The San Jose Sharks are 3-2-0 to start the season, and while that in its own right is something to be proud of considering their other recent starts, there are still a lot of issues that need to be worked out. Let's dive into five things I've been thinking about following the Sharks' fifth game.

Yaroslav Askarov's season is off to a strange start. Even though he was allowing goals in his first two starts, he seemed fairly reliable and his offseason adjustments seemed like they'd pay off once he had more time to get comfortable. Against Dallas and Edmonton though, he wasn't good enough. While his teammates continue to praise him, and he does in fact make some big saves, his biggest issue is that he allows more low-danger chances to beat him than he should. 

Under different circumstances, surrendering just three goals to the Edmonton Oilers' high-powered offense could be considered a good outing. However, when the entire team is playing with a defensive approach in order to limit scoring chances and hold the Oilers to just 20 shots, they need more out of their netminder.

As a result, I believe the Sharks would be wise to get Alex Nedeljkovic some more ice time in the near future. While he's only appeared in one game so far this season, and has had inconsistency issues of his own in the past, he was phenomenal against the St. Louis Blues and deserves to be rewarded for it. Right now, it seems that Nedeljkovic gives the Sharks the best chance to win and until that's no longer the case, he should be getting the majority of the starts.

The Sharks have given Askarov every chance to prove that he deserves to be the top guy in San Jose and he hasn't risen to the occasion, so now it's time to give the reins to the veteran.

When Michael Misa is on the ice, it's hard not to notice him. While he hasn't been perfect, he was a big part of the reason why the Sharks dominated toward the tail end of the second period against Edmonton. His shot was a rocket, and he nearly scored his first goal of the season but was denied by the iron. 

Misa has the second most assists on the Sharks, behind only Macklin Celebrini who has five. In terms of primary assists, he's actually tied with Celebrini, and his three assists lead the Sharks in 5-on-5 play. There's no reason, in my mind, that he should have the ninth-most ice time on the Sharks. If Warsofsky doesn't trust him in big matchups, then move him to the wing. Especially now that we know Will Smith seems to be passable as an NHL center, he could play there for the time being until the coaching staff feels Misa is ready. 

While breaking up the duo of Celebrini and Smith isn't ideal, Warsofsky talked about how the team needs to try to find chemistry. While we know the Sharks' dynamic duo work well together, if they have similar chemistry with other players, it'll give the Sharks two dangerous lines rather than just one. For example, could Misa thrive on Celebrini's wing? I'd imagine he could. 

For the most part, the Sharks' fourth line has remained the same this season. Until last game, it was consistently Kiefer Sherwood, Zack Ostapchuk, and Barclay Goodrow. Sherwood has now been promoted due to his strong play on the checking line while Ostapchuk and Goodrow played alongside Igor Chernyshov against Edmonton. 

As a result, the only time we've seen Ty Dellandrea was when Macklin Celebrini was out with injury. While there are reasons to have gripes with Dellandrea's game, historically he can do one thing that no other Shark has been able to do this season, he can win faceoffs on a consistent basis. Currently Alexander Wennberg, who is not known historically as a center who excels in the faceoff circle, is the only player on the team who has won more draws than he has lost. Wennberg has never been able to sustain that for a full season though, as his career-high in faceoff percentage is 49.2%. Dellandrea on the other hand, has finished over 50% twice in his career. 

While Ty Dellandrea sitting out isn't the end of the world for the Sharks, there's now another player looking for ice time: Adam Gaudette. Gaudette was activated off of the injured reserve on Saturday and should get at least an occasional spot in the lineup. With that being said, who comes out?

I've been critical of Zack Ostapchuk's performance in the faceoff circle this season, but he's been a solid player in most other aspects of his game. Sherwood and Chernyshov should both be regulars in the lineup on a nightly basis, leaving just one logical player to come out of the lineup: Barclay Goodrow.

Goodrow is a favorite amongst coaches and executives, but at this point in his career, that shouldn't be enough to guarantee him ice time every single night. Performance needs to matter more now that the Sharks are looking to compete for a playoff spot and while Goodrow's experience will be valuable on certain occasions, he's past the point where he should be considered an everyday player on a contending team. At this point, it would be logical to rotate him in and out alongside Dellandrea and Gaudette depending on what each particular matchup requires.

Last season, Sam Dickinson was set up to fail by the NHL's agreement with the CHL. He wasn't quite NHL ready, but given he had accomplished all he could in the junior ranks, that's where he ended up since he couldn't go to the AHL. This season, he didn't standout in preseason and as a result he ended up being a healthy scratch to start the campaign. Once he got into the lineup, it took a bit of time, but he's looking like a completely different player.

Dickinson had a strong third period against the St. Louis Blues, which was his second game of the season, which he followed up with a strong performance against the Edmonton Oilers. While he's still not a star player, and realistically he likely never will be, he's looking like a legitimate NHLer at this stage. He seems on track to be a solid second-pairing defenseman for years to come. 

Heading into this season, I wasn't expecting offensive production to be a key issue, but it has been to an extent. According to MoneyPuck, the Sharks have the worst expected goals for at 5-on-5 in the NHL with just 6.4 expected goals through five games. While they've slightly exceeded that, scoring seven even-strength goals, it's certainly not ideal. In all situations, they surpass the Los Angeles Kings for 31st with 11.53 expected goals for. This issue is compounded by the fact that they have the sixth-worst expected goals against in the league with 18.84. 

Overall, this points toward the Sharks' early success being unsustainable in the long run. Things will have to improve, especially at 5-on-5. 

While many of these observations do have a bit of pessimism surrounding them, the fact of the matter is that we've only seen five games. There's still 94% of the 2026-27 season left to play, so there's time for these kinks to be worked out. With that being said, some of them need to be done sooner than later.