WASHINGTON, D.C. — Will Smith will not return against the Washington Capitals.

Smith participated in a full-contact practice on Wednesday, his second in a row.

“Step in the right direction,” San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said afterwards.

Typically, when a player has been out for as long as Smith has been — since Dec. 13 with an upper-body injury — you want to see him get through at least a couple full-contact practices before playing him.

So will Smith be available at the Detroit Red Wings on Friday?

“I would have to wait and see and check in how today went,” Warsofsky said. “He’s pretty close.”

This is how the San Jose Sharks lined up in DC today:

Graf-Celebrini-Chernyshov
Eklund-Wennberg-Toffoli
Regenda-Misa-Gaudette
Goodrow-Ostapchuk-Reaves

Orlov-Klingberg
Ferraro-Liljegren
Dickinson-Iorio

Here’s how power play groups looked:

Klingberg-Celebrini-Eklund-Toffoli-Wennberg
Orlov-Misa-Chernyshov-Gaudette-Regenda

Jeff Skinner is likely out. Like Ryan Reaves last Sunday, this doesn’t appear to be a condemnation of Skinner’s play, it’s more a reflection of the San Jose Sharks’ increasing depth up front, and the recent return of top prospect Michael Misa.

“Misa’s got to play, you know? We got to see what we got in him. We got to give him some rope to learn and continue to improve his game,” Warsofsky said. “We [have to] balance, of course, we want to continue to win and push and stay in this [playoff] spot, but we also have to develop some players here.”

Defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin (upper-body) and Vincent Desharnais (upper-body), who made the road trip, are questionable for tomorrow.