20-50-12, 52
points (8th Pacific, 32nd overall)
2.54 GF/GP, 32nd; 3.78 GA/GP, 2nd
18.6 PP%, 26th; 74.2 PK%, 27th
Key losses: C Logan Couture, G Alexandar Georgiev
Key additions: C/RW Philipp Kurashev, C/RW Adam Gaudette, LW Jeff Skinner, RW Ryan Reaves, D Dmitry Orlov, D John Klingberg, D Nick Leddy, G Alex Nedeljkovic
Expected lineup:
Tyler Toffoli – Macklin Celebrini – Will Smith
William Eklund – Michael Misa – Adam Gaudette
Jeff Skinner – Alex Wennberg – Philipp Kurashev
Barclay Goodrow – Ty Dellandrea – Carl Grundstrom
Mario Ferraro – Timothy Liljegren
Nick Leddy – John Klingberg
Dmitry Orlov – Shakir Mukhamadullin
Yaroslav Askarov – Alex Nedejlkovic
PP1: Toffoli – Celebrini – Smith – Eklund – Klingberg
PP2: Skinner – Wennberg – Kurashev – Gaudette – Liljegren
5-on-5:
Digging into the Sharks’ numbers at this point of their rebuild feels immaterial. They were expected to be bad, and they were bad, but the difference is that there hasn’t been this much optimism for this club in quite some time. While the losses piled up, the viewers piled in – the Sharks were must-watch TV when Macklin Celebrini was on the ice, and the talent on their young roster was evident.
It’s worth noting that although the Sharks won just one more game than the previous season, they scored 29 more goals and prevented 16 fewer. The Sharks still had a league-worst minus-105 goal differential, but a 45-goal swing is massive.
The good news about the Sharks’ 5-on-5 play is that all four of their top scorers in even-strength points are returning and expected to stay with the team long term, and three of them are under the age of 23. With Celebrini and Will Smith up front, and potentially Michael Misa starting the season as their second-line center, scoring is not going to be a problem for this team.
Ideally, the Sharks would like to add another reliable veteran center to bolster their depth, especially since Will Smith is expected to play right wing all season with Celebrini, but the additions of Adam Gaudette, Philipp Kurashev and Jeff Skinner should add more scoring punch.
Gaudette and Kurashev have experience playing center, but they’re not long-term options in that spot due to flaws in their defensive game. Skinner is an interesting reclamation project but he does so little away from the puck that you wonder if this is the start of a significant decline in his ice time and role. He opened camp on the top line, but you wonder if his defensive deficiencies earn him some benchings, which happened in both Buffalo and Edmonton.
The Sharks were routinely caved in at 5-on-5 – only the Blackhawks had worse possession numbers – but, again, it was easy to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Jake Walman and Cody Ceci may have provided some veteran experience, but Walman has never been a dependable defender and Ceci’s ability and reliability has always been overstated relative to his actual on-ice impact.
Their departures forced the Sharks to rely on young defensemen such as Shakir Mukhamadullin, Lucas Carlsson and Luca Cagnoni, but the long-term benefits of giving reps to their prospects – even if they were overwhelmed – far outweighed the immediate need to win games with the journeymen defenseman du jour, such as Vincent Desharnais or Matt Benning.
Adding Dmitry Orlov and Nick Leddy, both capable veterans, should help a lot. John Klingberg has gone through a lot of health issues in recent seasons but he’s by far their best option on the power play right now. Combined with the added forwards, their goal differential should improve further.
Goaltending was disastrous, but again GM Mike Grier kept to his long-term vision and sold off pieces for futures. The Sharks used five goalies last season, none of whom who started more than 30 games and four of them had a save percentage below .896. Make no mistake, the best goalie in the world would’ve put up bad numbers, but the future is clear with Yaroslav Askarov. This might’ve been Grier’s best move; he sensed the Predators and Askarov may not have seen a long-term future together and pounced on the opportunity to address one of the most precarious positions to fill for a rebuilding franchise.
That the Sharks were constantly defending and trying to keep pucks out of their net meant their offensive numbers had no chance of being good but, anecdotally, that the Sharks were so entertaining to watch is a testament to their bright future.
Power Play:
It was a little curious to see the Sharks struggle so badly on the power play given their talent and creativity. On a per 60-minute basis, the Sharks ranked just 24th in expected goals with a significant portion of the offense being generated and scored from the right half-wall, which is unsurprisingly the spot Celebrini tends to occupy.
Not having a proper PP QB to direct play also didn’t help. It’s why the Sharks didn’t really bat an eye when they moved on from Walman and didn’t really hesitate to play Cagnoni in that spot. Timothy Liljegren didn’t move the needle at all, and note the Sharks experimented with five forwards just to see what would happen. They were prone to hot and cold streaks, too, including a 2-for-26 stretch in October and November, and a 2-for-22 stretch to close out the season.
With added reinforcements and experience, the Sharks power play should fare much better in 2025-26. It has a chance to be above average if they can figure out a proper configuration and hope John Klingberg (or someone else) can be a viable quarterback.
All stats courtesy of naturalstattrick.com, moneypuck.com, hockeyviz.com, allthreezones.com, hockey-reference.com, eliteprospects.com unless otherwise noted.