The Highlanders arrived home from Canberra late on Saturday after falling to a 31-18 loss to the Brumbies on Friday night.
They are sixth on the table, in the final playoff spot, but are not looking any further ahead than the Sharks at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Friday night.
Fullback Ben Smith, halfback Aaron Smith and centre Malakai Fekitoa will all be back after the All Black trio was rested for the match in Canberra.
Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph admitted they were missed.
''They give guys a lot of confidence. You've got a classy No 9, and he gives your No 10 more time. You've got a guy out the back who can organise things and give others a boost,'' Joseph said.
''Then we missed our main penetrator at the back. Malakai is our main guy there. But we have to remember, too, we were playing the Brumbies, who are a pretty good team and they were desperate to win.
''We gave them 10 points at the start and from there it was always going to be hard to come back from that.''
Joseph said the three All Blacks would come back this week. The trio have to sit out another game this season but Joseph has not selected which one, nor if the three backs will miss the same game.
Lock Joe Wheeler left the field with an injured knee in the second half against the Brumbies. Joseph said he appeared to have strained a medial ligament and was unlikely to front against the Sharks.
With Alex Ainley nursing a broken jaw and Mark Reddish getting over an ankle injury, locks are thin on the ground for the franchise.
Second five-eighth Shaun Treeby rolled his ankle in the first contact of the match and may not play against the Sharks.
Right at the end of the game, winger Waisake Naholo bruised his heel but it is hopefully not too serious and he should be right for Friday night.
The Brumbies, pecifically flanker David Pocock, scored three tries from rolling mauls off lineouts, 5m from the Highlanders tryline.
The Highlanders, through replacement flanker Dan Pryor, also scored a try through a rolling maul off a lineout.
Joseph said the mauls were hard to combat but the trick was to not concede a penalty so the opposition could not kick for a lineout by the corner.
First five-eighth Lima Sopoaga had a mixed night but Joseph backed his No 10.
''I thought Lima played quite well. Sure, he dropped the ball a couple of times but their attack was coming right at him. He managed to get our attack going when he could.''
He also praised centre Richard Buckman, who was playing his first full game for six months.
In other matches, the Crusaders got back to winning form, defeating the Blues 29-15 in Christchurch on Saturday night, the Waratahs squeezed by the Rebels, winning 18-16 in Sydney, and the Lions beat the Cheetahs 34-19 in a thriller in Johannesburg.
The Stormers went top of the South African conference with a 15-13 win over the Bulls in Cape Town.
Last night, the top-of-the-table Hurricanes beat the Reds 35-19 in Brisbance.
