What Would Constitute A SUCCESSFUL 2025-26 Season For The San Jose Sharks?

What Would Constitute A SUCCESSFUL 2025-26 Season For The San Jose Sharks?

While the Sharks most likely won’t be competing for a playoff spot this year, there’s still plenty of ways that this can be deemed a successful season. You’re Locked on Sharks, your daily podcast on the San Jose Sharks, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Hello, welcome to Locked on Sharks, the premier hockey podcast covering your favorite team in the Bay Area. My name is Jay Young, caretaker of the reef, my personal blog about the San Jose Sharks and co-host of Locked On NHL. I want to thank you for making Locked On Sharks your first listen. Proudly part of the Locked On Network. We cover your team every day. And if you want to be an everyday, all you have to do is just follow along wherever you get podcast. And of course, you can watch on YouTube as well. And today, we’re going to be examining ways for the San Jose Sharks to have a successful 2526 season uh despite not competing for a playoff spot or winning the Stanley Cup or anything like that, but other ways where we can see growth and development from this team. Uh so we’re be looking at the growth of the young players including uh most importantly Mlin Celery, Yar Salvoskar, etc. etc. Uh how the team can start to see some success in the win loss standings and Mike Greer continuing to build this bad boy. So before we get to all that, do want to let you guys know today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. So, we know this this Sharks team is um realistically not going to be in contention for a playoff spot this year. Um but that doesn’t mean that this can’t be a successful season. Like we we look back at last year and yes, they were the worst team in the NHL. But we got some answers last year. We we got that yard or that we got Mlin Celery. Uh he’s pretty good. he’s going to be very good. Uh we feel he’s well on his way to being a a a foundational piece uh the franchise centerpiece you would say um going forward, right? We we got some answers on Will Smith and whether he can, you know, his style of play can make it in the NHL and the second half of the season was a resounding success, right? William Equin continued his growth and development. um you know, you you found some some answers among your young players. Um but there’s still plenty of of questions and the team again was the worst team in the NHL last year. Like don’t get me wrong. Uh and at some point you’re going to have to start to see some success uh when it more success in the win loss column, but this year’s not quite that year, I think, for them to kind of be a, you know, a a push for the playoffs, etc. type of team, especially with projected four players under the age of 20 or 20 or younger on this roster, right? Uh we talked about yesterday Michael Misa and his ELC. Um you have Sam Dickinson who’s going to be competing for a playoffs roster spot. You have Michael Cabbrini who’s 19 and you have Will Smith who’s 20. You have four players who could be playing, you know, a lot of minutes all 20 and under on this roster. uh potentially at least to start the season. So, you know, I I think that’s the the number one thing for this season that the most important thing to make this a successful season is growth, continued growth from your young players and that’s going to be different like each player is going to have different calibrations, right? We don’t expect the same thing uh from Will Smith that we do from Mlin Celebrating. We don’t expect the same thing for Michael Misa. uh like it’s everybody has their own kind of growth and you know we’ve talked about it several times how uh development isn’t linear and it’s not the same for everybody and everybody’s going to kind of go at their own pace here but um that’s those are the most important things though is getting everyone all these young players continually to grow and we’ll start with celebriny right and for him I think you know a a successful season is if he firmly entrenches himself as a as you know a we’ll see top 10ish center in the NHL. Right. The NHL just had their top center rankings and not going to silver was 19th on the list. Uh last time I checked again he’s played one season one season in the NHL. Um, that’s how much he is, you know, like that’s that’s what the expectations are for him now is that this is going to be uh not only just like a a top center in the league, but like a top player in the league from what we saw last year. So, if Celebrity continues his growth and development and continues on the path that we expect him, he’s going to be a top center sooner rather than later, right? and a great year this year would firmly entrench him inside that top 10. But if he’s in the conversation as a top 10 center in the NHL, I think that’s a successful season for Min Celebrating. What does that look like, you know, we could be talking about a a point per game player. We could, you know, a guy who’s a force in all three zones and we’ve already seen glimpses of that um especially in the offensive and the neutral zone and he’ll continue to grow in the defensive zone. Um, but I think that that those are kind of like if Celabbrrini if this time next year we’re, you know, get the NHL’s top, you know, 20 centers list and celebrate season and and continues his growth and development. Then we’re going to be spending all the next off season talking about, well, how much do you pay Min Cabrini because he’ll be eligible for a contract extension. Um, so and and is that just celebrity, right? Yars of Azro, you know, his can can he be the guy that we’re expecting and we’re hoping and you know, the Sharks paid a small ransom to acquire him. Um, can he be that guy this season, right? And really kind of firmly establish himself as the Sharks goalender of not only the future but of the now, right? and kind of take that Dustin Wolf of like type approach of maybe it’s a little, you know, kind of 50/50 to start the season, but by the end of the season, we know it is Ascrov’s net. Um, there’s no denying it. We know Asgrov is the clear-cut starter, you know, for Will Smith, right? Are you a center? Are you a wing? Are you a extremely dynamic wing, right? Growth from from Will Smith, uh, from William Ecklan, growth from him. Okay, now can you be a 70point player now that the the talent is starting to get better? Can you be that guy who kind of that that glue guy on the line that a high-end glue guy, but that glue guy on the line that whatever you kind of need from the line, he’s going to be that line connector from the defense. Can Shakir Muk McDullan last a full season? Can you know does Sam Dickinson stick around? like there’s there’s plenty of opportunities and growth areas for some of these young players who are going to be part of your key pieces and your foundation and your core going forward. So the goal for this season a successful season is to have more answers than questions going into it. Right? We just went through a whole spew of questions. Right? D mentioned Michael Misa. Michael Misa can you know are you NHL ready? Are you going to be a center? Can you eventually take the the two the second line center position? Like trying to answer some of these questions because you have natural growth from your young players. That’s what makes this a successful season despite whatever else happens uh on the ice when it comes to wins and losses. Granted, we want to see more wins this season, and we’ll talk about that here uh in the second segment about playing, you know, more competitive, continuing to play more competitive hockey and turning some of those close losses into wins. Now, but if you’re getting all those wins and it’s the veterans kind of leading the way, not to say that, right, we don’t want Tyler to Foley and your Jeff Skinners and your Alex Wenbergs and all these other veterans, you know, having bad seasons. We want them to be good, but we want it to be the young players again answering those questions and kind of being leading the way and showing why we’re going to be so excited about Sharks hockey, not only this season, but for the next decade, right? Because these young players are going to be so dynamic um and and be these key pieces. And it’s not just, you know, again, I love Tyler Tofoley, but right, do are we realistically counting on Tyler Tofoley to be here and be a contributing player for the next, you know, decade? No. Like, we know he’s going to be here for the next three years. And hopefully he’s still really awesome and you can sign him to a contract, you know, another contract after that. But again, right, you you didn’t lose all these games and drafts really high to have guys like Tyler Tofoley just be your best players forever. So, um, so while getting more wins is is very important, and we’re going to talk about that in a second, it’s having your young players contribute and be the ones leading the way and continue to see growth from them. So that’s the the first thing that makes this a a successful season is if again young players are answering these big questions uh and kind of you know just more answers than questions heading into next off season. So uh we’re going to be talking about starting to see some more resultsbased uh things here in just a second. So uh hang around. College football is back and honestly there’s nothing better than the energy of tailgates, being in the stands with your fellow fans. The only downside, trying to get tickets, endless cues, hidden fees, and prices that jump up at checkout. That’s why I use Game Time, the app that gives you advantage back to fans is the easiest way to score last minute tickets at the best price with no surprise fees. What you see is what you pay. I’ve used Game Time a bajillion times. Uh my wife uses to get t tickets for uh Backstreet Boys where she had a great time. I use it to get Sharks tickets when my you know family comes into town. Uh make it super easy. I like the zone deals. You can pick a section and Game Time will pick the seats that you so that way you save big and it’s the fastest, cheapest, cheapest and most or least stressful sorry excuse me way that you can buy tickets. So take the guess work out of buying college football tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that’s promo code locked on NHL. L O C E D O NHL for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. All right, before we finish, I do have an important request. Lockdown wants to hear from you. We’ve put together a survey to learn more about our listeners and make your favorite podcasts even better. This is your chance to tell us about what you like, what you don’t, and answer questions about our advertising. Go to lockedonpodcast.com/servey and get started. Everyone completes the survey will be entered uh for a chance to win one of 10 $100 Amazon gift cards. Again, that’s lockedpodcast.com/servey. You can also find the link in the show notes. Thanks for helping us out. All right, so yes, most important thing to make this a successful season is continued growth from these young players. Um, I think the second most important thing is to start to see actual results in the win loss column. Um, right, you you cannot be the worst team in the NHL. Uh, you can’t repeat. You can’t repeat, right? We know the Panthers are trying to three repeat. The Sharks can’t three repeat as well in this uh category and I don’t think they will. One, I I think they’ve made improvements um you know with some of the players that they brought in. Two, I think the the natural growth from their young players. And three, I think the goalending is just going to be a million times better at the RSLC than what we saw post McKenzie Blackwood last year. Um, and if you have like I like I cannot harp enough just not having Alexander Gorgvanette, how much is going to improve the Sharks experience uh and trying to win more games. So I think for this year a successful season if this team is close to playing three 500 hockey, right? um like just close to to that mark. That’s going to be a successful season. Again, for a team last year uh who was dead last uh they won 31 or sorry, their point percentage. That’s how many points uh they got per game was 317. A jump to to like five like even in the ballpark of 500 hockey. So, the Islanders last year hit it perfect 500 hockey. Uh, they went 3535 and 12. They had 82 points in 82 games. So, great job Islanders. Well, I don’t think the Sharks are going to be an 80, you know, point team this year, even if they’re like like the Sabres last year, which were like 482, right? And they got 79 points and the Kraken were like 463. Uh, they had 76 points. Like if if you’re even in that range, that’s a huge jump from going from 20 wins, 50 losses, and 12 overtime losses to like 33 wins or 35 like somewhere in that range. That that’s a big jump. And again, we know how many game like this team was it was like 30 plus games last year where they either had the lead late going into the third period and they ended up losing, right? um or they it was a tie game late and they end up losing. Like this team was in a lot of very close games but just weren’t able to finish. enter in again Yar Yarvascarov, Mako Zelbrini, who we’re hoping is again in the conversation for a top 10 center in the entire NHL in year two, right? Michael Misa, um you know, some of the veterans that they added, especially along the blue line, you know, Dimmitri Orof, uh who I think is is going to be the Shark’s best defenseman. Uh, you have, you know, John Clingberg, who, yes, very much a wild card in what you’re going to get with John Clingberg, but if it works out, I think it’s gonna work out. Uh, Nick Ley, who m, you know, last year wasn’t as great a season, but missed a ton of time because of injury and I think was rushed back from his injury for a Blues team that was trying to make a playoff push. So, Nick Ley, fully healthy Nick Ley, Shakir Muka Madullan, full-time NHL player now. Uh, you have Jack Thompson in the fray. You got might have Luka Canyone making an impact. Like there’s a lot of reasons for some of those self-inflicted wounds and self-inflicted errors that the Sharks committed last year to not see as many of them, right? And they’re still going to have plenty, especially when you have a young roster. Uh again, four players who might be on the roster who are 20 and and younger. Um, and but I just think there there’s going to be a lot of room for growth and for improvement. And also Ryan Warski in year two of coaching, right, as a head coach in the NHL, you’re not going to get as many of the hopefully kind of rookie mistakes from him, right? And hopefully we start to see a better power play and a better penalty kill and better kind of in-game adjustments and you know kind of the lineups now that you have a more solidified you know view of who your players are, right? And you’re not trying to hopefully juggle as many players, you can allow these guys to kind of grow and develop a little bit more and maybe not be as as tinkery this year. uh because guys are going to be here and guys who are on the roster now kind of expected to be on the roster for a while, right? And yes, the Sharks are going to trade players this off this trade deadline and stuff, but like you know a lot of these guys, especially in the forward group, they’re going to they’re they’re on their way to kind of just being here for a while, you know. Um, and I I think you’re gonna hopefully see less turnover in the forward group and you’re gonna see less issues with bad goalending in net, especially with Ascrov. And I think Nadulkovich if if Nad Nadulkovich can kind of we talked about before if he can just be be tick Vanichek from last year like the the goend is going to improve a ton a ton especially post what we saw from McKenzie Black you know or what we saw from the Sharks after the Mackenzie Blackwood trade. So, I think again just being in the conversation of playing 500 hockey should be a realistic goal to make this season successful. And that would again put you, you know, if you’re picking in that range, that’s like seven, eight, ninth in the draft. That’s a big jump and that’s that’s a huge improvement. Like that we saw from the Ducks who were, you know, picking top three and then we saw that growth and that jump as that team this year were was picking I think they they were entered the lottery picking eth and they end up picking 10th or whatever. So because of the two teams that jumped up. So again, do I expect the Sharks to be a playoff team? No. Like that’s not realistic. But do I expect a lot of those really close losses that they had way too many of last year? And how many times do we come on the podcast and be like, man, this team played really well for 40 minutes and then found a way to lose the game at the end. Um hopefully we just have less of those and this team instead of being a 40-minute team, maybe they can be a 50-minute team, right? for you’re going to get 50 good minutes of them and then there’s going to be 10 bad minutes. Uh which, you know, realistically that that that’s that’s solid. That is solid with with what we’ve seen over the past couple years, right? Where uh the scene went from like a 20 minute team two seasons ago where you might get 20 good minutes from them a night and then you get 40 bad minutes to last year where you got 40 most of the time you got 40 good minutes from them and you got 20 bad minutes. this year. Can we be a 50-minute team, right? Yes, they’re going to lose games. They’re probably going to have their their fair share of of games that they blow at some point, but can you start closing some of those games out and finishing some of those games off? And, you know, even go back to the beginning of the year, right? The first game of the season when the Sharks had a lead against the Blues. Maelini is doing MaBrini things. and end up losing that game. Set the tone for the rest of the season. Let’s not do that this year, okay? Let’s be just in like somewhere around 500 hockey would be would be huge. So, um we’re going to talk about the last thing here, what I think will be a successful season. This is really from the my career angle, right, of this thing is cuz again, we’re still long-term futurist heal trying to build this thing. So, we’re going to talk about that and how my ger can can continue to build this here uh in just one second. All right, before we finish up, do of course want to thank you for making Locked on Sharks your first listen today. For your second listen, check out the Locked onHL podcast. There’s no off season. We’re bringing you daily leaguewide stories that matter most, the local coverage you love from Locked On. Find Locked on HL on YouTube, wherever you listen to podcast. All right. Um, the final thing to make this a successful season, uh, is for Mike Greer to continue building, right? Not tearing down, which is what we we saw, especially the last two seasons, um, where, you know, it was anything that wasn’t bolted, especially the 23 24 season, right? Anything that wasn’t bolted down, we’re getting rid of, right? And we we’ve seen how much this roster has turnurned over in the last couple seasons where uh William is now your longest tenur San Jose Sharks forward and Mario Ferrar is the longest tenure San Jose Shark. Um yes, I know Barkley has played more games until he um but he did leave and came back. So uh that’s where the tenur uh qualifier comes in. But anyway, um we’re we’re hoping that we’re not tearing things down and still be smart like you know if if Jeff Skinner nets you a nice pick and if you get an offer that’s too good for Alex Wenberg, right? And Wenberg says like I I really don’t want to resign here or right and you you know like they’re going to say I love it here in San Jose. I’d love to resign, but like when you get them behind closed doors, they’re probably going to be like, I want to try to go win, you know. And of course, we know the Sharks probably not winning right now. So, you know, if John Clingberg and Skinner and Wenberg and whoever else of these these kind of expiring uh UFA contracts, like if you can get assets for them, get assets, yes. But we still want to see pieces coming in that aren’t just draft picks, right? And if Mike Greer can go out and find or acquire young players who are NHL players now or soon to be NHL players, I think that’d be a successful season, right? And especially especially if you can solve that long-term one first line first pairing right-handed defenseman, right? If Mike Ger can can solve that issue with a guy who’s going to be playing NHL games now or next year. That would be a massive massive because that that does feel like it’s the last piece, right? is at that top pairing right-handed defenseman. Um, and yes, like the Sharks are still going to draft pretty high next year, and there’s plenty of great players in next year’s draft. Um, you know, whether it’s Verhoff or whoever, like there there’s a a bunch of great players in next year’s draft who you feel like are going to be uh high quality picks, blue chip prospects, right? But again, like the tanking days are done, guys. Um, and yes, there’s going to be a a a segment of fans who are just like, “One more tank. One more tank.” But you know what’s going to happen, right? Is we tank next year and then people are going to be like, “Man, that Landon DuPont, man, if the Sharks can get Landon DuPont and then there’s another guy after that, right? And then another guy like at some point you got to start doing something.” And while again we want my career to continue to build, I just think you have to start getting guys who are going to help your young players right now, right? Your celebries and your Smiths and your Eklans and uh your Ascrovs. Like we can’t keep picking going back to segment two, right? we we can’t keep being the worst team in the NHL uh and picking that high because you’re going to start to kind of age out of these contracts, right? Um as weird as it sounds, like you know, Ekkan’s going to be starting a second contract here soon. You’re going to have to pay Smith and Cabbrini here really soon. Um Muk Mullan’s going to be due for a rate. Like you’re going to have to start paying these guys and kind of saying this is my team, right? These are the guys I’m going with. Um, and they’re going to start winning more games for you that you can’t just continually tank forever because uh, I think Celibbrini is too good uh, for you to tank forever. And I think Will Smith’s going to be really good and I think Michael Mis is going to be really good and I think Ascro is going to be extremely good. So, they’re going to just start winning games for you. So, I think while yes, I do think the Sharks are picking top 10 this year. I would like to go into the draft with just pick the very best player available, which is what you should do anyway, and not pick for need because your needs constantly change. So, if Mike can continue to build, acquire a top pairing defense, right-handed defenseman, which players, these do not grow on trees, right? Uh, and teams do not want to give them up. But if you can get one and you can continue to add and if maybe you have to consolidate some of your picks and prospects a little bit, you’re going to have to give up something for them. But I want to see my career starting to add pieces that are going to help the Sharks sooner. Not only sooner rather than later, but long term. Like start getting some of the start getting Celibbrini and Smith and these guys some help for next year. So, next year we can talk about, hey, can the Sharks be that sneaky wild card 2 team, right? Going into the 26 27 season, right? Can the Sharks be last year’s Canadians or last year’s Blue Jackets team that, you know, Canadians just get into the playoffs or the Blue Jackets who just missed the playoffs? Like, can the Sharks start being that team as soon as the the 26 27 season because of one, the growth of your young players? two, they started taking that natural step of winning hockey games, right? Because you can’t go from being dead last. It’s it’s really hard to go from being like one of the worst teams in the NHL to being a playoff team. It’s just it’s really really hard to do that. You usually see steps, right? And again, look at the the Canadians. They went from one of the worst teams in the NHL to kind of playing 500 hockey to making the playoffs last year, right? The Blue Jackets kind of say one of the worst teams bigger step last year where they were, you know, a a team that was in the playoff hunt now. A team that’s, you know, kind of expecting to to make a big playoff push next year. Like there’s the Ducks, right? one of the worst teams in NHL playing 500 hockey last year now expected to kind of make that push for the playoffs. So I think all these if all these things happen right if Celabbrini continues to be celebr basically writes his name in in permanent marker uh by goalie one by the end of the season. This team starts to win more games and it’s the young players kind of leading the way and my career continues to to build this thing for the future. and that future’s starting to get here sooner than later. I think that’s those are the hallmarks of what I think will be a very successful season for the the San Jose Sharks this year. So, um it’s going to be a lot of fun this year. Like I I’m super excited about this year because I I think we’re going to see just more competitive hockey like we saw last year, but I think we’re going to start to see that turn into more wins and Ascrov every night or you know, Ascrov every other night to begin the season and and playing a bunch of games and you know, Misa and Dickinson and all these guys starting to make an impact like this season’s going to be a blast. So um make sure you’re following along of course wherever you get podcasts. watch on YouTube as well. If you haven’t subscribed, um we’re getting close to 5,000. Like, like I haven’t said it yet, but I would love I’m saying it right now. I would love to hit 5,000 subscribers by the start of the season. So, if you haven’t yet, now’s the time to do it. Uh hit that subscribe button as we’re going to start getting to daily podcasts again sooner than you think. So, uh make sure you follow along all those places. Uh, you can follow the show on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and on Tik Tok. Uh, again, Hans Moleman with the skateboard. Cowabunga, eat my shorts. Uh, we’re trying helping to push the Tik Tok. So, uh, follow me on Twitter and Facebook at, uh, or sorry, Twitter and Blue Sky Fryhole. Until later. Bye, friends.

Can the San Jose Sharks find success without playoff contention? JD Young explores the team’s path forward in the 2025-2026 NHL season, focusing on key areas for growth and development.

Young players take center stage as the Sharks aim to build for the future. Will Macklin Celebrini establish himself as a top-20 NHL center? Can Yaroslav Askarov secure the starting goaltender position? The host examines the potential of Will Smith, William Eklund, and other prospects to answer crucial questions about their roles and impact.

Improving the win-loss record is vital, even if playoffs remain out of reach. JD discusses realistic goals for the team’s performance, drawing comparisons to recent seasons of other rebuilding franchises. He also analyzes General Manager Mike Grier’s strategy for balancing long-term development with the need for NHL-ready talent to support the young core.

The episode concludes by defining what success looks like for the Sharks in 2025-2026, emphasizing player growth, competitiveness, and strategic roster moves. Tune in to hear JD’s insights on how San Jose can lay the foundation for future playoff contention while navigating the challenges of a rebuild.

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