SURPRISE: The San Jose Sharks Are Showing Signs of Progress as Their Young Players Improve and Grow

SURPRISE: The San Jose Sharks Are Showing Signs of Progress as Their Young Players Improve and Grow

Believe it or not, the San Jose Sharks are showing definite signs of improvement. JD Young of Locked On Sharks is here to talk about that and what it’ll take to get to the next level for the Sharks. All that and more next on today’s Locked on NHL podcast. [Music] You’re Locked on NHL, your daily podcast on the National Hockey League, part of the Locked On Network. your team every day. Gil Martin here. Welcome everybody to the Monday edition of the Locked On NHL podcast. We are part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. I want to thank everyone who makes Locked on NHL your first listen every day. Don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. It is my pleasure to welcome to today’s show the host of Locked On Sharks, JD Young. And uh JD, things looking up out in the Bay Area right now. Yeah, I mean it’s exciting when you have a young budding superstar named M Celebrity who’s uh uh started the season off the way he has and the Sharks starting to put together an effort and starting to win a couple more games and you can see this thing uh coming together a little bit. Still plenty to work on but you can kind of start to see the the foundation has been laid uh and the the framing is going up now I think. What is the the thing that Celabbrini is doing better this year than he was a year ago? What’s the key? I think for him it’s the consistency, right? Because you would see games where or you know shifts where Cabbrini would do cool Cabbrini things and then as an 18-year-old, right, he would have his moments where he makes those rookie mistakes, but now you’re seeing like consistently where he’s just he’s taking over games and being the best player on the ice. uh you know even in moments especially like uh Saturday’s game against Colorado where like Nathan McKinnon and Kale Mccard two of the best players in the NHL and Celery was the best player ice on the ice in the third period of that game as the Sharks won that game. Uh like you’re seeing more and more of this more of these like special moments right uh his overtime winner against the the Wild where the Sharks are hemmed in their own zone for three and a half minutes. he gets out on the ice and then wins the game. Like you the pass against the Rangers to Will Smith to win. Like you’re seeing more and more of these special moments and these moments of him stepping up and being that leader and just putting the team on his back and doing what is necessary to start dragging this team kicking and screaming to more wins. So I think that’s what you’re seeing is is that leadership that why why he’s going to wear the sea at some point whether it’s later on this year or next year. uh and that I think his play is a big reason why the Sharks find themselves to be uh accumulating more wins than they did last year. Does the performance that you’re seeing from Celibbrini help take some of the pressure off guys like Will Smith and William? Yeah, I mean William, he didn’t play tonight, but he’s been the Sharks most consistent forward all season. just the way that he has been uh playing uh his forcheing his ability to you know protect the puck his playmaking and making that line the line with him Alex Wberg and Kurishv uh which have been outstanding a big reason why the Sharks have been able to start to winning games now where it’s not just having to be Celabbrini doing everything and I but I mean so much attention is drawn to Celebrini right and you have to game plan around Cabbrini and that makes life easier for for Will Smith and it’s not like Will Smith is some slouch right he’s the fourth overall pick in the 2020 23 draft like Will Smith’s is a a great player in his own right but again with so much center of attention around celebrity and just the the stuff that he is able to do it does make everyone else’s life much easier and everyone kind of slots into where they uh they kind of fit a little bit better now what what is going on with Michael Misa because he’s only played in you know not all the games and and they seem to be bringing him along slowly. Yeah, it’s almost been frustratingly slow with him, but the Sharks are in a little bit of a contract crunch right now. Uh because after tonight, Sam Dickson has now officially played his 10th game, meaning his ELC has kicked in. The Sharks are now at 50 of 50 contracts. So when Michael Misa plays his 10th game, uh that will put San Jose over their contract limit at 51 of 50. So, they’re being like excruciatingly slow with this because they know they have to make a move. Whether that’s shipping out one of the nine defenseman that they have on the roster right now or maybe moving an AHL guy who’s on an NHL contract. They have a too many Benny uh kind of AHL forwards right now. Uh but whatever it is, like the closer it gets to the deadline, of course, Mike Greer, G general manager Mike Greer kind of loses some leverage with this because they know other teams will know that he’s desperate. So, they’re being extremely slow with Misa and getting him into games and it’s it’s almost frustratingly slow because it feels like he kind of can’t really kind of get into a groove. But, uh, from what we have seen in very limited action, he has played really well. Uh, but again, like the Sharks are are trying to kind of manage this contract situation. And I have a feeling we’ll we’ll see some sort of clarity by the end of the week here, though. two areas of concern right now I would assume would be the penalty kill and the goalending. Talk to me about those. Uh we’ll start with the goalend which has yes it the numbers are not pretty between Nadulkovich and Ascro but those numbers are starting to improve. Uh both these players have played much better recently. Nadulkovich was absolutely amazing tonight against the Red Wings. The same thing with Ascrov. He was a big reason why the Sharks won that game against the Avalanche. and Ascarov had a really poor game against the Kings where he let in four goals on 14 shots. But uh he over the p the past week or so, both these players have started to play better. I think it’s because the defense is starting to gel a little bit. There’s so many new faces on the blue line uh between Clingberg, Lety. Uh you have Orlav and you have Dickinson. And then with all the injuries the Sharks have also been dealing with on the blue line, it’s been a lot of guys shuffling in and out. So it’s been hard uh to get any sort of continuity on the blue line. But you’re starting to see a little bit of continuity. I think you’re starting to see the uh goalies respond as well. And hopefully they can kind of continue this play because if the Sharks can get anywhere near like league average goalending or even just below league average, uh I think you’re going to continue to see the Sharks winning games that uh maybe they weren’t winning last year. As for the penalty kill, that’s a great question, Gil. uh because it has been an absolute mess uh this season and I think a lot of it goes back to again you have so many new pieces on the blue line here and they’re still trying to kind of figure things out and uh get used to the new scheme. Uh but there you’re starting to see a little bit improvement over the past two games here. So we’ll we’ll see if it starts to kind of slowly drag its way out of the basement. But, uh, yeah, it’s the the penalty kill has been a big issue for San Jose this year. With with all these young players maturing and starting to show more, what are realistic expectations for this year? And what are the keys to reaching those expectations? I think like realistically just playing 500 hockey, which I know it doesn’t sound like a big thing, but for San Jose, who has been the worst team in the NHL the past two seasons, right? And it’s not even close. like this team has been an atrocious train wreck to watch at times. And you’re seeing this team where they’re they’re playing good hockey, but they they kind of have this like I I call it like the five minutes of chaos where this for five minutes straight they just can’t do anything. We saw it against your Islanders where they were out playing the Islanders and then for five minutes they just like could not get out of their own way. And as once they kind of start to limit those mistakes and stopped uh kind of being their own worst enemy, I think you’ll continue to see this. But the like I said over the past week or so I think this was a really strong home stand from San Jose and they have been uh you know just limiting some of those mistakes and now it’s trying to just play a consistent 60 minutes where they’ve been you know you’ll play solid for the first period the second period they’ll fall asleep and the the third period they kind of roar back into the game. So I think limiting mistakes and and just being a more consistent team is a big way to go. But yeah I think 500 hockey would be a like a huge milestone for this team. Give me an unsung hero, a guy who’s not making headlines nationally, but who has really helped this team play better this year. Uh Philip Kersev, who’s been on absolute heater here. Uh he had four goals in three games coming into uh the game against the Red Wings. And uh like I said that second line with Equin Wberg and Kersev. Kerschev who uh lost a spot last season with with the Blackhawks and you know the year before he was a 50-point player looked like he might be a potential thing for uh for Chicago. The last season dealt with some injuries. This year we was the Sharks signed to a pretty reasonable deal at 1.2 million. Come in here we’ll give you an opportunity. Uh after starting with celebrating Smith didn’t really kind of fit there. has really found a home playing with with Alex Wenberg and uh William Ekin. And like I said, that second line has been a big- time reason why the Sharks have been able to uh start to win some games. They’ve been taking on the other team’s top players and they have done a good job of not only, you know, kind of limiting the damage, but also driving offense. Uh so I think Phil Kruev, who who’s really had a great start to his season here. So, all right. Uh JD, why don’t you tell our viewers and our listeners where they could find the podcast and where they could find you on social media? Uh, of course you can find the podcast wherever you’re listening to this uh YouTube, all that’s fun stuff. Uh you can follow the show on uh Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and on Tik Tok at Lockdown Sharks. You can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky Fryhole. All right, JD, thanks so much. Always a pleasure, Gil. Today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch. Let’s be honest, most of us can’t name all our financial accounts, let alone what they’re worth. Between 401ks, savings, and investments, it’s easy to lose track, and that can mean leaving money on the table. That’s why I started using Monarch. It’s an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or your phone. 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The San Jose Sharks are showing signs of definite improvement after finishing with the worst record in the NHL the last two seasons.

J.D. Young of Locked On Sharks joins us to discuss the dynamic play of Macklin Celebrini, the improvement from Will Smith and William Eklund and what it will take for the Sharks to continue to make progress this season.

All this and more on today’s Locked On NHL Podcast with Gil Martin.

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