THG’s 2025-26 San Jose Sharks Season Preview

THG’s 2025-26 San Jose Sharks Season Preview

Welcome back. All right, San Jose Sharks. As I start my season previews, uh we start with the San Jose Sharks. They were the first team that I talked about during the summer, this off season, and so I will start out by talking about them and previewing this coming season. Now, one thing to keep in mind is they still have a lot of cap space. I don’t think they’re going to use a lot of it, but as we get closer to training camp, maybe we see a move get made. They have 19,740,832 in cap space according to Puckpedia. Uh they finished last season with a record of 20,50 and 12. And while that’s not a good record, it’s still a bit of an improvement over the way things have looked and there’s just this this feeling, this vibe of positivity around the team. I think that we’re going to see San Jose go out there and play all right. Uh I don’t think that the San Jose Sharks are going to be anywhere near the playoffs this year. according to the channel vote, that seems to be a pretty widely shared uh opinion, but there are some who believe this team is going to get better, and maybe they do. So, looking at the overall roster, uh there are a lot of young players. There are some who may very well end up being in the in the lineup. So, I’ve got Misa under top prospects. It’s possible that he ends up playing for them. I know that’s still a debate the team is having. Uh but looking at their likely top six, I figure Ekkan, Celabbrini, Tofoley, those are slam dunks. And then Skinner and Kurv could end up on the third line, but Jeff Skinner is going to get an opportunity, I would think, to play on the second line at the very least. Give him a look because over his career, he has been a pretty good goal scorer. And then of course, Will Smith with the second half of the season he had, he got he got better and better as the year went along. Uh I can’t see him not being in the top six, but the bottom six, there are some guys here who could push their way up. Wenberg may end up playing more minutes than Skinner. That’s possible. Uh Gudro, uh not a lot of scoring, of course, with Gudro. He is just a defensively minded forward at this point. The interesting one to me is signing Adam Goddet. Goddette’s coming off of a strong goalcoring year with Ottawa, although it was very strong at the start of the season, not as strong towards the end of it. So my expectations for Godette, that is goals probably drop off a little bit this year from where they were last year. In fact, when I say that out loud, I’m thinking, you know, when I talked about players whose scoring might drop off this year, I absolutely could have mentioned Godette. Uh, a staff check, DAR, Grundstrom, I think are likely that bottom six. But there are other options here. Colin Graph stands out as a player who could, if he has a good training camp, click himself into that third line and really help to give the team a tough decision. And if you’re a general manager, and Mike Greer is the general manager of this team. Mike Greer wants to have difficult decisions to make when it gets to waiverwire time, uh, that would mean the team’s getting better. Now, they added Ryan Reeves. I don’t think Reeves plays every night. I don’t think he is going to be playing, you know, 65 70 games, but it’s possible. We’ll see what they end up doing. And I say that because a stab check, I think that’s a good third or fourth line. I’m not sure that Reeves pushes anybody out. Now they they acquired Olison from the Colorado Avalanche. They’ve also got Giles, Ephanosv, Bowers, White, Cardwell, Regenda, Cherish, Cherishov, uh Haltonin, uh Huntington, and Lond uh as you know, depth players up front. There’s some good depth here. I think the San Jose Barracuda could have a good season, but uh we shall see. I think there might be a G in that Huntington. And if there is, uh, the entertainment guy screwed that up when he wrote it on the board. Uh, your defense, and this is interesting, too, because I do think that Sam Dickinson pushes what pushes his way into this top six, and that makes things better. And while people are going to look at this this defense and say, “Well, these guys all need bouncebacks.” Yes. But odds are one of them probably does. And for San Jose, a team that’s not going to be in the hunt for the playoffs this year, having players who you might be able to send out as rentals at the deadline, veteran players that you might be able to trade off, that’s beneficial, right? So, you have Ferraro still here. There were discussions about whether or not Ferraro was going to stick around with San Jose. I am Amongst the many rumors. It’s offseason. There’s many, many rumors everywhere. Everybody’s getting traded everywhere for everybody else because offseason. Uh, Lil Jiggrren I thought played well with San Jose, although they probably want some more points from him than what they got from him. Uh, it feels like the second half of the season that tailed off a little bit. Or’s a fascinating addition. Or did not have a great season with Carolina, but can he bounce back? Yes. Uh, if you look at his career, uh, he’s been a very effective defenseman. I am not making excuses for last season because he was on a Carolina team that he should have been better. And I think he knows he should have been better. And now San Jose’s giving them that opportunity. Klingberg, very similar situation obviously with Klingberg not in Cal or not in Carolina. Now he’s in California. There you go. Uh but the San Jose Sharks picking up Clingberg could be a smart move. But either way, these are these are moves that do not carry risk. It’s not like there’s a a wealth of defensemen here that are being hurt by these additions. And if some of these young defensemen come in and push these veterans out of jobs, once again, it just gives Mike Greer um a tough decision in terms of who gets waved and who ends up being sent where. Uh so Dickinson, I don’t know that he ends up on that third pairing. I think if he makes it, he probably finds his way into the top four, but who does he push down? And then let I think uh as an acquisition here, very likely top six, but Muhammad Dulan still there. Uh Dearna is there. Jack Thompson, Kegnoni. Keoni did not look bad when he got called up either or Canoni. Um, Canoni. Anyways, it’s been a long summer, but this is an interesting defensive group. Carlson got into some games from this past season as well. Uh, Gurv and Furlong also for depth on the blue line. I do like this depth on the blue line a lot. There is the possibility that they wave a veteran who maybe gets claimed during training camp or during the preseason, but that’s a good problem to have. And comparatively speaking with the defense that San Jose was icing a couple years ago, and no offense to any of the defensemen who were part of that team a couple years ago, uh that was that was tough. That was that was really really tough. So, at the very least, we now have a bunch of defenseman that we know who they are. They’re veterans and you’ve got a a rookie in here in Dickinson in all likelihood. Uh who I think should get more consideration when we talk about rookies who could have a real impact that first year. Um I have him as the one to watch. Sam Dickinson. I think that’s that’s the one to keep an eye on. If he makes this team, I think he could surprise some people. He’s looked excellent at the junior level. I understand there’s a big jump between junior and the National Hockey League, but Dickinson was a top prospect for a reason, top draft pick for a reason. We’ll see how it goes. In net, this is where the I think the biggest question mark might be. You have Ascarov and Nadulkovich. Nadulkovich coming off of an okay year with Pittsburgh, right? Uh Ascarov, this is his time now. Uh Nashville clearly decided they were going with Sorrowos. So when that happened, Ascrov’s like, I want to go. Uh goes to San Jose. San Jose sends him down to the Barracuda. People on the internet were melting down like, oh, you know, he got traded out of Nashville cuz he didn’t want to play in the AHL. Now he’s in the AHL. The difference being now he can be San Jose’s starting goalender. Nashville still has Sorrowos for ages. So that’s the difference right there is that he knew he wasn’t going to have to wait that long uh in San Jose comparatively speaking with what he was looking at in Nashville. So I think the MVP and this is a prediction. So predictively I think Celabbrini is your most valuable player in San Jose. So when this shows up for other teams that’s what MVP in in in titles or entails. There’s the word entails. It’s still summer. My brain’s kind of a little bit. But anyways, uh, and with everything that’s been going on, my brain is definitely a little off. But, uh, Celibbrini is the future for the San Jose Sharks. Now, with this team still not being a playoff team, we will be discussing as the season goes along, uh, their odds of drafting higher up when it comes to, um, potentially getting a a a pretty solid pick in the top three. Maybe they win a draft lottery and get number one. We’ll find out. Um, but with that cap space of almost $20 million, uh, they have options. So, the channel vote, and there are about 11,000 votes at this point. If you’re wondering where it is, it’s on the community tab of the channel. Uh, 2% of you said, uh, first place or second place. So, I love the optimism. 4% said third or fourth. So, 6% of the channel are either trolling or they’re really, really optimistic. I’m going to guess trolling. Um, 27% said fifth or sixth, which I like the optimism. That number to me is not, you know, just a couple of trolls. That’s optimism and I like that. 67% of seventh or eighth. I’m guessing a lot of that 27% vote from San Jose fans who would like to see games being played later in the season that mean a little bit more for San Jose. So, looking at their schedule, uh, in October, six out of 11 games are at home. And in November, by my count, if these numbers are wrong, it’s the entertainment guys fault. But in November, nine out of 15 games are at home. So if San Jose plays well at home, 15 of their first 26 games are at home, that that could get them a solid record. And with so many good young players, sometimes young teams forget they’re supposed to lose. It’s a thing in the National Hockey League, and it’s something we we cannot predict. Sometimes young teams are having so much fun that they start winning games that they’re not supposed to, and then it makes things awkward. Uh, does it usually last? No. But if San Jose gets off to a good start, considering where attendance has been for San Jose the last little while here, it might be fun to see them uh playing some games that bring the fans back in. Um then in December, eight out of 14 games are away from home. January, eight out of 13 games are away from home. So December and January is much more heavy in terms of road games than home games. That’s where those first two months are really important. Uh February they have four games and half of them are at home so the other half are away. Uh March eight out of 15 are away from home and April six out of 10 are at home. So or eight out of 15 in in March are on the road and then April 6 out of 10 are at home. Did I already say that? Cuz if I did deja vu but yeah uh the schedule’s pretty evenly pretty pretty evenly balanced. Uh, but like I said, they have more home games to start things off and you’d want to see them get a good record if you want to see them get anywhere near the playoffs. Uh, the coach of this team is Ryan Warovski. I don’t think there’s any danger that Ryan Worovski’s job is in any kind of trouble whatsoever. I think San Jose would have to have a disastrous start. The one thing that could could cause problems for Wasovsky, and I’m just saying this would be ridiculous, they’d have to start the season with like two w two wins in their first 15 and Celbrini would have to look lost out there. That’s the only way only way where I could see them considering it is if as if it was negatively impacting Celibbriny’s development, but other than that, I I think things are good. So basically like a a Luke Richardson situation where Chicago felt like things weren’t going the way they should, not just in terms of record, but in terms of certain players and so they made a change behind the bench during the season. Now San Jose’s record since 2021 2022 combined is worst in the league. Not a surprise, of course. 98 wins, 185 regulation losses, and 50 losses in extra time via either overtime or shootouts. their top scorers over that time period. Four out of five, no longer with the team. Uh Hurdle played 209 games, 767 goals, 94 assists, 161 points. He’s their top scorer since 2021 2022. Now in Vegas, uh Carlson 132 games, 35 goals, 101 assists, 136 points. And despite all of the rumors during the offseason, Eric Carlson is still in Pittsburgh. Uh team Omire 134 games, 66 goals, 62 assists, 128 points. He of course was traded to New Jersey. Uh Logan Couture who has basically declared his career as finished 165 games, 50 goals, 74 assists, 124 points. I say this because he is still on LTR. He is still technically under contract with the team. So the official retirement won’t be until that contract is done, but he’s done. Um and then Ecklund cracks the top five. 174 points for Will Ecklland. Uh 35 goals, 75 assists, 110 points. and his continued ascension is really important, too. So, couple things to keep an eye on with the San Jose Sharks to start this season will be how those young players develop. How much better is Smith? How much better better is Celibbrini and and Eklan? And how do these guys all gel together? And how does it help the team’s record and the team’s scoring, which we’ll talk about in a minute here. Now, the top prospects, as I believe I previously mentioned, Misa I’ve still got under prospects. Now, if they sign him and they decide he’s gonna make the lineup and they’re they’re going to give him every opportunity, it could create a bit of a log jam here because I don’t think Misa ends up playing in the bottom six. Let’s just go down the rabbit hole. Misa qualifies and ends up on that third line. Uh it would drop things down. I think if he’s able to do that, it might open things up so that Mike Greer is able to offer some offensive depth, um some depth forwards around the NHL and see what the market value might be because you don’t want to have too many forwards. Uh defenseman, you can’t have too many. You just can’t. But forwards, you you kind of can. Um now, I’ve also got Musty and Bed on the list. Um Musty probably doesn’t end up breaking training camp with the team. I say probably because he’s been in their in their system for a while. They may want to get a look and see what he’s able to do. Uh so look for him to get those opportunities during the preseason. I would think uh bystead maybe that happens with him as well. And then in net they did draft Ravensburgen in the first round. So Ravensburg to me is the the one who’s likely next. When you look at their goalending depth, Scarrick and Ker Kerier are the uh depth goalenders. Scarrick’s got NHL experience, so he’s their number three. Uh, but Ravens, Bergen, uh, likely to be that next one with, uh, Ascarov likely to be the starter this season. So, their scoring leaders this past year, Cabbrini, no surprise, leading the way. 70 games, 25 goals, 38 assists, 63 points. He was better than I thought he was going to be. I thought he was better than advertised. So, that’s great news for San Jose. Uh, Ekkan, 77 games, 17 goals, 41 assists, 58 points. I expect those numbers to go up. Same for Celabbrini. Uh to Foley, 78 games, 30 goals, 24 assists, 54 points. Nice to have a 30 goal scorer on a roster that definitely needs that goal scoring. Uh Will Smith, 74 games, 18 goals, 27 assists, 45 points. I would think at least 60 this coming season for Will Smith. Uh and Granland before the trade, he’s actually still their fifth leading scorer when you include his points before the trade. Uh 52 games, 15 goals, 30 assists, 45 points. Now, Grandlands in Anaheim, so that could add another layer to the to the battles of California, which this year may start getting back to the nasty territory. Uh, back when this channel started, anytime that two teams from California played against each other, it was uh it was unpleasant. And that means it was a lot of fun to watch. Uh, so goalending, they had five goalenders uh this past season. Gurgge 719 and four with an 875 save percentage. And that’s part of the reason why their record nose dived uh after the trade of Blackwood because Blackwood was 69 and three with a 911 safe percentage. So Blackwood gave them that steady goalending. Then the trade happens with Colorado. Gergev had his struggles. Gergev is not in the National Hockey League this year. Um and Ascarov uh or Ascarov 46 and2 record 896 safe percentage. I thought Ascarov looked pretty good in his call-ups. Uh but this year of course is not just going to be a call-up situation. He’s very likely to be the starter. Vanichek was 310 and three with an 882 safe percentage. Then he goes to Florida and gets himself a cup ring. That’s fun. And then Romanov. Uh Romanov was 0 and6 with an 877 safe percentage. I was rooting for Georgie. I was but uh the numbers not great and him no longer being part of the organization not entirely a surprise as a result. Uh their last five playoffs. So, for every team I’m going to be doing this where I talk about their record over the last five playoffs, there is no record for me to give with San Jose over the last five playoffs, they have not made it into the playoffs since 2019. So, it’s been a while. This is why there’s 27% voting for fifth or sixth because you kind of want to be playing games that are important. And this is part of the reason, too, why attendance is going to drop. It’s just going to happen. Uh, it’s very rare for a team to miss the playoffs for that long and not see an attendance drop. All of the complaining about the attendance that I’ve seen around Buffalo is from people who don’t understand that team hasn’t made the playoffs since uh 1865 or somewhere around there, it’s it’s been a long time. So, when you’re going out to watch a game and you know that the team isn’t very likely to win and probably not going to be important games later, it’s just more difficult to sell the tickets and more difficult talking people into buying them, like all that fun stuff. So, their power play this past season was 26th in the NHL at 18.6%. I would expect that to get better with the young players as they improve their chemistry together. Uh, the penalty kill 74.2% uh 27th overall. That should get better. absolutely should considering the number of veterans, especially on the blue line that they’ve added, but it’s going to be a work in progress early. If you’ve got a defensive unit that hasn’t played together on uh your penalty kill, if they haven’t played together before, you could very well have that issue where it takes them a while to get it going. Uh their goals scored, they were last in the NHL at 2.54 per game. Uh their goals allowed, last in the NHL as well at 3.78 goals against per game. So, if you’re asking yourself what this team needs to improve, the answer is yes. Uh there is not much that the San Jose Sharks from this past season won’t be looking to improve for this season. And because they’ve been so far behind the rest of the National Hockey League, and these struggles have gone on for this long, um they could improve and still find themselves nowhere near a playoff spot. Uh, but look for look for how much I don’t know how to I don’t know how to measure fun. Like, but that’s the thing. If if in October we have a team that’s really enjoying their time together and they’ve got this really really good vibe together, um, maybe they hang around a little bit longer than we expect, maybe that fifth or sixth, maybe that optimism ends up being true. U, personally, I think they’re probably still near the bottom of the division or at the bottom of the division. Uh, but let me know your thoughts. which team do you think they can pass in the Pacific Division and and why? And don’t forget to hit like and subscribe in the event you may not have done so already. Um, I think this season’s going to be a lot of fun. I hope that the the parody we see in the regular season rolls over into the playoffs and I also hope that San Jose is playing some games. I would say into into March that uh, you know, they’re not mathematically eliminated. They’re still maybe eight points out of the playoffs, something like that. Just a little bit of hope would be nice. Uh even if in the end they still miss the playoffs. But let me know your thoughts. Hit like and subscribe if you haven’t done so already. The season previews are here. Thanks again for all your support. I will talk to you again soon.

It is time to get into the season previews once again.

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