The San Jose Sharks love to create competition for their training camp, and that is no different for 2025.

With all the off-season moves likely done, all eyes can shift toward who will make the Sharks’ opening night roster. Sam Dickinson appears to be headed toward an NHL spot, while Michael Misa’s future remains unknown; however, one position is being overlooked: the wing.

The Sharks have added a ton on the wing. Jeff Skinner projects to get a chance in the top-six forwards, and as a veteran, he deserves that opportunity. However, players like Collin Graf, Carl Grundstrom, Egor Afanasyev, Cam Lund, Igor Chernyshov, and others will find it challenging to secure an NHL spot.

GM Mike Grier needed to bring in proven veterans to the San Jose Sharks roster to make his team more competitive. While he’s on record saying he won’t block a young player’s path to the NHL, he certainly isn’t making it easy.

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While adding wingers like Adam Gaudette, Philipp Kurashev, and Ryan Reaves are nice additions, the top prospects will need to prove they can play with the big club.

All this should be seen as a good thing. Making the NHL shouldn’t be a shoo-in for anyone, not even Macklin Celebrini. Despite Celebrini making the team out of training camp in 2024, he still needed to show he could play. It wasn’t a question if he could or not once he hit the ice.

For borderline wing prospects like Quentin Musty, Ethan Cardwell, Graf, and especially Afanasyev, a perfect training camp might be needed to make the NHL. Graf’s NHL time last season should give him a slight upper hand heading into camp.

The curious case of Afanasyev

One of the most overlooked training camp bubble players could be San Jose Sharks prospect Egor Afanasyev. Acquired in a trade with the Nashville Predators for former first-round pick Ozzy Wiesblatt, Afanasyev left North America last season for Russia.

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This summer, Grier was able to convince the 24-year-old to leave the KHL and return to America. The Russian Winger has played 19 career NHL games and has one goal.

If he doesn’t make the NHL out of Sharks training camp, reporting to the San Jose Barracuda could be an interesting watch.

The Sharks likely wouldn’t have attempted to sign the prospect to a contract if he wasn’t okay with not being sent down at any point. There is no way to know how Grier managed to get Afanasyev to leave the KHL after just one year, but a promising NHL career could be a primary reason.

Playing in North America isn’t unfamiliar for Afanasyev either. He played in the USHL during his draft year and in the OHL the following year. During the 19-20 season with the Windsor Spitfires, the San Jose Sharks prospect had 31 goals and 36 assists in 62 games.

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The 2019 second-round pick has been skating with the 2024 No. 2 overall pick, Artyom Levshunov, this summer.

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