San Jose changed its first line on Monday, and the other three with it

Ryan Warsofsky was asked on Saturday why Igor Chernyshov had started the Edmonton game on the fourth line, and he answered the question underneath it. "I know you guys number the lines," he said, per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now, "but we really don't number the lines as a coaching staff."

On Monday the staff that does not number the lines changed all four of them.

So, with apologies to the staff, here are the numbers. Line one at Monday's practice was Chernyshov, Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. Line two was Ivar Stenberg, Michael Misa and Kiefer Sherwood. Line three was Mason Marchment, Alexander Wennberg and Tyler Toffoli. Line four was Zack Ostapchuk between Collin Graf and one of two people, and we will get to that. Peng and Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News both had the combinations, and they agree on the first nine names.

Against Edmonton on Saturday, per Peng's pregame lines, it was Marchment-Celebrini-Smith, Stenberg-Wennberg-Sherwood, Graf-Misa-Toffoli and Goodrow-Ostapchuk-Chernyshov. Put the two sheets side by side and every forward who dressed has a new linemate. Chernyshov went from the fourth line to Celebrini's left wing. Marchment went the other way, from the first line to the third. Stenberg and Sherwood kept each other and got Misa in the middle instead of Wennberg. Toffoli joined Wennberg. Barclay Goodrow was not on the ice.

The three defense pairs, Darnell Nurse with Michael Kesselring, Sam Dickinson with Jacob Trouba and Dmitry Orlov with Luca Cagnoni, are the same pairs San Jose has used for three games, per Pashelka. Everything in front of them moved. Everything behind them stayed.

"Trying to balance some lines out and really have a little bit more flow to it," Warsofsky said, per Pashelka. "That's why we made the changes we made, and we'll see how it goes."

Flow is a coach's word for a number, so here is the number. San Jose is 3-2-0, and at five-on-five it has scored 7 goals and allowed 13. MoneyPuck's model gives it 34.3 percent of the expected goals at five-on-five through five games, 31st of the 32 clubs, ahead of only Philadelphia. The same club's share across all of last season was 47.6 percent. Two of the five games came without Celebrini, which explains some of it, and Saturday came with him, which explains less: Edmonton won 3-1 at SAP Center and San Jose's power play got one chance all night.

Warsofsky said the number out loud too, in his own vocabulary. "We're just not playing in the offensive zone to create offense," he told Peng. "That starts with that transition to get in the offensive zone and then winning more pucks to stay in the offensive zone. Our O-Zone possession times are low, shot attempts are low." Marchment, who scored on opening night and has not had a point in the four games since, said the same thing shorter: "We're just not getting enough O-zone time to really get that sustained pressure."

(Orlov, asked about the other end, described a system change: the neutral-zone forecheck was a 1-1-3 last year and is a 1-2-2 now. That is the half of the hockey the coach is not shuffling.)

The power play moved too, and this is the change with a name on it. Stenberg, who turned 19 on September 30, replaced Chernyshov on the first unit, per Pashelka, on the left flank with Cagnoni, Celebrini and Wennberg, and Smith in the bumper. The second unit is Orlov, Chernyshov, Marchment, Toffoli and Misa. San Jose is 2 for 13 on the power play this season and 0 for 7 over its last three games, by the league's game-by-game numbers; the last power-play goal was October 3 against Los Angeles. Stenberg has 2 assists in five games, one of them on the power play.

Asked why the teenager gets the first unit, Warsofsky answered with a scouting report. "It's probably just his composure with the puck on the half wall," he said, per Pashelka. "The game slows down for him, and he can make some slick plays and understand where guys are."

Which brings us back to line four, and the two people. Peng's sheet from the ice had Ty Dellandrea with Ostapchuk and Graf, and Adam Gaudette as the extra forward. Pashelka's had Gaudette on the wing with Dellandrea "mixing in." Two reporters at the same practice saw the same eleven forwards settled and one spot rotating, and the spot was Goodrow's.

Goodrow did not practice because he is ill, Warsofsky said, per Pashelka, and he is questionable for tonight. No designation, no timeline, and nothing on the club's roster has changed. If he cannot go, Pashelka reports that Gaudette, who was activated from injured reserve on Saturday after being hurt on the second day of camp, will likely make his season debut. Gaudette scored 17 goals for San Jose last season. "I'm ready to go," he told the Mercury News on Monday. "I'm waiting to get that opportunity, and I feel ready."

So the one line the two sheets disagree about is the one that depends on whether a sick man is well by 8 p.m. The other three are set, and they get Boston first.

Boston is 4-2-0 and has allowed 7 goals at five-on-five in six games. San Jose has scored 7 at five-on-five in five. The puck drops at 8 p.m. Pacific, and after that San Jose goes east for six games in ten days, Nashville on Thursday through Boston again on October 24. The staff will not be numbering those either.

Sources: Sheng Peng, San Jose Hockey Now, October 12, 2026 ("Sharks Make Big Line Changes, Warsofsky Talks Team's Slow Analytics Start"), October 10, 2026 (pregame lines and Warsofsky's postgame remarks, Edmonton); Curtis Pashelka, Bay Area News Group, October 12, 2026 ("With offense sputtering, Sharks debut new forward lines in practice"); NHL.com team and skater statistics, game-by-game power-play figures, roster and schedule for San Jose, read October 13; MoneyPuck team summary files, 2026-27 and 2025-26 regular seasons, read October 13.