Sharks Now: Previewing San Jose’s 2025-26 season | NBC Sports California

Sharks Now: Previewing San Jose’s 2025-26 season | NBC Sports California

All right. Hello and welcome in to a San Jose Sharks season preview edition of Sharks Now. I’m Alan Hoshida with Shang Ping of San Jose Hockey Now and also a major contributor here with NBC Sports California. No one’s probably around the team more than you Shang. So, thanks for joining us, giving us some insight and just welcome in. Hey, how’s it going? Yeah, what do you First off, let’s start here. You’ve been around this team so much here for this this off seasonason going into this season. What are your vibe check like so far? The vibe checks are great. Everybody’s undefeated now. Everybody is happy. Everyone’s looking forward to second season of Mlin Celerini, second season of Will Smith, third season of William Ecklan, and so on. And so vibes are good right now. Hopefully, uh, it starts off strong in October. But before we get to this season, we got to get to how we got here. And how we got here was another tough season in 2024, 2025. You look at it right there. We’re putting up some stats. It’s a last across the board for the second straight year. But the product, it looked better, right? It looked like they were turning corners. They were making progress. They were in games in the third period, but in the end, they’re still only 20 wins and they had some major flaws. Yeah. And so that’s what they’re hoping to they hope to address this past summer with some of their additions. But like you mentioned, a lot of third period losses. So much closer. They did cut the goal differential by about 50 goals, which was a big difference. And you can see on the ice. Yeah, it it was it was noticeable that it looked a little bit better and they wanted to get to where they needed to to stay more competitive. Ultimately, I think if you go back to October, losing nine straight, that’s going to doom you. And they just can’t get off to that start. But the silver lining, right, they get the last best odds here for the first overall. They don’t get it. They don’t get Matthew Schaefer, but they get Michael Misa, another running horse. Here’s their complete draft class. It’s Misa. It’s Ravensburg, who is the top goalie ever drafted by the San Jose Sharks. How Wong, the highest drafted Chineseb born player. Cole McKini, who’s going to be a piece down the middle. So they got pieces for coming in last. Is Michael Misa what they should have gone with there at number two. And how does he fit into the core the teal core? Yeah, I think if you give Sharks management a true serum that they would have liked Matthew Schaefer a future number one defenseman. You look at how the Sharks are their system is is is comp composed that they do need that kind of that number one kingpin defenseman. But though Michael Mis was absolutely the right pick for number two, he just was the best available player. And so even if there is some duplication in terms of positionally with Mlin Celerini and maybe W Smith that he just was the best player available there and so I don’t think they thought too much about it and they made kind of a in some degree a no-brainer decision at number two. Yeah. And it it shook things up especially Will Smith as we get into training camp conversation and Will Smith. We’re going to talk about what Michael Misa kind of has done here. And as at this point, he’s still with the team. He’s still in training camp. He’s still pushing for a spot. Ryan Warsovski in his second season is going to have a lot more pieces, but he had a huge win. He didn’t have a lot of San Jose Sharks wins in in a year ago, but he got gold medal for the team USA, the first gold medal at World Championships for the US in over 90 years. And it was important for him to get this win. when I talked to him at media day, he says he wants to bring that winning attitude back to San Jose. You know, obviously it’s a different tournament. It’s a different type of um it’s not 82 games. It’s it’s a shorter tournament in a sense. Um but winning, you know, usually looks the same, so we know what winning looks like. Um we’ve been through it. You know, I know Will and I and and Thomas Spear and Nick Gelini were part of that. But um hopefully we can bring some things from that to to the tournament uh from the tournament to to the to the Sharks. But it’s a different beast. It it really is. But um I can say we’re we’re addicted to winning. You know, I’m addicted to winning and we’re going to do everything we in our power to get the Sharks winning again. My career added a bunch veteran leadership to your group. What do what does that veteran leadership bring to your group? Yeah, I think it we we bring in guys that have won um have gone on long runs and the ors and the Clingbergs and um the letties that have been around this the National Hawk League for a long time and know what winning looks like. And you look back at our season, I think it was 13 games that we had the lead going into the third period and we lost, whether that’s regulation or overtime, it’s a lot of hockey games that we’ve lost, you know, with a lead. So, we think bringing those guys in will help us, you know, obviously win some more hockey games, but also help our youth, help our young guys continue to develop, continue to become pros. Uh, obviously, we have some added some more young guys into into the pipeline here. So, you need veterans around these players to make them understand and help them understand what it takes to play in this league. It’s not easy. It’s extremely hard. Um, it’s demanding the schedule, the practices, the video sessions, and how much it takes, uh, this is a job now and this is real life. So, um, I think the more veterans we bring in, and we brought in some really good ones to help these young guys. Shane, let’s pick it up right there with what Ryan Worovski finished with. Those veterans, I’ve said it all off season, over 5,000 NHL games added to this roster. When you look at the guys coming in, whether that’s up front or on the back end, the back end, I think, was what we’re going to highlight. But what do you notice about here offensively, they bring in a Calder Trophy winner and Jeff Skinner, who can maybe help Mlin make that transition from a Calder rookie to becoming an all-star. But up front, what do you notice? Yeah, well, and you mentioned Skinner. Let’s start with him up front that this is a guy that isn’t that far removed from 30 goal seasons. He’s a sixtime 30 goal scorer, very accomplished scorer. And so maybe he can have a Tyler Tofoley like impact on the Sharks. Guy like Ryan Reeves. Granted, Ryan Reeves isn’t necessarily scoring the goals like a Jeff Skinner can, but he adds an element that the Sharks haven’t had in a long time. Just somebody fearsome, somebody that can really um make make people think about going after a guy like a Mlin Celabbrini and Adam Goddet, Philip Kurishv. These are also very solid potential additions. Just two years ago, Kurichev had 50 points, 50 plus points for the Blackhawks playing next to Connor Baddard. So, if he can add some offensive punch to the Sharks, he’s also versatile, can play center and winger. And same goes for Godette who actually set a careerhigh last season with 19 goals. Actually led the Ottawa Senators in five on five goals. And so, right now, Godet is earmarked for your fourthline center role. The Sharks haven’t had production like that out of fourthline center. and not that I could ever remember actually. And so there is there is definitely some some potential here to help just different kind of elements and the Sharks have had in the past up front. Two two and a half goals a game isn’t going to get it done in the NHL. So you’re hoping that we’ll add and you’re hoping other guys along the way will pop like a Will Smith. But really, it’s the defense that needed to get a lot better. And Mike Greer went out and got really established veterans over a thousand games. You got Stanley Cup runs in there. You got Alex Nadelkovic to pair with Yosov Ascarov. Defensively, Shen, what do you like or what do you notice? Yeah, definitely with these additions, Orlof Cllingberg, Lety, all maybe are not in their primes anymore. But still though, I think what’s important about this is number one, and Mike has mentioned this, that he wanted to improve the puck moving in the group. He wanted to get guys that could get that first pass to Mlin Celbrini’s hands, Will Smith’s hands, William Aklland’s hands, get the puck in their hands. I think the second part of this that’s really important, too, is that even though these guys are on the older side, that these guys are guys who have done it. Um, just two years ago, Lety was still a top four defenseman. 2018 on the Capitals Stanley Cup winning Capitals team. Olaf was a number two defenseman for a Stanley Cup winning team. And even last year in Carolina, not his best year, still a top four defenseman for a really good team. Clingberg is also a guy that’s not that far removed from very, very productive seasons. And I think to contrast kind of previous Sharks teams that we’ve seen, not to pick on certain guys, but the Sharks in previous years, they had a lot of guys you were hoping they could do it. They had some talent. or high draftics, whatever, whatever. But you’re hoping that they could establish themselves at NHL. It’s just guys that come to the top of my mind are guys like Philip Zadena, former top pick, uh Kayn Addison, a second round pick. Guys with obvious talent, but younger players that just hadn’t established themselves as NHLers, and you’re hoping to kind of catch lightning in a bottle with guys like that. Whereas here though, I do like these additions more because these are guys that have done it. They just got to turn back the clock a little bit, but they have done it in very recently been really good AHL players in preseason. Orof scored a goal. Clingberg scored a goal. Also kind of got banged up in that game. Hopefully he’s working his way back to that opening right roster, but they’ve looked pretty good with the puck and that’s something you notice in preseason at least. They take that moment to make the right play and they’re not rushing. And then so I think as you pair them with the Shakir Muka Madulans or the Luca Kenyon or the Sam Dickinson, that’s got to be big for them that they can lean on these veterans as they learn what it takes to to be a quality defenseman in this league. Yeah, that’s definitely the difference between the younger players I mentioned earlier, the younger uh hopeful players that the Sharks had before that they hadn’t gotten used to NHL pace, whereas you have all these guys that are way used to NHL pace and that makes everybody’s life around them easier and more comfortable out there. The other guy you mentioned earlier is Ryan Reeves, and it’s it’s an interesting case. He comes in obviously towards the back nine, maybe the back four holes of his career, just trying to get to that 10,00 games. He told us that at media day. But it’s interesting, the Sharks must think pretty highly of him as a character person, as leadership, because in the dressing room right now, he is be he is right next to Mlin Celerrini, who’s also on the other side, Tyler Tofo. So you have Ryan Reeves, Tyler Tofoley, Mlin Celibbrini. So, with that being said, Ryan Reeves is coming in here for a reason. And he thinks, just like he joined a team a while ago with the Vegas Golden Knights, that maybe this team, if they can bond, has a chance to do something special. I mean, it’s always been winning a Stanley Cup. Um, you know, I know everybody says this team’s in a rebuild and, you know, it’s a little early, but you know, I played on a team in Vegas my first year that, uh, was made up of guys who other teams just didn’t want and got rid of. and we went to the Stanley Cup finals. And I think I’ve seen over my career that, you know, any anything is possible with with a team that bonds well, uh that’s willing to go to war for each other on the ice. So, um you know, the young talent here is there. Um obviously some really good additions, you know, especially on the back end. So, um you know, I’m just I’m excited to see what this team can do. You know, you’ve been around a lot of great players in your career. Min Cabrini hopefully is the next great player you’re around. Can coming in and playing with a 19-year-old kid that’s able to do what he’s able to do kind of rejuvenate you a little bit and and make sure that you’re bringing all you can offer? Yeah, I mean watching him just in these these skates right now, he’s he’s going to be a generational talent. You know, he already is, but um you know, he’s going to take steps every year. Um obviously everybody expects him to take another big step this year and and I’m sure he is. He looks really good out there. You know, that type of talent doesn’t come along, you know, every every year for every team. So, um, when you guys when you got guys like that, you want to build around him quickly and and you want to give yourself a chance. And, you know, I think that’s what we’re doing here. How long has it been to make Teal feel right on on you? The second I was traded, it it never felt right until then, though. I’ll tell you that much. You know, and I thought maybe he might he might be one to drop the gloves opening night versus the Knights. But Ryan Reeves, he talked about Mlin Celibbrini. In this player poll, this anonymous player poll that you’re seeing right now came out the day that we had media day availability with these guys. The next face of the NHL, Mlin Celibbrini got 24 votes. Conor Badard got three. There was all that hoopla two years ago, a few years ago. Could Conor Bard be a Shark? I think the San Jose Sharks are very pleased to have Mlin Celibbrini as their face of the franchise. And more importantly, Mlin is happy. He’s not always happy, but he was happy to hear that his peers are starting to see what he’s capable of. No, I it definitely I think that’s the biggest compliment you can get is when the guys that you battle against every night and play against, you’ve kind of gained a little bit of their respect and recognition. I think that’s the biggest complent you can get as a player. Seems like we’re kind of turning over a new era for San Jose. Not a lot of old faces from from the past. What do you want the sweater to represent in your time here in San Jose? When if a guy comes into the dressing room, they put it on, they know exactly what they’re getting into. Yeah, I think it’s just kind of bringing it back to that level of where it was before with all those legends. And I think the the kind of builders of of barrier hockey and um Jumbo and Patty and Pav and all those guys, I think they just uh they built a good reputation for what the Sharks were and I think it’s just it’s our job to kind of bring it back there and um I it’s going to take everyone. You know, Shane Mlin, as you know, isn’t one to really talk about himself. he doesn’t like to do it, but he kind of lit up when he saw the amount of respect he’s getting from his peers. You know, Cydney Crosby had some really nice things to say about him this offseason. Nathan McKinnon had some really nice things to say about a 19-year-old who has done a lot of good things for the San Jose Sharks. Hasn’t done a lot of winning, but to earn that respect so young, the league is really taking notice of 71 and teal. Yeah. Yeah. And I think a lot of it is not just the production, which is obvious on the ice, but it’s also how he works. It’s also how attentive he is defensively. He’s still unpolished defensively, but everybody can tell though that he wants to play a two-way game. And so, yeah, I think to the the point of the that player poll, I think that if you uh put a a gun to every GM’s head and you want to start you want to you have to start a franchise uh with one under 23 player, I think they would all pick Celabbrini, even Chicago’s GM. I also want to go back to Ryan Reeves because you know the team that he was talking about pretty well. you covered that Vegas Golden Knights team and so Reeves to kind of make that comparison. Now, a lot of things would have to hit incredibly right for the San Jose Sharks to even be in the playoff picture, but I think his sentiment is true, right? Yeah, absolutely. And that’s I think one of the reasons why he’s in this room because he is always upbeat and he has stories from the past of of that kind of attitude and that attitude working. that Vegas team, nobody thought that they will make the playoffs. Even into January, they were beating Stanley Cup contenders and people still thought that it wouldn’t last and it lasted all the way to the Stanley Cup final. And anything close to that that the Sharks can replicate, I don’t think the expectation is for this Sharks team to make the final. But anything that they can get close to, that’s what Ryan Reeves adds. He also adds to kind of a uh a just a boastfulness. um that that kind of element to the Sharks locker room that doesn’t have that kind of volume and pride. And so I think that’s a big part of why he’s sitting next to Mlin and also too what they hope that they that that they might bring out of Mlin a little bit just a little more kind of willingness to step up and speak. Yeah. And Ryan Reeves probably isn’t going to play 82. He’s probably not even going to play 60 games this year, but he’s going to be an important piece like you said to that dressing room, especially right next to Mlin Celabbrini, Tyler Foy on the other side, who is going to be vital vital obviously Mlin Celbrini who made many believe as we just talked about could be one of the dynamos of the National Hockey League. What are realistic expectations for Mlin here in year two where you know we saw last year Connor Badard struggled in his sophomore year. It’s not unlike really good rookies to take a step back or just not grow as much as everyone else sees. So what are the real realistic expectations? I think for Mlin I think you just want to see a continual improvement of the winning habits. That’s what Ryan Rosski says. Celebr has a lot of winning instincts. He wants to do the right thing. But there are things that last year you could see things like puck management especially third periods that sort of thing that that could be better which is a normal thing for a young player to want to force offense and things like that. But sometimes though that winning hockey isn’t always forcing offense, right? So little things like that I think will be signs of growth. Um defensive improvements, that sort of thing. With Mlin, he’s so good. You know, the points will be on the board. So if he hits point per game, which he really was close to last year already, I think you’re happy with that. But a lot of the improvements you want to see, I think are more subtle. Yeah. 82 games, 82 points. That would be a great jump. That also means some other people are getting points as well. And we’re talking about the teal core. That’s something I’m I want to go with the teal core. Hopefully, he catches on with the fans. But Mlin is the point of that core. He he will be the core. Will Smith looking like will be his winger because like we talked about Michael Misa coming into this league and coming to the Sharks has pushed Will Smith to the outside. The other Will, William Ecklan, is also entering year three fully into the NHL. Two Wills are going to be big here for the San Jose Sharks, but let’s start with Will Smith moving out to the wing. Yeah, with Will, you’re looking for a offensive improvement, right? Like he may never be kind of the two-way guy that you’re looking for from Mlin, but you want to see him grow more comfortable at wing and you want to see him kind of continue what he did in the second half of the season where he just looked really comfortable out there. He looked like when he had a puck on his stick that at times like looked like the world was was his oyster. So, you want to see a little bit more of that this year and of course the production that follows. We got bold predictions coming later and Will Smith is one of my bold predictions. Are you thinking it’s a good move for the Sharks to put him out at wing right now? And given, you know, with Michael Misa, but also how comfortable 30 points in his final 34 there on on the right wing with Celibbrini. Well, I know that Will thinks it’s a good idea because this is his best chance to play with Mlin Celbrini. Exactly. He’s not taking Mlin center job. Yeah. Well, if if that’s what he wants to do, why not do it, right? Right. Right. And yes, I do think that it is a good move in terms of just Will Smith’s future because even when Will was drafted, even though he played center entirely at at BC and in the US program, too. There are a lot of questions of just uh just if his body type if that would be ideal for a center. And so, I think it’s great that he gets his experience at center at the highest level and also that he showed that he could do it too. Um if last season was a struggle and he had struggles playing center and wing then be very very concerned of course about sort of Will Smith’s future but now though he showed that he can play wing in the NHL. He maybe can go back to center in the future which is what a lot of Sharks have done. Tom Ashurdle is one of them for example. So you want him to have that versatility. So I think this is this is great. Uh he was comfortable there last year so why not continue it. and you have a center prospect that we’ll get to and Michael Mis said that you want him to be in a position that that he’s most comfortable in which is center. So there’s Will and then there’s Will Yum. And Will Yum Eklan is the first young shark to earn himself an extension. I think that’s also a big talking point here is that he someone needed to be extended. Someone needed to show that they’re going to be here for an extended period. Ekkund signs a threeyear $16.8 million. He told me that he bought a house back home in Sweden. That was his first big purchase with that new money. But William Ecklan, he he’s kind of solidified himself as a top six winger in this league. And each year it’s been a career year. So that has been good to see from his development standpoint. Yeah. And so for him, it’s just another year of another year of growth, right? And he is also a guy that really hates losing and he’s seen a lot of losing with the Sharks. And so for him, his I think individual kind of um individual goals are he has to be better defensively. He’s they’ve been using him a little bit on the PK. Can he solidify himself as that as a two-way player and know he wants to win really badly and so I think he’s a guy that is starting to see of course what he’s got to do, what the team’s got to do to kind of turn it around and so yeah, expecting big things from William this year. You think it’s kind of nice also for him is that, you know, Mlin and Will, those two are going to take up so much air and take up so much of what the Sharks are going to be that he can almost fly under the radar and just have career years. Yeah. No, I think it’s definitely helpful. I mean, I think even for Will Smith that Mlin took so much attention last year that even Will when he struggled a little bit in October and on that it was a little under the radar in part because you have the number one pick on the team, too. So, I think that’s really helpful and that’s going to help Michael Misa, Sam Dickinson, too. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I think that’s going to be huge for them when we get to them. But the biggest the biggest turning point for this team is in net. Yoslav Ascarov, if he is the player that Mike Greer went out and traded from the Nashville Predators to get, then the Sharks are going to be in a good spot. If he falters and isn’t developed where they they need him to be at this point, that’s going to be the whole season right there with Yarlavas. think he is the biggest question mark as we enter the season and it’s a good question mark but it is the biggest one. Absolutely. And we know that he has the talent to be a that’s what everyone says that he has the talent to be a lead starter in this league. But as we know with goalending it’s so much what’s go going on between the ears a mental thing that we can’t answer. Only Yorosv can answer for us this season. But if he can answer that and he can he can answer the the bell there, then the Sharks are going to be set in net for a long time. What do you think he needs to show as a number one net minder in the NHL? Also, given, you know, some mult multiple injuries last year. Yeah. Well, first you have to prove his health. Also too, he um he’ll have to show that he can kind of uh play that 50 games and and whatnot that is expected of a starter. He’s going to have ups and downs for sure, especially as a rookie, especially on a Sharks team that is not necessarily the deepest team in the league. So, he’ll have to be deal with that. He’ll deal with sometimes where he is going to be the last line of defense and not if he has a bad game or bad game or two, he’s not getting help from his team or his defense, not let that snowball into a slump. So things like that that starting goalies around the league have to have to deal with that kind of daytoday kind of kind of grind at the best league in the world and so maybe not put too much pressure on himself to kind of pull the Sharks out of the the seller and things like that he will have to learn. So I think a successful season for him is if he can play that 50 plus games. um not necessarily have to win the Calder, which he is eligible to do this year, but just have a have a solid season and just uh just continue to kind of be used to that load and and give us a lot more good hockey than bad hockey. Selfishly, you know, postgame interviews are great. Any interview where you saw Vascarov is great. So, let’s keep that coming. Also, he plays the puck and it’s pretty crazy. I know Dmitri Olav has already told him, “I get paid to play the puck behind the behind the goalie line. You stay out there, my But that’ll be interesting see you know some some Russian they could speak. Hopefully that’ll help all that communication as well. So let’s get to training camp here. Everyone wanted to know as we entered here what were the teenagers the new two teenagers this year going to do. Michael Misa Sam Dickinson. They’re both in camp and by all accounts they are going to break with the San Jose Sharks at least for the nineame trial. What have you seen from the two teenagers this time around? Yeah, we have to remember with Mis Dickinson that if they don’t stay with the Sharks, they had to go right back to the CHL where a league that they dominated, OHL, a league where they dominated last year. And so maybe there’s not a lot for them to learn uh this uh this coming season there. So anyway, what I’ve seen from camp from both of them, I’ve seen a lot of pro for Dickinson a lot of progress from last year. And Ryan Morowski has said that he’s wanted Sam Dickinson to learn how to defend at a higher level. He didn’t have to do that so much with the London Knights last year and we’ve seen a lot of progress in that area and he has all the tool set to defend. He has the strength of an NHLer. He skates like an NHLer, but he just has to process like an NHLer. And so that’s all work in progress, but definitely I’ve seen a much more mature Sam Dickinson than last year. With Michael Misa, a lot of it is pace. A lot of it too is remember he’s 18 and so he’s not the strongest guy. He’s not the fastest guy, but it looks like he has enough strength to survive, enough speed to survive. So then he’ll just have to learn to make better puck decisions and that sort of thing at the highest level. And so so far we’ve seen it in scrimmages, in exhibition games from him. But of course, the the big test is coming. Yeah. Michael Misa things that stood out to me at the preseason games is he doesn’t looked overwhelmed. He isn’t splashing like maybe Mlin Celibbrini did a year ago, but he’s also not making critical critical errors that are hurting his team. Sam Dickinson, man, I there is no chance that guy’s going back to junior. Not with the San Jose Sharks, the makeup that they’re in, not with the way Mike Greer said that watching him play in the OL playoffs was one of the reasons why they let Vlic go. Sam Dickinson is going to be in teal for the entire season. I don’t care what anybody says. It’s a bold prediction maybe, but he’s going to be The other thing you’re watching for though at training camp is another prospect. The layers of prospects for the San Jose Sharks. It’s getting deep. It’s so deep. Quinton Musty is still sticking around like he did a year ago. And this time though, it looks more real, right? Yeah, absolutely. With Quentyn, I think last year he was a guy that was trying to force the offense, trying to open eyes and so he didn’t last too this long in the training camp because he was making mistakes with the AHL pace. He couldn’t force his game force dictate his game on on NHLers. This year though, he’s playing more within himself. I think maybe simplifying maybe just thinking about making that next play and just being solid and then waiting for his opportunities for offense. And so I think that has really he’s lasted longer than a lot of the other pro the prospects in the system in camp so far. I don’t know if he’s going to have quite enough to make it, but he’s shown he has shown quite quite quite a bit this training camp. Also too, and it just speaks to how deep this Shark system is. A lot of other prospects have really impressed. Colin Graph’s another guy. I know he played a lot of games last year, but he’s a guy that in a different situation. He’s waver exempt. Maybe they send him back, but he’s been very impressive in this camp. Luca Canoli is another guy that I don’t know that there’ll be space for him, but last couple the last game in in Anaheim, especially the second half of that game, he was making some plays and so really a lot going on positive for the Sharks and their prospects in this camp. Yeah, Luca made some eliminating defensive plays that are just good to see because we all know the offensive side, but he like twoon-one punched the puck out, took it the other way, almost the fumbled a little bit, but he’s looked good. You’re talking about the layers. It keeps on going. It It’s going to be interesting. This cut down day is maybe the first interesting cut down day for the San Jose Sharks in four or five years. So, that’s something to keep an eye on. The last thing you have for the takeaways for this camp is the captaincy. We all know Logan Couture is no longer playing hockey. He was at practice. I saw you tweet that out uh a couple days ago. So, he’s around the team a little bit more, but they don’t have a captain. And Shang, I’m just throwing this out there. No Stanley Cup winner has not had a captain since 1972. I think you’re playing the card ahead of the horse there a little bit for the Sharks team. But yeah, but I if I’m just saying, you know, you got to have captain if you want to win Stanley Cup. to to this point. What would what do we think on the sea? Well, I think based on the things that the Sharks Mike Greer has said that one thing that he’s looking for seems to be looking for is some term for his captain. And so, I don’t think you’re going to get somebody that I think is totally deserving of the captaincy like Mario Ferraro except for the fact that he is a free agent and I don’t know what the Sharks plans are for him and he’s been in a lot of trade rumors. basically every trade deadline the last couple of years. And so if you kind of look at eliminate that part of it out and you have guys with a little bit of ter term like Orof and God debt but I think they’re too new to the team. I think uh William Eklan is is too young. I think Mlin celebrating who qualifies for a lot of things that you’re looking for for a captain but also too young. And the Sharks too have been I know that there have been young captains in the past 19 20 year old captains and successful too like a Crosby but the Sharks have seemed very conscious of not putting too much on Mlin Celbrini’s plate and I think making him the captain at 19 is putting maybe too much on his plate not fair to him maybe. And so then if we kind of just look at who’s left, I think the choices are in terms of leadership. 73 73 is one. I think Barkley Gro is a darkhorse candidate for it too. I think those are your two kind of most likely ones. They’ve got a little bit of term. They have a lot of they have selling company experience to both of them. And so I think those are probably your two most likely ones who are left. I I think it’s got to be Tyler Tofo. If you’re getting that interim, not interim, but the one captain before Mlin Celerrini, it’s got to be Todd Foley. He has a couple more years, three years, right, on left on his his deal. Sure. And he’s going to be here. Barkley Goodro would be a good choice. He’s won some cups. He’s worn a letter for a long time, but he also doesn’t have a ton of term left on his on his contract. And so I I’m pounding the table for Tyler Tofoley because I also think Uncle Toe has a lot of respect in that room and with all the guys. So, I I but I don’t know. I don’t know if they’re going to name a captain. We’ll find out. I I think it’ll be interesting. One of the interesting things to check here in the last week or so before opening night, we’ve talked about The Athletic, the publishing earlier about they predicted a 73 point season for the San Jose Sharks. That would be quite the jump. I think it’s maybe in the realm of possibility, but a lot of things have to go right. Chang, what do you think of this 73 point prediction from the Athletic and where the Sharks maybe can go? Yeah, I think that’s going to be tough to match to be honest. But though, if the Sharks do that though, a couple elements that you’re looking for is Mlin obviously takes that jump. Will Mlin Will Smith takes that jump. Uh likely it’s going to be a scaroff. He’s got to provide very solid goending. Obviously goending can do so much. Scarov has a Dustin Wolf like season, a Calder Trophy caliber season. The the duck, I’m sorry, the the Shark ceiling kind of goes way up the roof there. But, um, I think those are kind of elements. Also, too, of course, we talked about the defense. If those three defenders that they brought in that they can really provide that much needed puck moving slash being able to kill some plays there, that’s going to that’s going to help the Sharks competitiveness, too. So, it’s not a unrealistic one. Of course, uh jumping up that high, but it’s going to be tough though, obviously, from where the Sharks are coming from. I think if you get into the 60 range, 60 to 70, I think that’s something that you want to 30 wins. I think that shows some real progress of where they’re going. And hey, if things hit, then things hit and then you just ride this thing out and see see how quickly you can turn it around. That’s what any franchise wants it to to be sped up. They want it to be sped up, but the guys have to go out there and do it. So, now we’ve got to the bold prediction stage. We’re winding this thing down. Shang Pang, give me a bold prediction for the season, and I will then give you one. I think that the Sharks will clear 70 points. So, I’m going to I’m going to be optimistic for once. And the Sharks, they they are not a last place team. They aren’t the worst team in the Pacific or the NHL. And but they win the lottery, too, though. And so, they so everything works out for them. They’re not the worst team in the league. and they win the lottery. Man, can you imagine not being the worst team in the league, getting the lottery, getting Gavin McKenna and adding it? They might even be at the point where they’re like, actually, we’ll just trade the first overall pick for a horse load and see what we could do. But yeah, I think that’s a great prediction. I also think that the Sharks are not going to be a last place team. I think they might be bottom five or something, but they’re moving. And my bold prediction is Will Smith is getting to 30 goals. Oo, okay. I like that. If he’s with Mlin Celibbrini all year and Mlin’s getting to 85 points, we’re thinking if they’re going to score 73 points this season, someone’s got to score the goals and Will Smith is any a good candidate for it, don’t you think? Yes. Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. He was close to 20 last year, so why not? Exactly. All right. Well, that’s our optimism. October 9th, San Jose Sharks 2025 2026 season begins against a rival of old Vegas Golden Knights. Maybe one day it will be a rivalry renewed, but right now when you just get uh things handed to you on a nightly basis against the Knights, they’re not really rival, but that could change. October 9th, new season, new teal optimism. Shang, thanks so much for joining us. We’ll have you around all season long. Make sure you read them. NBC Sportscal.com or San Jose Hockey Now. Shang, thanks a lot. Thank you.

Sharks Pre and Postgame Live host Alan Hoshida and NBC Sports California contributing writer Sheng Peng break down San Jose’s offseason and preview the upcoming 2025-26 campaign.

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