the San Jose Sharks includes 4 forward lines, 3 defense pairings and 2 power-play units, updated whenever a new pre-game lineup is reported.
As of Nov 2, 2026, the top line projected for the San Jose Sharks is left wing Tyler Toffoli, center Macklin Celebrini and right wing Will Smith.
These projected lines are drawn from Daily Faceoff's pre-game reporting, typically beat writers covering morning skates and warmups before puck drop. They reflect the coaching staff's intended deployment rather than shift-by-shift tracking collected once a game is already underway, and can still shift between a morning skate and the opening faceoff.
Lines can change from game to game, and sometimes within a single game, as a coaching staff reacts to matchups, injuries, scoring droughts or chemistry. Check back before each San Jose Sharks game for the latest projected combinations, or browse the historical lines archive to see how often this team's lines have shifted recently.
