Four Things The San Jose Sharks Need To Return To The Playoffs

One of the problems the San Jose Sharks have is one of perception. They took a huge step forward last season, with their standings point total rising from 52 to 86. The issue was that 86 was only enough to tie them for ninth place in the Western Conference.

Now, they have the task of not only making that 34-point increase sustainable, but actually improving on it. The good news is that they certainly went out and improved the roster this summer, but other teams in the West did the same, including teams that, like them, were on the outside looking in last year.

So what do the Sharks need to do to get over the hump, and back into the playoffs for the first time in eight years?

Here are the most important factors:

The full list of teenagers to post over 100 points in an NHL season in the salary-cap era: Sidney Crosby, Macklin Celebrini, end of list.

Celebrini's point total, like that of the Sharks themselves, exploded in 2025-26, jumping from 63 to 115. His goal total went from 25 to 45. His two-way game blossomed to the point where he was named captain of the Canadian World Championship team and kept that title even after Crosby was added to the roster.

But can he do it again? All the evidence suggests that he can, but there are other highly rated young players who had breakout seasons and then came back to earth a little bit. Even him posting 40 goals and 60 assists for 100 points would be incredible, of course, but it would also be a step back.

It's challenging to project his production linearly, but something like the near-MVP campaign he just put up - he finished fourth in Hart Trophy voting and would have won comfortably if the Sharks made the playoffs - is required if the Sharks are going to make that next great leap forward.

No pressure.

What probably held the Sharks back the most last year in terms of their offense was the gap between Celebrini and the next-closest guy on the team in points.

Will Smith was No. 2 on the team in both goals and points, scoring 24 goals and 35 assists for 59 points. He missed 13 games, so that didn't help, but the point stands: You'd like to see a little more gradation between Nos. 1 and 2.

Maybe Celebrini gets to 100 points again, and maybe he doesn't, but the question is whether Smith can get to 80 instead of 60. Whether Michael Misa can improve on his 9 goals, 12 assists, and 21 points in 45 games. And whether No. 2 pick Ivar Stenberg is a candidate for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.

They should have solid support from breakout forward Collin Graf, a full season of skilled youngster Igor Chernyshov, and veterans like newly signed Mason Marchment, a full season with Kiefer Sherwood, Tyler Toffoli, and more.

But if this team is gonna power out of the rebuild, the kids gotta drive the bus.

The Sharks rightly recognized that last year's team was mostly sunk by its weak defense corps, and moved to address it in the most expensive way possible. They traded for Darnell Nurse at full freight ($9.25 million against the cap), gave Jacob Trouba a raise in free agency ($8.25 million), and traded for a reclamation project in Michael Kesselring ($4.5 million).

Those guys are probably all better, to one extent or another, than what the Sharks iced last year, but that doesn't mean they're necessarily gonna be worth the money. The more they can do to shore things up in their own zone and push the puck in the right direction will be the determining factors in whether the Sharks make the playoffs.

Can't really expect to have good goaltending without a good team defense, but Askarov was pretty rotten as the No. 1 last season. His .883 save percentage was well below the league average, and his -18.9 goals saved above expected was the third-worst in the league, according to moneypuck.com.

The fact that they even got close to the playoffs with those numbers says a lot about Celebrini's MVP case, but that's not gonna fly two years in a row for a guy who's supposed to be their goalie of the future.

See more of The Hockey News on Google and save us as a preferred source. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.