More Brutal News For Sharks As Barabanov Timeline Announced

Winless in nine games to start the season, things just got worse for the San Jose Sharks, who have revealed that they will be without top-six forward Alexander Barabanov for as much as six weeks.

Barabanov will miss 4-6 weeks, per Quinn #SJSharks

— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) October 31, 2023

We learned last week that the Russian winger would miss multiple weeks with a broken finger suffered after getting hit with a hard shot, and head coach David Quinn called it "week to week" at the time. But now the timeline has been defined as four to six weeks. The good news is that he won't need surgery for the digit to heal.

Before his injury, Barabanov had been playing on the Sharks' top line with Anthony Duclair and Tomas Hertl, though he's been shutout on the scoresheet thus far this season in six games. He's been averaging 16:21 minutes per night. 

The 29-year-old had his best offensive season last year for San Jose, notching 47 points (15 goals, 32 assists) in 68 games. 

Photo: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports