San Jose Sharks
Sharks Locker Room: In This Respect, San Jose Isn’t Getting Better
Are the San Jose Sharks getting better?
That’s been the big question recently, amidst another long losing streak.
On one hand, after a 7-2 loss to the Florida Panthers on Saturday night, the 14-32-6 Sharks have virtually the same record after 52 games as last year’s 14-33-5 Sharks.
It’s their sixth-straight loss, and their third skid of six games or more this season.
On the other hand, the Goal Differential through 52 games this year is a more bearable-looking -54 as opposed to last season’s -90 at the same point.
But there’s another way to look at the question of whether the San Jose Sharks are getting better: Are they improving in season?
On Dec. 7, the Sharks were overwhelmed by the Panthers in Fort Lauderdale, giving up 54 shots, en route to a 3-1 defeat. Then-San Jose netminder Mackenzie Blackwood, dealt just two days later, made 51 saves to keep things close.
“They’re ultra-competitive,” head coach Ryan Warsofsky said of the defending champs.
That defeat dropped the Sharks to 10-15-5.
Warsofsky was singing a similar tune tonight.
“That’s the top of the top, right there,” he said of the Panthers. “I think we think we were working hard, but we don’t even have a clue how hard you have to work to win in this league consistently.”
San Jose is 4-17-1 since that loss in Florida.
That doesn’t look like a team that’s getting better.
“Now you’re seeing teams find their identity in this league,” Warsofsky said on New Year’s Eve, after a 4-0 loss against the Philadelphia Flyers. “Earlier on, I think we were probably catching teams by surprise.”
Maybe that’s it, and maybe we have to see San Jose’s response to that. There’s still plenty of season left.
And where it counts most — the future of the Sharks — I think they’re getting better?
Macklin Celebrini is Macklin Celebrini. Will Smith has two goals and four assists in his last seven contests. William Eklund is well ahead of last year’s pace of production. Henry Thrun has played some of the best hockey of his career…at times. Yaroslav Askarov — .852 Save % in his last four appearances — is dealing with his first slump in the NHL.
The San Jose Barracuda still appear to be headed to the playoffs.
But the Sharks can’t keep going this way either.
There’s still plenty of season left — and plenty of time for things to go from bad to worse, especially with the upcoming Trade Deadline.
San Jose pushed back after that lifeless Dec. 31 loss, their eight-straight, with back-to-back wins over Eastern Conference powers New Jersey Devils and Tampa Bay Lightning.
They’ll need to summon that spirit again, before what was once an encouraging season goes awry.
Jake Walman
Walman, on the Panthers:
I think they felt our push in the first. We immediately found out what a Cup-contending team looks like. Their pushback was much better than ours.
Tyler Toffoli
Toffoli, on if there’s any concern about how the losing is affecting the younger players:
Concerned in what way? They shouldn’t be happy losing. They’re emotional guys, and we have a lot of emotional guys in here, so I would hope that they feel the same way that I feel, and it’s shitty feeling, and got to try and do something about it.
Will Smith
Smith, on getting blown out in front of a sold-out SAP Center:
It’s embarrassing for us to do this in front of our home crowd. We have a tight group here, and we obviously want to be better for for the fans. Just in general in this room, we want to be better for each other.
Ryan Warsofsky
Warsofsky, on the San Jose Sharks goalies:
I thought both them looked a little shaky at times.
Warsofsky, on the Sharks’ veterans knowing what to do, but it not translating on the ice:
We need a whole team to do it. You need a whole team. You watch that team, every single guy.
Perfect example is Rodrigues on their fourth line. His game does not change. Does not change, shift to shift, game to game. He just sucks it up. That’s his role. He’s going to play his role. And that’s what winners do. That’s what winning teams do. Doesn’t matter your role. You do your role to the best of your ability. You don’t complain. You go out there and you work as hard as you possibly can.
Warsofsky, on if the San Jose Sharks have an identity problem, that their 18 skaters aren’t playing to the right identity:
I don’t think it’s that. I think it’s just we get bored with it. We get bored when we don’t maybe score goals, or maybe nothing happens. We can’t just be okay with nothing happening. That’s what good teams do. You grind out games. You find different ways to win games. We just think there’s one way to win a game, that’s cheating the game at times.
What I find frustrating is that poor execution and small mistakes often leads to extended zone time against or goals against. Like defenseman or wingers will bobble the puck on what seems to be clear possession and lose it as the rest of the team is looking to move the play forward. It then leads to the team scrambling to make up for it and they end up with a goal against or just a long shift hemmed in the zone. It doesn’t really seem like the system is asking for too much but the poor puck possession shuts down… Read more »
What a shocking discovery that no one else has thought of yet. Incredible.
Size/strength and skill. It’s missing through the line up. Hence the drafting philosophy. Short kings need not apply for the most part.
Don’t forget slow. They are also slow. They need a lot more of everything.
🤣 🤣
They added taffoli, Weinberg, goodie, cici, wallman and on and on there is no excuse for this performance. They are the worst team in the NHL on the ice, not on paper.
There isn’t an “excuse”… there’s a reason – they’re in the early stages of a rebuild. The most you could really expect this season was progress, and there has been some.
Let’s see. It’s going on 4th season since team was disassembled and you call it a “early stage of rebuild”? At this pace Celebrini will be getting ready to retire when Sharks finally make playoffs. Just lets ‘be honest, there’s no planning, no execution, they already used 30 players, 1/2 of season, all indicating that Sharks are where they are, and nobody wants to come here to coach or play. Nobody likes chaos that’s on nightly display with the Sharks. I do know I’m the only one who’s critical here, but somebody has to be, let’s be honest here.
Interesting… I’m curious, when do you feel like they started the rebuild? You stated it’s going on the 4th season since they disassembled the team – 4 seasons ago, so the 2021/22 season? At that point they still had Hertl, Meier, Karlsson, Burns, etc. Personally I wouldn’t consider the real start until Meier was moved. But really if you’re looking at “stages” of a rebuild, they’re still acquiring and developing the foundational pieces for the future of the franchise, which to me is an early stage. “…nobody wants to come here to coach or play…”, and I thought you said… Read more »
Stop complaining dude!! Try to enjoy this short life
Hey dummy the first part is the tear down. They just started rebuilding this season.
Hey don’t be dissing “My little Luca” & Eric Pohlkamp.
short kings unite!
dude, read what I wrote. “For the most part”.🧐 no ones a bigger Gagnoni fan than me and my kid.
Its also structure, experience, and team work. Clear as day to see it in Florida. When they’re in high danger areas there are layers to yhe team and they work as one.
Any comparison to Florida is kinda dumb. They’re just not built like that yet. Best player can’t legally drink, 2nd best is maybe 4 years from retirement and past his prime.
Just to get a little more specific about the mistakes all on the D (no surprise): 1st goal – DZ turnover – Vlasic’s backend pass should have been along the boards, instead he passes across the middle 2nd goal – DZ turnover – Thrun was being pressed hard by their forecheck but his pass should have ben along the boards. Dont remember if it was deflected or what. I’ll have to watch the replay 3rd goal – Asky probably should have had that 4th goal – OZ turnover – Ceci fans on a shot from the point 5th goal –… Read more »
Georgiv was in net for the first 4 goals, so goal #3 you’ve noted is not on Askerov.
Wallman let his guy move right past him through the blue paint on goal #5. He absolutely needed to be harder on the body there, even just lower his body and sticking out his ass would have impeded the player enough to not allow position for that tip in.
All in all, a pretty bad performance by the team though.
Isn’t this when Sheng tells us everything is all right?
Can sheng ask Tafolli if he sees any way that they could practice or adjust thier.system to replicate the way Darly sutter ran his team when they won multiple Stanley cups in the same style that Florida and Tampa and Vegas and St. Louis have recently won cups. Without out being antagonistic of course. There is an undeniable style of play that you need to adopt to win the cup. It’s like an NFL team would never install the hurry up air raid offense because you can’t win the superbowl like that
Good grief…. Dude c’mon. That’s a dumb comment. Do better.🤨
Sheng: “Panthers Thrash Sharks 7-2”, “In This Respect, San Jose Isn’t Getting Better”
You: “Isn’t this when Sheng tells us everything is all right?”
Throw your phone in a river you racist idiot.
Celebrini wants to hitch his future to this pile of manure? Uh, don’t think so.
You should find a new team to cheer for, you racist idiot.
Agreed.
The Sharks are an exasperating dumpster fire right now. Yes, there are a few rays of sunshine with the youngsters but the play of the overall team is disconnected and stagnant. They get stuck in their zone because they don’t pressure the puck and when they gain control, they don’t get clean exits or they turn the puck over . Same script every game. I’m worried that the youngster’s are going to want out. Who wants to be stuck on a losing team
Thank you. I thought that I’m the only one who can see all that’s going on with this organization. Remenda said something like that many years ago and got exiled to Edmonton for a few years but is back after they realized he was right.
Usually someone gets fired when a professional sports franchise looks and smells like it doesn’t belong in the NFL NBA NHL MLB for an extended period of time like 2 or 3 weeks. There are standards for competition that cannot be ignored in professional sports.
I disagree, although I see what you’re saying, and you’re right, as a surface level observation about pro sports.
But, I would counter that firings happen when a team is not meeting expectations that have been set for the year. To that point, I think the Sharks are about as good/bad as anyone could expect.
And lastly, there’s still a lot of culture building to do, and stability in the direction/coaching philosophy from year to year will be very important for player development.
Definitely don’t think they are going to fire Warso but they added a lot of established NHL players and the product they put out doesn’t reflect that. I thought with all the additions that they would atleast be within ear shot of the 8th place team.
As fans, we’re emotionally attached to the team, and I also was hoping, as a die hard Sharks fan, that they would actually somehow make the playoffs or be in the hunt until the trade deadline. Disappointment can often stem from unmet expectations. So when I find myself disappointed that something didn’t turn out how I liked, I ask myself if my expectations were realistic. Being honest with myself, I’d say it wasn’t realistic, but it’s not a crime for a fan to dream!!! Let’s just not beat ourselves up over it, and keep an eye on the brighter future… Read more »
Then you’re absolutely nuts, look at the defense they’ve trotted out every night. It’s brutal. You think a team with Cody Ceci and Jake Walman on its top pair is going to sniff a playoff spot? Come on, man. This team added, yes. But they’re still in the early, early stages of building back up to be a competitive team.
3 years in, and no progress is NOT acceptable by any measure anywhere, sports or your employment. It’s not early, very early stages so lose your pink glasses.
You wildly overestimated how impactful the additions would be. That’s on you, not the Sharks.
That’s what I’m talking about as well.
I did not expect them to be this bad after 2 1/2 seasons of rebuild. There are phases, checkpoints and evaluations, and Sharks don’t do any of them. Just constant rotation of the same mistakes and interviews with something else to blame.
They’re not 2.5 years into a rebuild. They’re 2.5 years post complete tear down. They are, at best, in year 1 of the rebuild, and maybe not even there yet. Things will get there, the current young guys will be there for it, and it’s likely none of the current veterans will be.
Exactly, Bugs is trippin’! I’d say this is year one of the rebuild
Maybe just take a week or two off of reading everything out there on the Internet and you’ll find yourself a lot calmer
Dumb.
I was at the game and it was 10 minutes of good vibe SHARKS and the rest was quiet head shaking after way too many mistakes and no answer. There are some magic moments but this has been a roller coaster ride! The Sharks had an inspiring run and it’s awesome to see greatness. Unfortunately we saw it in the other team last night. But let’s not forget the Panthers were nobodys not that long ago. Sheng, might be a good time to use the Panther’s rise to dominance as a roadmap to where the Sharks are, where they are… Read more »
I’ve been to every home game this year and in my opinion, the Panthers were the best team we’ve seen so far by a good amount. The Avalanche, Wild and Stupid Vegas were probably the other 3 that impressed me the most so far. We haven’t seen a few eastern teams or Edmonton yet, so it’s not a full list. If the Panthers are the standard, the Sharks are at about step 2. Those guys are big, experienced, and they play tight together as has been mentioned. It’s something we might see come together in 2 to 3 years and… Read more »
Walman could easily be 2nd pair of a contender. He’s just not a 1st pair D.
I do agree but some guys think that 3 years is just a very early stage, just a beginning. BTW, counting always on draft picks is not a guarantee. Just look at Oilers and their 5 #1 picks in the row and they only now begin to look good after a lost decade. And look at some others like Capitals who rebuilt on a fly. There’s nothing wrong trying to copy somebody else if their model works, and Panthers didn’t have any #1 picks.
Actually they did.
iirc
Ekblad 1st overall.
Barkov 2nd overall.
Huberdeau 3rd overall, who was traded for Tkachuk
Ya I think they have 6 that were taken top 10 and ya Ekblad was # 1. So don’t know what bugsy is on about. No one said all draft picks work out but as many have outlined the most successful teams of the post lockout years have key pieces they drafted high. And you can’t set the goal post of oh, we’ve been bad for so many years so the rebuild isn’t working. That’s a miss understanding of how a team with so many bad contracts has to approach a rebuild and the tear down process when GMMG signed… Read more »
The Oilers have been good for awhile now. They’ve made the playoffs in 6 of the last 9 years
Few things. First, the Blackwood trade was a big hit to the Sharks. Second, the Sharks are a more talented team, but not a substantially better team. The talent is young. It takes time. Askarov, Mukh, Celebrini, Smith — the kids are OK. I keep coming back to the great Al McGuire (legendary college basketball coach) quote, “the best thing about freshman is they become sophomores”. Sharks have a lot of players who’ll be meaningfully better in 2026 and 2027 than they are in 2025. Third, by design, GMMG has a lot of veteran ‘placeholders’ that are there to help… Read more »
I really love that fourth point about envisioning the 2028 roster.
Amen!!
I get people voicing frustration and so on, but really this is year 2 of rebuild, probably really first year of building phase, lay foundation. Which means it looks nothing like a house yet! All you can see is potential. There is plenty of construction to do. Even for playoff teams, they still build, like Car. You can all judge this season to the last by standings, cherry picked stats, look at stats in a more full terms (as is correct) but for me I judge on one thing. How many games have I turned off… basically have watched every… Read more »
I believe we all do know definition of insanity, so no need to repeat it. Few things related to the title of this good article. What has changed, and did the Sharks get better comparing to last season. No & No. Even the records are identically the same which is the only measure of success and progress. Expectations: how can any team expect anything different in their game, if nothing changes except rotating too many players in and out of line-up not allowing any of them to gel, to develop any chemistry. In order to construct a great building we… Read more »
Dude, we have all of the ingredients you say we need. Just be a fan and believe in the vision, starting with Grier. He’s got a plan.
“It has never happened and never will”? Have you ever seen a team rebuild? It happens all the time
Wrong.
There are “glass half-empty” guys, and then there are guys like you… it’s not “half-empty”, the glass is practically empty, and it’s a dirty glass that nobody would want to drink from, and what is that yellowish liquid in there anyway??? It’s like warm beer mixed with lemonade, that has pulp, and nobody likes pulp. The glass looks like it might be cracked and it’s not even safe to try to drink from it. And it’s probably covered with forever chemicals so the FDA should really do something about it. By the time Celebrini is old enough to drink whatever’s… Read more »
lol I appreciate this deep analogy.
2 comments by warso worry me.
1) That’s what winning teams do. Doesn’t matter your role. You do your role to the best of your ability. You don’t complain.
Who’s complaining on this team & why?
2)I think it’s just we get bored with it. We get bored when we don’t maybe score goals, or maybe nothing happens.
Bored? WTF? How can pro players “get bored”?
I can see how fans can “get bored” of this team but the players?
If the players are bored, that’s on the coaching staff.
Warso has some splaining to do…
Being a Sharks fan from afar in Miami Beach I know it’s tough to watch this shit show but it’s a necessary evil to get out of hell followed by purgatory. The Panthers sucked until their ownership solidified. Look at their team now with all these former early first rounders, either drafted by Florida or acquired via trade. Ekblad – 1st overall, Barkov – 2nd overall, Reinhart – 2nd overall, Bennett – 4th overall, Thachuk – 6th overall, Lundell – 12th overall, Knight – 13th overall, Kulikov – 14th overall. Toss in a few free agent signings like Bob and… Read more »
I am not concern with W an L.. Rebuilds are whatvwere going thru an hopefully sooner i.e. Canadiens rebuild vs. Buffalo rebuild especially the screw up with Jack Eichel. I’ve seen lots of positives this year learning how to win in today’s NHL very very tough especially consistently!! Hang n there folks!!