San Jose Sharks 2025-26 NHL Season Preview | The Steve Dangle Podcast

Last year, the San Jose Sharks did not finish. Well, I think they finished exactly where they wanted to finish, which was dead last again. And it brought them Michael Misa. 52 points for the San Jose Sharks. It’s completely unfair, but the vibes were good. Oh, yeah. And and I think it’s fair to say that the San Jose Sharks are now our second favorite franchise in the NHL. Um, is that is that not fair? Come on. We have adopted the Sharks as uh our favorite West bottom feeding team. Now, I it is difficult. It is difficult to change points in the NHL. The way they’re awarded to jump 10 points year-over-year is an enormous jump. That’s a lot. Bet MGM has their overunder almost 20 points ahead. They had 52 last year. Bet MGM says 70 and a half over or under. And the odds are even. It’s 1.87. Where do you have the San Jose? You have them under, Jesse. The future is teal. We are not We are in the present and not the future. We’re not in the future yet. That is that is my thing. Um I’m very high on the Sharks for being the best team in the NHL from five years or not five, maybe three years, two years from now. They have such a stacked prospect pool this year under. Wang. Oh man. 20 points. Yeah. Son of a Yeah. Oh, I’m sorry, Ryan, and everyone from the Sharks is watching this. I’m going to go under. Uhhuh. And then I’m going to say a lot of nice things about your team. Okay. I like it. I will also Oh, man. Where were they? Ah, I’m going over. All right. Cuz there’s a team. They can finish last in the division and still be over. Still be over that. 70 points is like it’s it’s you know it should be achievable but let’s talk about what they have. They brought in Jeff Skinner, right? Uh which a lot of people have sort of forgotten. Misa uh Misa is there. Curious about him. John Clingberg is there. Nick Ley is there. So there’s a little bit more experience and obviously Carrie Price’s edition is going to be huge for them too. No. Uh but Nadulkovich and Ascarov are the goalending. I want to start there. Ascarov had a pretty big injury last year. So, the season didn’t really go the way he wanted it to. Uh, he’s got a couple years left at 2 million bucks. Is this the year that he needs to step in and be like, “Okay, this is my net.” Well, obviously. Yeah. No, that’s that’s the way it’s designed. And if he doesn’t, um, gez, I’ll hammer the under uh with both feet. Um, but, you know, they have faith in him. I mean, pretty much everyone in hockey seems to have faith in him. Um, and he’s going to have to be big. Like listen, the reason the Sharks overunder is set at what it is 73 70 and 70 and they finished with what? 52. I think a lot of that, even though they’re in a rebuild, a lot of that was artificial. Um, Blackwood had a good start to the season and they got rid of him as soon as possible. And and with respect to the guy, not only did they pitch Blackwood out the door, the guy they brought in was Gorgief. Uh Cece and Granland fetched them a pretty penny. And again, they got rid of them as fast as possible. Wman too. Walman too. Like all those guy like Wman I don’t think was a deadline guy. They might have I’m trying to think of their deadline day guys. cunning like that. For the most part, they’re like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Get get out of here. No, you’re too good. Get out of here.” Yeah. Um I just don’t know. I don’t even know if they have the horses to do that this year. Maybe I maybe I should have gone over with that, but um in net I think it’s going to be a stable situation. Um like they’re not trading Ned for, I don’t know, Fettov. No, or something like that. Uh, it’s going to be Askrov and Nadulkovich and they’re going to be busy bees. They’re going to be very busy goalies, but they’re going to make some saves. Um, looking at their their defense, Jesse, I see five UFAS that could be great deadline pickups. Y Vinnie Dee, Timothy Lilligran, Mario Ferraro, who I would imagine they’re going to try to hang on to. John Clingberg, and Nick Lety. A lot of these guys, Lilligan, Dayne, Clingberg, and Lety, I think, are all guys that are looking to they’re going to get a ton of ice time. They want to show that they still got it. Uh, when you look at that that blue line, that’s not it’s not bad, is it? It’s not bad, but I don’t expect it to be there. That’s the thing. Like, you joked off the top about the Carrie Price edition and how important that is. I actually think it’s a very important addition to this team because the $10.5 million that Carrie Price’s cap hit is now on the books for the Sharks means that they can send out $10.5 million. And I think the doing that deal gave us an insight onto how the Sharks will look at the season. And it’s that we still want to sell that collection of what five UFA defensemen that we have. A large majority of that five will be out the door come the trade deadline because we now have extra cap hit on the books for Carrie Price and we can make those moves. So I think like okay, there’s some decent NHLers there, but they’re not planning to stick around and be sharks, right? And Demetri Orlov was signed. He’s on a two-year deal. I mean, that could even be he’s got a no move, but or no trade, but you can you can find a spot if he wants to go to the playoffs. There’s another guy that’s valuable. Two two years at six and a half. Uh he was a pretty valuable part of the Carolina system. Exposed a bit last year in the playoffs, but still a very serviceable guy at 34 years old. Yeah. And I mean, you look at the money that guys are getting. Yeah. It’s a good deal. Come on. Uh especially with his experience. Um, I think, uh, you know, we were talking about the vibes with, uh, the the Penguins and you’re bringing in Flurry for a preseason game and whatever. It’s just great for morale. I think it’d be great for the Sharks. It’s just straight up a good decision to begin the season with a Ferraro extension. That’d be nice. Good vibes. There are members of that decor that could stick around. Like I see Lillerin sticking around. I can see Ferraro sticking around. Like Vinnie Dear, even if you want to keep a right-handed defenseman who’s not going to make a bunch, like why not sign him? And he’s good in defensive situations. The rest you trade and you get assets and you keep building and what you’re doing cuz they’re doing a fantastic job doing that building. He’s not ending the season without needs to be something you get something back for. Yes. You know, and I look at I look at this and I go, okay, then you then you go up front, right? And it’s a little thin when you look at the big money. So Tofoley other than Logan Couture who’s obviously never playing again. Toi at six and a half. Wenberg’s got a year left at five. Barlay Gudro’s got two years left. There is a guy at 3.6 million bucks where a team might be going, I need a center left guy who can uh who can play in the playoffs on bottom line minutes and is a character guy. Barkley Goodro is that the free agents are signing for insane money and you might not love Barkley Goodro at 3.6, but teams are looking for control. Well, look at what Tanner Jano cost. Uh, five five years and five years over 3 mil. Yeah, I I That’s a good deal. Barkley Goodro goes to free agency July 1st, like this past July 1st. I’m not convinced he gets a ton less than what he is currently making. Jeff Skinner has also signed with the San Jose Sharks, just like John Clingberg, one-year deal. don’t expect him to stay, but he’s going to get some opportunities to show what he can do when he gets a little bit more ice time more than I think he got in Edmonton. He just didn’t seem to fit that system, guys. I also just think he uh Jeff Skinner is a 31 or two or three year old child. So, I he’s 33. Damn time. You need to slow down. Uh like I think he’s going to match the vibe of that team perfectly. Yeah. Like you have two of the most babyfaced guys in the entire league in Tfully and Skinner. Yes. Uh just with with these I I I think the Sharks are going to be a really fun team. Celabbrini Smith, uh William Mecklan, Michael Misa, and I’ll throw another one in there because I just have a bit of a crush on the way he plays. Colin Graph, uh are all some of the young guys that we expect to be in the top and middle six for the San Jose Sharks. I wonder about Sam Dickinson. Sam Dickinson as well, right, dude? They’re crazy. At some point they are going to have to augment their defense. Uh I feel like one of those guys is going to have to move in order to do that if you wanted to bring in a big piece. Unless they go draft one this year if right everyone’s like uh you know what if they what if they get the first overall pick again? What if it’s Gavin McKenna? Like I to me it’s like all right yes he’s transformational but there is only one puck like one of those guys. You need a defenseman. Yeah. Yeah. And like honestly, someone tell the 2015 16 Leafs that, please. Well, and drafting a defenseman this year, unless you’re getting a guy top three, four, five, they’re not going to be able to help you right away. They might not even be able to help you in two years. Um, like listen, the the future is teal. That’s the saying. That’s everything. Uh, like I don’t what the transition to it’s teal now. Mhm. Is that the new hashtag? It’s steel now. Okay, but let’s look at this. Mlin Celerrini 63 points in 70 games last year. I think a lot of people it didn’t really know how well he had done. I’m looking at Will Smith’s stats. I’m just pulling them up here. 45 points in 74 games. William Ecklund, who just signed that three-year extension, which kicks in after this season. He had 58 in 77. What What constitutes success? And then we’re going to get to our predictions. What constitutes success for the San Jose Sharks? The young guys all take a step. Yeah. Yeah. There. I don’t know how many games they’re going to win. Uh, you know, the guys up front got to put up more points. Uh, Ascarov having a good season, like I I think if all those guys put up more points, but Ascarov stinks. I mean, that’s not going to be a great look for your future because now you’re still looking for the goalie of the future. Um, so just all the young guys got to take a step. Okay. Now, uh, they finished last in the division last year. Where do we have them finishing? Who wants to go first? Eight. The future is do. Okay. I’m so sorry. I have them last as well. I do have them last for obvious reasons, but it doesn’t mean we don’t believe. Maybe next year at this time, we’re sitting here going, they’re going to make the play. Yeah, next year. First, definitely first place. Yeah, it’s Steel now.

Steve Dangle, Adam Wylde, and Jesse Blake preview the upcoming season for the San Jose Sharks and predict where they will finish in the Pacific Division.

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8 comments

  1. The Sharks and Hawks should be banned from picking top 3 this year. The current lottery system rewards teams staying bad for prolonged period of times to snipe draft picks. After getting their franchise player, bad teams should be punished, not rewarded further.

  4. As a primary Sharks fan, I think you pretty much nailed it. It's not the future yet, though I don't think that over is as hard as you might think. Georgiev as SOOOOOOOOO bad. Askarov and Ned just need to be mildly below average and you can see an easy 10 pts there… If Asky is just good… who knows? Still last in the division probably unless the Kings off season was really that bad.

  6. Last year the Sharks spent 1 month with both a healthy Celebrini and good goaltending. During the month of November they were 6-6-3. I think if Askarov performs really, really well, and Celebrini plays 82 games, the ceiling is right there at 82 points .500 season. They almost certainly won't reach that. But they have a better defense this year than last. They have significantly better goaltending this year than Georgiev. And their stars are one year older.

  7. I am legit excited about the Sharks, the org looks like a great group and I love the players. I feel like I will be watching them a lot when the Leafs eventually rebuild. The guys are right, they are not here yet but the future looks blindlingly bright.

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