San Jose Sharks 2025-26 NHL Season Preview
Hello everybody and welcome into another season preview show here at the Hockey Riders. I’m your host Matthew Zour and we are up to the San Jose Sharks as we continue previewing the season coming up. I’ve got Alex Hutton here who covers the Sharks here at the site. Alex, how’s it going? Going going pretty well. Having a having a good week. Uh coming coming off a cold, so hope I sound okay. Uh but yeah, know excited to excited to talk about the the upcoming season for sure. Long off season. It’s been it seems like it was a really long off season and we’ve got training camp starting up pro almost every team I think started training camp today or they are going to be starting it uh in the next couple days. So lots of fun stuff to talk about and it’s good to do a preview. So h the Sharks of course uh very young team coming into this season. They got some veterans that they added uh again in the offseason, a few up front. So we’ll start there uh with a bunch of the new additions there. I put in like four of the guys. I think there’s probably another few, but these are the notable ones I kind of picked out. You can speak on all of them. You can talk about specific ones, but what do you think about these four coming in? I mean, they’re all veteran guys. Adam Goddet is probably or I guess God and Kersh would be the the younger guys. What do you think about these four coming in? Yeah, I mean even then I think Godet and Kers are still like 25, 26, something like that. So, I mean on the on the scale of the Sharks with how young so many of their forwards are, they’re even still a little bit sort of in that vet more veteran, older, more experienced category. And I think that’s what what it’s all about for the Sharks this year and what they were trying to do with their forwards in the offseason is bring in more veteran guys. guys that, you know, people like like Mlin and Will Smith and William Ecklland can can learn from, guys who can insulate them a little bit and just have a a more experienced uh group around around them as they develop and and grow as as players. Yeah. I mean, God had a careerhigh in goals last season, so it’s not like he could actually contribute maybe surprisingly this season, too. and it was I was kind of surprised that the Senators didn’t resign him, but again, they’ve got a bit of a log jam with their forward group with adding a couple guys. Um, but yeah, they’re all veterans and Ryan Reeves coming in a good uh physical guy for the fourth line and uh so I mean it’s interesting. I don’t know with the Reeves trade giving up Henry Thrun was a little bit of an interesting one because I thought he was he might have been of the future on defense. I mean, we’ll talk with the defense later on, but were you surprised by them acquiring Reeves? A a little bit. Yeah. Just because, you know, with his past history in Vegas and everything, he’d always been a little bit of an antagonist uh for for the Sharks. So, I was definitely surprised when I found out that that was going to be the return in the in the Thrron trade. Um Thron, you know, he had a he had a tough season last year and they had a lot of um they kind of had a log jam in their defense that they were trying to sort out. Um so, he ended up kind of just being the one of the odd ones out. Uh, as for the as for Reeves, I think it just goes back to um the the veteran experience, a physical guy, someone who can, you know, the idea being he can he can protect the younger the the younger players. And I think the other thing to look at with with these fours is a little bit of a of a reclamation for some of them. You know, a couple a few of them are coming off, you know, okay, but not great seasons. And the Sharks over the last few years have actually like been able to to be a boost in the career of a few different forwards. So, I think some of these guys are hoping that the Sharks can do the same for them. Yeah, Jeff Skinner had a bit had a tough season in Edmonton. He thought that maybe of course got his first playoff game, first playoff experience, but I yeah, it didn’t go the way I think he thought it was going to go and now he joins a very young team and like like you know say with like guys like M Granland, he revitalized his career in San Jose and now he he parlayed that into a really big contract in Anaheim. uh and he had a great season in Dallas there, too. So, and great seasons in San Jose, probably at times one of their best players. So, yeah, it is something that veterans have been able to kind of get a boost. Maybe being around the young guys was a big thing or or getting more opportunity because of the, you know, the roster is not very strong. So, I mean, it is a interesting to see these guys come in and it’s not bad. I mean, Tyler Tafoy, he he wanted to come to San Jose, which was a a big thing a couple seasons ago. So, yeah, it is. It’s not like veterans don’t want to join the Sharks and be around these young guys because they have a lot of great ones. All right. Uh, look at the rest of the forward group. I mean, of course, we saying it’s it’s very young. I What are your burning questions, storylines, going into the season here? Yeah, I mean I think it’s which of those which of those young players uh take a leap? And I think we’ll probably get into that later in the video in in the kind of rapid fire uh segment, but I think it’s a lot of, you know, do Mlin Cibbury and and Will Smith take like a a kind of sophomore leap. Do does William Ecklund go from go from good to like to breakout star type caliber? Can someone like a a Colin Graph who came on really strong at the end of the last season when he got a chance at the NHL level, can he keep that going? which of the prospects maybe, you know, maybe which of them is for which of them is this the year where they make the jump to the NHL and establish themselves permanently with the Sharks. So, I think that’s the big thing to to look at and obviously, you know, the getting getting help from the veterans is going to be a part of that, but I think looking at those young players and seeing who’s going to be there long term because I think this is a year for the Sharks to really figure out like, okay, these are the young players we want to sign long term and have for like the the main core of the next few seasons. Yeah, it’s establishing who’s going to be part of that. We already know the guys that are probably going to be part of it. But h yeah, it’s taking that next step of who’s going to be the leader I think amongst them because I mean you think it’s Mlin Calibbrini but it might end up being Michael Misa. I mean you don’t know you know it looks like going to be maybe the the two of them there but yeah it’s establishing that core that you’re going to build around for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Just just one more thing on that. Like it just it just got announced today or the the sort of the the assumption from the announcement today is that Will Smith is going to be playing a lot on the wing this season. So that could say something about, you know, where where CBrini stands, where Misa stands as as centers. So that’s just another thing to keep in mind. Yeah, that’s an interesting development, right? Because Smith’s a center, right? So they have a log jam at center ice. I mean, you don’t want probably Smith doesn’t want to be a third line center. So yeah, that is an interesting interesting thing for sure. All right, and looking at the defense again, a few veteran guys getting added to the blue line. Demetri Orlov was the most recent. Nick Ley and then John Clingberg. Again, these guys uh just talking about Reclamation Project. Nick Ley was one of them. He was waved by the Blues and and you know, he’s gone. And then Clingberg, he had a tough I mean, of course, he joined the Oilers late in the season, too. He had okay, I think an okay end of the season, but again, a veteran guy. And so, I mean, I you probably put Orlov in that category, too. He didn’t have a very good season in Carolina after signing that massive contract, right? Yeah. No, I mean, definitely. I think I think definitely reclamation is the big thing here. I think Nick Leti is the most obvious example of that just because of the waiver situation and the and a big part of the reason the Sharks picked him up was partially to add a defense but also partially to take on his contract and get to the cap floor. So that that has to be considered when when think about why the Sharks picked him up. But I mean I think the big thing for the defense is, you know, they’ve drafted a lot of great forwards. Everyone’s really excited about that. The defense is still kind of inching its way up there. It’s not quite on that same level yet. So, they’re hoping that these guys can at least hold things down while, you know, maybe maybe not any of them are like a a big part of the long-term future, but they can at least keep them respectable in the meantime while they add more young defenseman and build up the the defense core in the way that they built up the forward core. And it’s going to be important to have a good defense this season because you you want to give Yarislav Ascarov a lot of time in net. you know, he’s he’s a young goalie and and trying to backs stop a bad defense is really tough for any goalie, but especially for one who’s just starting out in his career. So, that’s that’s something that’s gonna be really important. Yeah, you don’t want to get have get shelled every game, right? So, it’s like no matter how talented he is, that’s not something you want to be doing. Um, so yeah, it’s good to be have some good defenseman back there. And you know, Orlov and Ley and I mean Clingberg’s more an offensive guy, but they’ve all shown to be Lety and Orl for sure have shown to be good defensive two-way type defenseman. So yeah, that’s a a big deal for sure. Well, that’s a good segue into the goalending because uh Yasvascarov and brought in Alex Nadelkovich as the veteran guy to kind of be pair with them. I do you see Ascrov taking a lot of it being the starting role or is Nidalovich kind it’s going to be like more of a split? I think I think it’ll probably be a split. You know, you’re still I think easing Ascarov into the the full-time role, but I mean that can still mean a huge jump in the number of of starts he gets. He he played in 13 games last year. I mean even going to 13 to the NHL level at least. And so even going to 30 or 40 this year is, you know, it doesn’t make him the full-time starter, but it’s a it’s a big leap and it’s a it’s it’s a step that shows, hey, we’re we’re working towards him being the guy in the future. And, you know, if he can if he can play well, especially early on, he’ll earn more and more of that, I think. Um, as for as for Nadulkovich, I think it’s important to know if Ascarov is is struggling and runs into some tough games be behind that defense, if that’s struggling, Delkovich can be there to a to help him out just from a me a mental kind of perspective and also slide into net and take some of those starts. Yeah, I mean, Adelovich had a pretty good season in Pittsburgh, too. I mean, he’s had ups and downs, of course, over the last few years, but seemed to have established himself back into that goalender that would look, you know, he had was in the Calder running in Carolina there. And he’s actually relatively still not that old. So, I mean, he could actually figure into the future more than people are thinking in San Jose. So, yeah, it’s an interesting uh duo to see how how they kind of balance it ne this season uh with the goalending. might be a surprisingly good tandem, right? So, it’ be interesting to see. All right. Well, I mean, this might be an obvious thing where they stack up in the Pacific Division. I do you still see them being the last place or do they take uh maybe an extra step and maybe not finish last? I do still see them being the last place team in the Pacific this year. I just think when when you look at everyone else and the and the roster they have, I still think they’re ahead of the Sharks in their development or some of them were good last year and just going to stay good. But I think the big thing for the Sharks this year is closing the gap. Last year they were they were eighth and they were 24 points out of out of seventh place, which obviously is not very good. So I mean, if they can if they can be still be last, but just by a lot less than that, that’s still a a step in the in the right direction. It shows that that they’re that they’re going somewhere. And I think that’s going to be a a big focus is, you know, hey, you know, maybe we we’re not a playoff team this year, but let’s let’s maybe not finish last in the entire NHL or let’s, you know, finish LA last by less. And those those steps, yes, it’s still it’s still frustrating for the for the players to to not be there yet, but it it’s I think it’s still a positive and that it shows that it’s headed in some sort of positive direction. Yeah, it’s true. I mean, the thing is it’s all about building, right? And that’s and that’s their, you know, you you’re going to eventually shift from a rebuild into closer to being a contender again because I mean, the talent is just off the charts with the young guys. So, I mean, eventually they’ll turn that corner, but yeah, it’s just taking that steps of not Yeah, I agree. not being last and just developing and maybe the more positive vibes you can get, the better, right? You don’t want to be always finishing last because eventually they won’t and that and that’ll come come soon. Yeah. And I mean the for for as much as they for the many struggles they had last year and finishing last the the the vibes around the team were generally pretty good for the most part. I mean you you had you know the Smith Celibbrony relationship and the the TFI sleepover like they were they were they were managed to find some some fun in there despite their struggles. So, if they can if they can do even better, that should improve even more and then hopefully just continue to to escalate as they climb up the standings. Yeah, agree. Like I say, they have too much talent not to uh take another step forward when you’re adding some of these guys and the development uh of the the guys too, right? because celebrating is going to take an extra step forward you’d think uh this season as well. All right, let’s move to our quickfire and the first one is the is a biggest storyline or question mark going into this season? There might be a few of them especially on a rebuilding team like the Sharks, but what what’s the biggest one in your mind? Yeah, there there’s definitely a few. I I think it’s something we’ve already addressed a little bit and it’s how does how does the goalie playing time um get split up? because you know a a a good a a good or bad goalie can completely make or break a team that’s otherwise uh good or bad. So you know just how much does Yaruslav Ascarov prove that he is the goalie of the future? You know that’s obviously what the Sharks want him to be if he can and he he had some great moments last season and also some moments of struggle. So, if he can take another step, really start playing like um the the goalie the Sharks want him to be, that would be a a great uh sign for them. As you talked about the Nelkovich thing, he he definitely could be around depending on how well he plays. And also, you know, after this season, is he going to look for a for a starting role? Depending on how well he plays, he gonna want to go somewhere else. Um and that also depends on how Ascarov does as well. So seeing how those two goalies play, how much playing time each of them gets, I think is going to be um really interesting to track for sure. Yeah, I agree with that too. All right, this could have multiple answers because not there’s so many guys that could potentially fall into this category, but who are you looking at as a breakout star this season? Breakout star, I think probably people have mentioned his name, but I’ll go with William Ecklund. you know, he’s improved his scoring output every season he’s been in the NHL and and you know, now he just earned a new uh contract extension. So, I mean, I think this could be a year that he catapults into the sort of the the top the the higher tier of of wings in the league. Uh he he’ll be he’ll be centered presumably by one of the good young centers that this team has. They’re obviously still figuring out the line combinations, but it’s going to be one of them. And you know, he if he could have I think he’s someone who could have a a really really good season and and sort of ex not just take a jump, really accelerate his growth and um make make a lot of noise. Yeah, I can definitely see that too. Like again, he’s he showed progression last season and you see probably more this season for sure as well. All right, I mean again this guys fall into this one, too. Uh, who needs to bounce back the most from last season? Yeah, I I think there’s a couple different guys. For someone who was on the Sharks last year, I’ll go with Mario Ferraro. Uh, I think I think for all all things considered, two seasons ago, he had a pretty good season. Obviously, he was the he was the best defenseman on a bad team. Um, and then last year, not not quite as effective. Didn’t seem to make as much of an impact as I think he’s capable of. So, um, I would love to to see him get back to that more, especially since he’s had to carry more of the offensive load than I think he’d like in recent years, and they’ve added a couple more offensively capable defenseman since then. So, um, just to for him to become go back to being more of a pure defender, I think that would be important. And then for for someone who who wasn’t on the Sharks last year, but obviously is coming from a a rough spot, Nick Lety, you know, we talked about his um being waved and the and being and then being claimed and the whole um idea of a reclamation project with him. Um so I think he has an opportunity to really to take what happened to him this off seasonason and use his momentum to prove like, hey, I’m I’m still here. I’m still cap I’m still a capable defenseman in this league. Um even though I’ve kind of been cast aside just a little bit. So, I think that would be something really good. Something I’m I’m definitely rooting for for him personally is just to see him uh go have a little bit of a redemption arc might be might be too strong a word, but have that that bounce back like we said. Yeah. Yeah. He’s definitely one h to watch this season to see if he can because he I mean veteran guy like you say the Sharks been able to do that for for a lot of these guys. So, he might be the next one for sure. And looking at uh X factors, do you see I mean it can be a situation, could be a player, but what do you got for an X factor this season? Yeah, I think it’s a situation for me and it’s something we we mentioned earlier, but it’s um Cabbrini and Smith taking that sophomore leap. How are they able to do it? How big is the leap they’re able to take? And I think that could be the difference between them still finishing last and then or first finishing with like the fifth or to eighth worst record in the league. Something something around there. think that could could make the difference because, you know, people have a lot of um Sharks fans have speculated about, you know, holding off for like sort of continuing the the tank/rebel, whatever you want to call it, for for one more year to try to to try to win the Gavin McKenna lottery. And I think a lot of people’s response to that is, are Celeian Smith just going to be just too good for that to happen? Yeah. So, I think that is something that’s going to be interesting to track to see if if they take that big jump, then the Sharks might slightly be able to move up in the standings and out of that very bottom feeder level into still out of the playoffs, but okay, we’re really going somewhere. Maybe next year is the is the one we’re all we’re all pointing towards as the potential time to make to really fight for the playoffs. Yeah. I mean, the thing is is that might be true. I mean, they’re just too good to them to to finish last and and get the get the best lottery odds. So, yeah, that definitely is something to to watch for as well. All right, I’m going to skip the surprising prospects. I don’t know if that would be a surprise to make the Sharks roster, but we’ll go to prospects to watch in general because they have a really strong prospect pool. Named the top prospect pool by uh the hockey writers in their in our last update to the farm system rankings. They’re number one now. So, lots of prospects that you could probably watch. So, who do you think everyone should be watching the most? Yeah, there’s there’s so many um to to pay attention to. Um just rattle off a few. I think Quinton Quinton Musty is a big one um because he he just turned 20, so he’s eligible to play for the Barracuda now. Um so, he’ll really start um I don’t know. I don’t know exactly what the word is, but working his way into San Jose’s system, coming from juniors and now fully being in in their pipeline. And we’ll see what kind of an impact he can make at the AHL level and how soon he earns that spot in the NHL. Um, Philip Beastet, I think, is a big one. He was Mike Greer’s first ever draft pick back in 2022. And I I was looking this up for for an article I I was writing that should come out in the next day or two. Um, but it he there are only four players from the first round of that draft class who haven’t played an NHL game yet, and he is one of them. So, I think this is a really big year for him to see, you know, he he got a full AHL season last year. So, we’ll see where he fits in in things, especially because, you know, at at the time he was drafted, the Sharks didn’t have a great prospect pool and now they do. So, his place within the organization has changed a lot. That’ll be really interesting to see. And then a couple guys who were who were drafted um this year uh Joshua Ravensburgen in the first round and then their second round pick Hashi Wong. Um both very young uh raw prospects with a lot of potential. We’re going to be in juniors for a while. Um but it’ll be interesting I think to to track their development, see how they’re coming along. Uh, and you know, it’ll it’ll still be a few seasons before they’re I think ready to make that NHL impact, but I think they’ll be fun players to to to watch um develop for sure. And I I’ll add just one more. I think I’ve I’ve loved Luca Kagoni for a while and he had such a great AHL season. I I think he might see some NHL games this season more as well. It’s very good. Um, and he stepped into the AHL and didn’t seem like he missed a beat from from his junior days. So, he’s very impressive prospect. All right. Uh, I mean, this could be an obvious one. Some teams are easier than others to pick this one. Who is going to lead the team in scoring and forwards and defense this season? Yeah, for the for the forwards, I think I think Tofoley still leads in goals. um he’ll he there’s a good chance he plays on on Celebrating his line for a lot of this season. I think they’ll that’ll be a mutually beneficial relationship. And similarly, I think Celebrating leads and assists. Um for for the defense, that one’s that one’s a little bit tougher. Um Clingberg would not surprise me. He’s he’s a little bit, you know, because he’s very offensive minded. Maybe he’ll get some power play time. So, I could see him uh playing a big role there and and um being being big on the offensive side from the point. Um kind maybe maybe a little bit like Jake Walman was for them last season. Yeah, I could see that. I mean, it’d be good for him, too, because he had such a I mean, he didn’t have a full season last year and then he was injured as well even after he came back and signed again. So, it’d be good for him to lead the defense. That means he had a really good season, too. So, definitely one to to see, too. All right, let’s finish off with the bold prediction hot take. Love doing this at the end of the year. So, uh what do you got for bold prediction? So, I think a lot of the question is, um you know, Michael Misa and Sam Dickinson um what what are the Sharks going to do with them? Um, and I think my my bold prediction is that they’ll give both of them that sort of nine-game test run at the at the start of the season and one of them will play so well during that the Sharks have no choice but to just keep them on the on the NHL roster that one of them is going to prove themselves and be and be a San Jose Shark this season. And I think and that if that were to happen, I think that would be a very good sign for them because it it shows that this this whole this whole project, this this rebuild and trying to be patient with everything that it’s working and it’s going somewhere. And I think that that is probably I think the ultimate thing for the Sharks this year as a whole is proving that this what this whole tear down and build back up they’ve been doing over the last three years or so, this season is the one to to prove that it’s heading in the right direction. You know, maybe maybe the the record and the playoff results don’t come with it right away, but we we see the progress. Yeah, that’s definitely a big thing. I I see that, too. I think one of those guys are going to and I I’m going to pick Misa as the one. I I feel like he’s he’s ready. I think he’s going to he’s going to impress a lot in preseason and and then yeah, the nine games and be in the NHL this season. So, I I I do agree. I think it’s going to be one of those guys that that will make that impact and make the decision based too hard to to send him back to junior for sure. I I like that that bold prediction. All right. Well, thanks uh Alex for coming on talking the Sharks and to another season that’s hopefully a little more exciting uh to watch and have more wins. But lots of exciting prospects to and not just prospects, young guys to watch this season. And even if they’re not winning, they’re still going to be fun to watch. I think there’s lots of exciting exciting prospects and players there. So, uh, make sure you’re checking out everything at the hogwares.com for Sharks coverage, for all the other teams that all of our other preview videos we got out there, of course, the Substack newsletter and all the stuff that we have uh, coming up through the preseason, through training camp, all that. But until our next preview, we will see you next time.
Host Matthew Zator welcomes San Jose Sharks writer Alex Hutton to the show to preview the 2025-26 season.
They go through everything from the new additions and burning questions/storylines surrounding the forwards, defense and goaltending to where the Sharks stack up in the Pacific Division. They also highlight some potential breakout stars, players that need to bounce back from last season, prospects to watch, X factors, bold predictions, and more.
Check out Alex’s writing – https://thehockeywriters.com/author/ahutton/
And the rest of the Sharks writers at THW as they preview the season in written form – https://thehockeywriters.com/tag/sharks-season-preview/
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