After a sparkling rookie season, where Danil Gushchin finished second in team scoring and tied for eighth in rookie scoring across the league, the winger for the San Jose Barracuda has been named to the 2024 All Star Weekend Roster for the first time in his career.
Who Is Danil Gushchin?
Gushchin, a former third round pick of the San Jose Sharks in 2020, might end up being one of the top players in that draft for San Jose. Last season he led a strong crop of Barracuda rookies in scoring, with 22 goals, and 45 points, and this season he’s on pace to eclipse both of those numbers without breaking a sweat. Gushchin is currently on pace for a 66 point season, which would be the best season for a Barracuda player since Danny Groulx had 66 points in the 2009-10 season, back when they were still the Worcester Sharks.
This season, Gushchin is comfortably leading the Barracuda in scoring, with 12 goals and 29 points. No one else has hit double digits in goals, though rookie Ethan Cardwell and veteran Scott Sabourin both have nine. Leon Gawanke is currently second on the team in points with 25, four fewer than Gushchin. In 101 career games, Gushchin has 31 goals and 74 points at the age of only 21.
Why Danil Gushchin?
Arguably, there were some other names in the mix for the Barracuda. Gawanke and Cardwell are the most notable, but Shakir Mukhamadullin was a dark horse option as he thrives in his first full season with the Sharks organisation.
Gushchin is not only leading the team in scoring, though. He’s the engine that drives the entire offence. He’s been a part of over 25% of the Barracuda’s goals this season, and isn’t shy about shooting the puck; he’s second in the league in shots on goal, and he’s also doing this with a rotating cast of linemates, as head coach John McCarthy tries to spark the offence of his team.
All Star Classic
The 2024 AHL All Star Classic is in San Jose, CA, on Feb 4-5. It will air on TSN and RDS in Canada and NHL Network for those in the United States. The 2024 AHL All-Star Skills Competition on Sunday, Feb. 4 (8 ET/5 PT) will pit the All-Stars from the two Eastern Conference divisions against those from the two Western Conference divisions in seven skills events. In the 2024 AHL All-Star Challenge on Monday, Feb. 5 (9 ET/6 PT), the four teams will participate in a 3-on-3, round-robin tournament featuring six games of 10 minutes each. The two teams with the best records at the end of the round-robin will face off for the championship, a six-minute, 3-on-3 game.
