On the night from Thursday to Friday, Pavol Regenda helped the San Jose Sharks win 3:2 on the ice of the Washington Capitals with an assist and a winning goal.
He was declared the second star of the duel and although he started the meeting in the third attack, he finished it in the first alongside Macklin Celebrini.
Less than 4 minutes before the end of the second period, he found him with a clever free kick in front of goalkeeper Logan Thompson, and the native of Michalov did not hesitate.
He is not slowing down in the fight for the first team and continues to maintain his production at the level of NHL stars.
Second best on the team this year
Regenda has 8 points, 7 goals and 1 assist in 9 games for the Sharks. He even flashed a hat trick at the beginning of the year, although he only played 9 minutes and 11 seconds in that game.
In the entire history of the NHL, only one player netted a hat trick with a lower game load. It was Ian Laperriere, who managed it in October 2000 with a time on ice 54 seconds lower.
Regenda is currently San Jose’s second most productive player this calendar year behind Celebrini with 6 points.
STATS: San Jose Sharks Scoring in 2026
He has scored 5 points (4+1) in 5-on-5 play so far in 2026, which is the most of the entire team.
Only a few people expected such productivity from him, because he collected a total of 12 points (4+8) in 28 games on the farm. It seems that hockey in the best league in the world suits him better.
During the game with Washington ho coach Ryan Warsofsky included in the first attack to Celebrini and Graf instead of Černišov.
He later evaluated his decision for the media: “Honestly, the formation looked bad. Reggie is a pretty straightforward player. We needed more directness in our game and I think that helped.”
He is one of the most efficient players in the league
Regenda has played a total of 122 minutes in the matches so far, and in terms of 60-minute playing time, he belongs to the absolute top of the league among players who have played at least 30 minutes.
From the point of view of scored goals, with a value of 3.44 goals per 60 minutes of play, he is the best in the entire NHL.
It also has the highest value in the entire league in terms of expected goals (2.1) and in the number of shots on goal (11.3) it is in 7th position.
Based on this, we can say that his goals so far have not been largely a fluke and he can actively create scoring chances.
In terms of productivity, he is in 10th place with a value of 3.93 points per 60 minutes of play. As you can see in the table below, only elite players keep him company in the TOP10.
STATISTICS: NHL scoring per 60-minute playing time
According to extended statistics, Pavol Regenda is the 10th most productive player in the NHL in terms of 60 minutes of play (Source: moneypuck.com, Author: Peter Vretenička)
Yes, it’s still a small sample, but it really doesn’t happen that NHL fringe players can produce at that rate, even if it’s just over 100 minutes.
Even though the criterion for these data was only 30 minutes, which is four times less than the 26-year-old Slovak played, only the stars of the league were able to keep similar numbers to Regenda’s for longer.
The chance of staying increases
“He does a lot. He scores. He’s a big guy, he can protect the puck. He plays the right way and does a lot of good things.
He is really focused on his opportunity,” the Sharks coach evaluated the reasons why Regenda has a chance to stay in the first team after the winning match.
It is questionable whether there will be a place for him. After the return of the injured players, Regenda could be sent to the farm without being placed on the waiver list and thus risk losing him.
At the beginning of next week, we will find out definitively whether he will stay with the first team. Since his last call from the AHL, he has played seven games for the Sharks.
If he started the tenth game in a row, it would cancel his waiver exception and it would not be possible to send him to the minor leagues without being offered to other teams.
And losing a player in form, even if only temporarily producing at the league’s all-star level, would be too high a risk, and general manager Mike Grier is certainly aware of that.
NHL tables
Western Conference:
