Why Were Sabourin & White Recalled? Graf Sent Down, Dellandrea to IR

The San Jose Sharks made a bevy of moves today.

They recalled veterans Scott Sabourin and Colin White from the San Jose Barracuda, sent down Collin Graf, and placed Ty Dellandrea on IR.

32-year-old winger Sabourin has five goals and eight assists in 35 AHL appearances this year.

27-year-old center White has five goals and five assists in 20 AHL contests.

Hes currently on an AHL contract that will be converted to an NHL deal.

San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky says that Sabourin can take Dellandreas role as a bottom-six grinder and White is an option to play bottom-six center in the absence of Nico Sturm, recently placed on IR with a lower-body injury.

Dellandrea left Thursday nights game against the Nashville Predators after a high hit from Cole Smith.

Warsofsky had no timeline for Dellandreas upper-body injury.

Graf, 22, is a winger prospect who has enjoyed a breakout season with the Barracuda, with six goals and 20 assists in just 29 games.

At first blush, it might seem odd for the rebuilding Sharks to recall two older forwards, instead of their many prospects down with the Barracuda.

But keep these reasons in mind, agree or not.

Its a little bit of a balancing act of developing players like were seeing with Collin Graf, Warsofsky said.

Graf, two assists in 10 contests, was struggling a little with the NHL pace.

He was set to be scratched on Jan.

18 at the New York Islanders before Tyler Toffolis last-minute injury and was sat on Thursday.

And thats okay! Hes just 22.

Hes taken obvious and meaningful steps from last season, and does benefit from playing regularly in the AHL, instead of being in and out of the line-up in the NHL.

The same could be said of the many other prospects down in the AHL.

Sabourin and White are earmarked for smaller bottom-six roles with the San Jose Sharks, and if theyre scratched, youre not worried that youre hampering their development.

A Danil Gushchin, for example, isnt a great fit to fill Dellandreas role.

Sabourin and White have also played well with the Barracuda, and veterans deserve to be rewarded too.

Everybody wants to play in the NHL.

Why would you commit to playing in the AHL with the Barracuda if theres no path to NHL time, and all the recalls are reserved for youngsters? We saw that a little bit last year with Bailey, Warsofsky said.

Justin Bailey, like White, earned an NHL contract last year after starting the season with an AHL deal.

Bailey was dealt earlier this week to the Anaheim Ducks for Pavol Regenda.

I think you need some inner competition, Warsofsky said.

This article first appeared on San Jose Hockey Now and was syndicated with permission..

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