SJ Sharks: Dreams of the Future

Will the Sharks have a good year, or will they fall apart and stay in last?

It’s 2-2 with 30 seconds left in the game. The San Jose Sharks, the worst team in the NHL for the last 3-4 years, are squaring off against the New Jersey Devils, one of the better playoff teams last year. A Sharks defenseman hits a slap shot and the puck soars into the top left corner of the goal. With 28 seconds left, Cody Ceci scores the game-winning goal. The crowd goes nuts and the Sharks win the game in regulation. That was January at the beginning of this year. So, are they still the worst team? Or are they getting better? While the Sharks have been terrible for some time, they weren’t always that bad of a team (shocker!).

History

The Sharks were an expansion team that was added to the NHL in 1991 in San Jose, California. The second year they played, they set an NHL record for the most losses in a season. Then they introduced S.J. Sharkie in 1992 as the official mascot for the Sharks. They went to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 1993 as an eight seed against the Detroit Red Wings as a one seed. The Red Wings were favored to win the Stanley Cup that year but they lost to the Sharks and it was one of the biggest playoff upsets of all time. The Sharks later started picking up their best players in their franchise like Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton and had good years of hockey. They eventually made it to the Stanley Cup in 2015 and kept up the good work until Covid-19 hit. Once Covid-19 ended, all of the Sharks' good players got traded and they became terrible. They until this day are still pretty bad, but they are getting better.

Current position of the team

The Sharks are in the Pacific division in the Western conference. There are four divisions (the Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central, and Pacific) and two conferences (the Eastern and the Western). The teams in the Pacific division are the Anaheim Ducks, Seattle Kraken, Vegas Golden Knights, Sacramento Kings, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, and the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks are currently in fifth with the Edmonton Oilers, the Ducks, Knights, and Kings in front of them. The Sharks have been winning and losing at a constant rate but their longest win streak was four in a row while their longest losing streak was six games. The Sharks have been surprising with their goal scoring with Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. Their goaltending is an issue though with two relatively young goalies trying to fight for the number one spot as a goalie. 

Top 3 players

Macklin Celebrini

Macklin Celebrini was born in Canada and is 19 years old and plays center. While Celebrini is only 19 years old, he is one of the best players in the world. Celebrini was drafted by the Sharks in 2024, as the number one overall pick. As of 12/14/25 he has had 16 goals and 31 assists so far this season. Celebrini had the most points, which are total goals and assists added together, on the team last year with 63. He is one of the most active people on the team, always creating chances to score. On 11/18/25, Celebrini scored 2 goals in regulation but the game was tied, leading to overtime. Celebrini scored the game-winning goal, leaving the Utah Mammoth in shock. Celebrini scored all 3 goals.

Will Smith

Will Smith was born in Lexington, Massachusetts and is 20 years old. Will was drafted by the Sharks as the 4th overall pick in the 2023 draft. Will was one of Celebrini’s main rivals when he was playing hockey in college for Boston College when Celebrini played for Boston University and when they were on separate teams during the Under-18 World Championships. As of 12/14/25, he has had 12 goals and 17 assists. Since coming to the team with Celebrini, he has been one of his friends even though they were rivals at a young age. He has been improving with Celebrini’s help while also helping the team so far this season.

Tyler Toffoli

Tyler Toffoli was born in Canada and is 33 years old and plays center. Toffoli was drafted by the Kings as the 47th pick in the 2010 draft. He has been on 6 teams before he came to the Sharks. Last season, he had 54 points as the team’s 3rd most points scorer but had the most goals with 30 goals. Toffoli has had 9 goals and 13 assists as of 12/14/25. Toffoli hasn’t done much for the team yet, but he might pull it together and help the Sharks score some goals and win some games. 

Sharks season prediction

Based on the way the Sharks have been playing so far and the teams who play against them in their division, they might come in dead last again. As most Sharks fans know, they have been in last for the past several years. And if they weren’t in last, they were very close to being in last, leaving them with many top draft picks so they can have good, young players for their team in the future. Unfortunately, the future hasn’t come and the Sharks are still a bad hockey team. They have been getting better with Macklin Celebrini being on the team, creating chances to score. Although the other teams may be good at this moment, the Sharks have been getting good draft picks for young players to become awesome and make their name heard in the NHL. But, I think that the Sharks will come in 7th out of 8th place in their division if the Calgary Flames stay a bad team. The Canucks are a good team but they haven’t been able to do well, so they are behind the Sharks, Kraken, and the Flame. If the Canucks can pull it together, they will be great and will be a hard team to beat. The Oilers, Golden Knights, Ducks, Kraken, and Kings are all good teams and will ultimately do better than the Sharks, leaving the Flames, Canucks, and the Sharks to battle for last.