SAN JOSE – Perhaps no one on the Sharks’ roster is looking forward to Oct. 16 more than Rudolfs Balcers.

Six years after he was drafted by San Jose and four years after his professional debut, Balcers is set to be on an NHL opening night roster for the first time in his career next Saturday when the Sharks host the Winnipeg Jets.

“That should be really awesome,” Balcers said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

In less than a year, Balcers has gone from being perhaps somewhat uncertain about his NHL future to now being solidly entrenched in the Sharks’ upcoming plans. He signed a two-year, $3.1 million contract extension with the Sharks in July and is now in the team’s middle-six forward group.

“I just want to be consistent,” Balcers said. “I want to be in the lineup and show the coach that he can trust to put me out there.”

In January, Balcers was placed on waivers by Ottawa. The Senators at that point had already acquired veteran forwards Alex Galchenyuk, Derek Stepan, and Austin Watson, decreasing the number of roster spots available for a still-unproven forward like Balcers, who seemed ticketed for the team’s taxi squad.

Instead, the Sharks snapped him up, bringing him back after he was included in the blockbuster deal for Erik Karlsson in Sept. 2018. Balcers was a fifth-round pick of the Sharks in 2015 and was the Barracuda’s leading scorer in 2017-2018.

Balcers was quickly thrust into a top-nine forward role last season as he averaged close to 15 minutes of ice time per game. He finished with a modest 17 points in 41 games.

Still, he was a terrific skater who flashed some skill with the puck. Mostly, he played a 200-foot style that endeared himself to the coaching staff.

“One of the reasons I really like Rudy,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said, “is because you know what you’re going to get every night.”

Now, Balcers, from all appearances, will be in the Sharks’ top-six forward group at the start of the season. He started Monday’s preseason game against Anaheim on a line with Nick Bonino and Lane Pederson and ended it with Tomas Hertl and William Eklund.

“Balcers instantly got on that line and added pace and a little bit of grit,” Boughner said.

Balcers remained in that spot in subsequent practices this week as he replaced Alexander Barabanov, who started camp on a line with Hertl but has had an inconsistent preseason while battling a nagging lower-body injury.

Boughner said Balcers will see more time on special teams this season and loves the fact that he can play in all situations.

“He’s had a great camp,” Boughner said. “His skating’s the best of I’ve seen it and he’s so versatile that you could put him in your top six, your bottom six. power play, penalty kill, doesn’t matter.”

A major reason why Balcers came to San Jose ready to go was that he was already in game shape. In August, he helped Latvia qualify for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Latvia punched its ticket to the Olympics on Aug. 29 with a win over France in the final of a four-nation qualifying tournament in Riga. Balcers and Latvian teammate Ronalds Kenins led the tournament with six points each, as the country qualified for the Olympics in men’s hockey for the fifth time in the last Games.

Balcers was one of three players officially named to Latvia’s Olympic team on Friday, joining Buffalo Sabres center Zemgus Girgensons and defenseman Kristians Rubins, who is in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ organization.

“Just getting to play games kind of got me in that game shape coming into camp,” Balcers said. “The building was sold out and to be able to do it at home ice too, it was unreal.”

Several players on the Latvian team were good friends with Matiss Kivlenieks, the promising Columbus goalie who was killed July 4 when he was struck in the chest by an errant firework at a backyard party hosted by Blue Jackets goaltending coach Manny Legace.

At his funeral, Kivlenieks was remembered as a hero by fellow Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins, who said he and his wife were behind Kivlenieks when the firework went off. “He saved my (unborn) son, he saved my wife, and he saved me,” Merzlikins said.

Balcers was a teammate of Kivlenieks with the junior national team level, and the Olympic qualification was a way for his countrymen to honor his memory.

“When we first met (in Latvia), it was not a long time (after) it happened and it was all in the air,” Balcers said. “There were a lot of good friends of him on that team, too, so it was kind of in the back of our minds just to go out there and play for him.”

Now he’s looking forward to another productive season in San Jose, starting with next Saturday night.

“Everyone wants to be that top role guy, but I’m taking anything that’s given,” Balcers said. “If I play power play, if I have to play (penalty kill), like, it doesn’t matter. I’ll go out there and do with the coach asks. I’m happy with how it’s working out now, but you never know.”