Sharks Place Veteran Enforcer on Injured Reserve

Reaves was placed on IR, listed with an upper-body injury. As a result, this makes room for Kiefer Sherwood to be activated to the Sharks' 23-man roster. Per Sharks beat reporter Sheng Peng, Sherwood was seen skating on the top-line at practice and is expected to make his debut in teal on Feb. 4 against the Colorado Avalanche. Reaves has three goals on the 2025-26 season so far, and has 140 points across his career.

Sherwood was traded to San Jose by the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 19 in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, a second-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft and defenseman Cole Clayton.

"Obviously, [I was] a little caught off guard,” Sherwood said to NHL.com at the time regarding his trade. "[The Sharks'] rebuild has probably happened quicker than they thought, and I know they have some special players coming up in their system, so it's pretty exciting."

Reaves Being Placed on IR Opens Room for Kiefer Sherwood Debut

Reaves is known as one of the toughest players in the league, widely recognized for his offensive physical game and on-ice fights.

For San Jose in particular — this has been key. Reaves has quickly garnered a reputation for protecting the younger players on the roster in addition to bringing some fun-spirit. The Sharks are stacked with an exceedingly high-level of talent at younger ages.

San Jose currently has former No. 1 overall pick and young phenom Macklin Celebrini, who is only 19, in addition to five other Sharks that were born in or after the year 2003.

"I've been in this role, but I've never been on a team that's had some struggles the last couple of years. Now all of a sudden, we're on the come up, and have young superstars like Mack[lin] and Smitty, and a couple of these guys that have been called up recently that are really coming into their own," Reaves previously said to Breakaway On SI in an exclusive. "It's good to watch them kind of grow right in front of right in front of my eyes, right in front of everybody's eyes. But it's definitely been fun to protect those guys and kind of teach them whatever I can. I'm not going to teach them much on the ice, but off the ice, you know, how to be a pro and how to carry yourself, whatever they need. It's been great being able to help them out."

Reaves is 38; he was traded to San Jose by the Toronto Maple Leafs in July 2025 in exchange for Henry Thrun.

Sherwood, at age 30, has not seen league play since Jan. 10 with the Canucks due to an upper-body injury that was sustained prior to his trade. Per Peng, the left-winger also participated in Sharks' power-play drills with the second unit.

The Ohio native has 121 points (60 goals, 61 assists) to go along with his 309 games played so far in the league.

San Jose sits with 58 points across a 27-23-4 overall record ahead of play against the Avalanche. Colorado has had an impressive years, sitting atop the Central Division with 81 points while entering play against the Sharks following a 2-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.