Early look The full preview opens on Wednesday 14 October, three days before puck drop, with the expected goalies, the latest team news and game-day prices. Until then this page shows the matchup as it stands.
Early look · NHL 2026-27

San Jose Sharks at Detroit Red Wings: game preview

Puck drop17 Oct · 7:00 PM ET
VenueLittle Caesars Arena
All-time meetings139 completed
BasisLast 5 meetings + 2025-26
The thesis

Six points apart last season

San Jose finished last season 24th in the league on 86 points. Detroit finished 16th on 92.

Game-day prices arrive with the afternoon snapshot, about 4:30 PM ET on the day of the game.

Head-to-head

Meeting number 140

Across 139 completed games, Detroit lead the head-to-head 83-44-12.

All-time record83-44-12Detroit's record in the series
Meetings played139This is number 140
2025-26 series—
Last 53-2Detroit
DateResultShotsPower playWinner
16 Jan 2026SJS 2 – DET 4——DET
2 Nov 2025DET 3 – SJS 2 SO——DET
14 Jan 2025SJS 6 – DET 3——SJS
18 Nov 2024DET 4 – SJS 5 OT——SJS
2 Jan 2024DET 5 – SJS 3——DET
Head-to-head finder

The table on each 2025-26 meeting night

DateSan JoseDetroit
2 Nov 20254-6-3 · 11 pts30th9-4-0 · 18 pts6th
16 Jan 202624-20-3 · 51 pts20th29-16-4 · 62 pts5th

League rank after that night's games; a longer bar is a higher place. On 2 Nov 2025, San Jose were 30th in the league and Detroit 6th. By 16 Jan 2026 it was 20th and 5th.


Where the shots come from · last 5 meetings

Detroit out-attempted San Jose 136 to 96

Every attempt from the last meetings, both teams shooting right.

San Jose Sharks

96 att · 40 on goal · 4 G · 10.0%
Crease6 att · 1 G
Slot41 att · 3 G
Wing33 att · 0 G
Point11 att · 0 G
Neutral zone5 att · 0 G

Detroit Red Wings

136 att · 57 on goal · 6 G · 10.5%
Crease13 att · 1 G
Slot49 att · 1 G
Wing52 att · 2 G
Point21 att · 2 G
Neutral zone1 att · 0 G
GoalOn goalMissedBlocked

Expected goals

Detroit have created the better chances, last 10 games

Shot quality both ways: expected goals weigh every unblocked attempt by its chance of scoring. Finishing above zero means more goals than the chances.

San JoseDetroit
2.13xG for per game3.23
3.72xG against per game2.85
36.4%xG share53.1%
+2.6FinishingGoals minus expected goals−2.7
−0.8GoaltendingExpected goals against minus goals allowed+0.6

This season: 3 games for San Jose, 3 for Detroit. Small sample: early-season xG moves a lot from night to night.

Every team’s xG →


Special teams

Power play and penalty kill, season and series

This season's rates first, then 2025-26 and the last meetings between the two. Power-play chances are counted from the penalty log with coincidental minors cancelled; faceoffs are each club's wins over draws taken.

All bars share one scale · 0–100%SeasonLast meetings

San Jose

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2725.0%
Power play · 2025-2621.2% · 16th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2775.0%
Penalty kill · 2025-2676.4% · 26th
Faceoffs · 2026-2744.4% · 72/162
Drawn · 2026-278 (2.67/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-2712 (4.00/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Detroit

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2725.0%
Power play · 2025-2622.6% · 12th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2761.5%
Penalty kill · 2025-2677.1% · 23rd
Faceoffs · 2026-2753.6% · 97/181
Drawn · 2026-2712 (4.00/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-2713 (4.33/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Skaters

Skaters to watch

Each club's top three forwards and defencemen by points this season, with 2025-26 one tap away.

PlayerGPGAPP/GP
2Will Smith32131.00
92Igor Chernyshov32131.00
93Alex DeBrincat32241.33
23Lucas Raymond30331.00
Points leaders
PlayerGPGAPP/GP
42Luca Cagnoni31120.67
5Nolan Allan21010.50
65Jacob Trouba30110.33
72Justin Faulk31120.67
53Moritz Seider30110.33
Defencemen stats

Goaltending

Who has stopped this matchup

Save percentage in the last meetings by goalie. Starters are confirmed on game day.

Expected startersAn estimate until the teams confirmEvery game tonight →

Expected starter after their game on 15 Oct: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Expected starter after their game on 15 Oct: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

San Jose crease

SJS · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 14 Oct

Yaroslav Askarov.8623 GP · 2-1-0 · GSAx −0.8

No appearances against Detroit in the last meetings.

Detroit crease

DET · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 14 Oct

John Gibson.9033 GP · 1-2-0 · GSAx +0.4

No appearances against San Jose in the last meetings.


Totals

Scoring rates point to about 6.3 goals

No total is posted yet: it arrives with the game-day prices. Until then, the scoring rates and the recent meetings set the range.

Goals in the last 5 meetings

16 Jan 20266 · SJS 2–4 DET
2 Nov 20255 · DET 3–2 SJS
14 Jan 20259 · SJS 6–3 DET
18 Nov 20249 · DET 4–5 SJS
2 Jan 20248 · DET 5–3 SJS

Bar length is total goals, coloured by the winner.

Scoring rates

Team26-27 GF26-27 GA25-26 GF25-26 GA
San Jose3.004.003.063.56
Detroit2.332.672.943.15

Goals for and against per game. The estimate averages each team’s scoring with the other’s goals allowed, and leans on 2025-26 until a team has played 20 games.

Scoring rates suggest6.3Goals in this game
Last 5 meetings7.4Goals per game
Line—No total posted yet
Books at the line—With the game-day prices

Team news

13 on the injury lists

San Jose · injuries

Adam GaudetteUpper BodyIRReturn10 Oct
Alex Barre-BouletUndisclosedIRReturn8 Oct
Cam LundUpper BodyIRReturn19 Oct
Kyle KeyserUpper BodyIRReturn1 Dec
Macklin CelebriniLower BodyDay-to-dayReturn8 Oct
Quentin MustyUpper BodyIRReturn1 Dec

Detroit · injuries

Carter BearUpper BodyIRReturn10 Oct
Chase StillmanUndisclosedIRReturn9 Oct
J.T. CompherUndisclosedOutReturn9 Oct
Jacob Bernard-DockerUpper BodyIRReturn9 Oct
Marco KasperUpper BodyIRReturn20 Oct
Mason AppletonUndisclosedIRReturn13 Oct
Simon EdvinssonContract DisputeOutReturn10 Oct
4 Oct · SJS

Placed C Patrick Giles on waivers.

27 Sep · SJS

Placed G Ilya Samsonov on waivers.

23 Sep · SJS

Placed RW Ethan Cardwell, D Libor Hajek and LW Tye Felhaber on waivers.

2 Oct · DET

Placed F Dylan Larkin on the non-roster injured reserve.

25 Sep · DET

Assigned Fs Ondrej Becher, Cameron Butler, Sheldon Dries, Noah Dower Nilsson, Dylan James, Jesse Kiiskinen, John Leonard, Sutter Muzzatti, Theo Rochette, Dominik Shine and Wilmer Skoog, Ds Ronnie Attard, Jacob Bryson, Shai Buium and William Lagesson and Gs Trey Augustine and Michal Postava to Grand Rapids (AHL).

20 Aug 2026 · DET

Acquired F Sutter Muzzatti from Nashville Predators for future considerations.

Injury report
#2Ivar StenbergRound 1 · FrolundaLW
#9Keaton VerhoeffRound 1 · North DakotaD
#21Ryan LinRound 1 · VancouverD
#127Brady KnowlingRound 4 · Usa U-18G
Full draft
#23Jeffrey (JP) HurlbertRound 1 · KamloopsLW
#47Victor PlanteRound 2 · Usa U-18LW
#79Michal OrsulakRound 3 · Prince AlbertG
#108Adam LevacRound 4 · PeterboroughC
Full draft

Updated after every final