On November 10, 2026, the San Jose Sharks sat 20th in the National Hockey League with a 20.3 percent success rate on the power play, prompting questions about personnel choices on the man advantage.
The team’s power play units have shifted since opening night. Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Alex Wennberg, and Ivar Stenberg have remained the core constants on the top unit.
Young forward Michael Misa has played fewer minutes during critical game moments, missing the final 4:45 of a game against the Dallas Stars on November 7. Head coach Ryan Warsofsky explained that every player is assigned a specific role based on what the coaching staff believes fits them best.
“Mack and Smitty that can make plays. Sherwood can hunt down pucks. Mush is a big guy that’s scored a lot around the net in this league. Stenny, we’ve seen the poise and the patience on the half-wall,” Warsofsky said, according to San Jose Hockey Now.
Celebrini played a personal-high 28:05 against Dallas.
Warsofsky said that the franchise player is someone the team wants on the ice as frequently as possible.
“Not saying Mies can’t do it or other guys can’t do it. Those are the guys that we’re going with right now. We feel comfortable with. Does that change as we go? Maybe,” Warsofsky explained to San Jose Hockey Now.
The return of Wennberg shifted the forward groupings on the power play. The first unit features Jacob Trouba, Celebrini, Stenberg, Smith, and Wennberg. The second unit deploys Dmitry Orlov, Pohlkamp, Misa, Tyler Toffoli, and Mason Marchment. Warsofsky views Wennberg as a strong net-front option who provides faceoff stability, allowing Celebrini to operate on the outside.
“Stenny’s been pretty comfortable on those flanks. He’s been playing there a lot in Sweden and coming up. He’s coming off one of his best games in the league against Dallas, he looked comfortable. He sees the ice really well. He’s got poise. He can play both sides. There’s some flexibility there,” Warsofsky told San Jose Hockey Now.
#SJSharks worked on 6-on-5 at the end there, looked like Smith-Celebrini-Stenberg-Sherwood-Marchment-Wennberg
Warsofsky wants his top unit to exhibit more patience rather than settling for low-percentage perimeter shots. The coaching staff uses video reviews from practices to evaluate decision-making.
“If you’ve got them hemmed in there for 45 seconds, we want to continue to hold on to the puck and continue to exhaust them. Just having that feel and that patience is what we need. That’s most important, what we need to figure out here,” Warsofsky said to San Jose Hockey Now. The Sharks hold an 8-11-1 record as they prepare for upcoming matchups.
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