SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks are all too used to being out of the playoff image at this juncture of the season and had been most likely responsible in recent times of merely desirous to play out the string.
Whereas the last-place Sharks are in the identical predicament this season with two months remaining and the NHL commerce deadline across the nook, that kind of lukewarm perspective – contemplating the state of their rebuild and the youthful gamers on the roster — is now one thing they desperately need to keep away from.
“We’ve got 25 games to really push and be competitive,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky mentioned Tuesday. “I thought there was, in the last couple years, you just try to get through the games and get to the end of the season. We’re going try and compete.”
Historical past suggests will probably be a problem, significantly with the Sharks (15-35-7) anticipated to unload extra our bodies earlier than the commerce deadline on March 7. Within the final two seasons, the Sharks, after every commerce deadline, had a mixed document of 8-25-6.
Every year, the Sharks endured a nine-game shedding streak and misplaced 9 video games by three or extra objectives.
Whereas there’s no assure the Sharks’ document down the stretch will likely be any higher this season, they not less than need to keep away from those self same morale-draining lopsided losses. A part of that’s due to the relative youth on the roster, together with creating rookies Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Collin Graf, and different Gen Z gamers like William Eklund and Henry Thrun.
Usually getting crushed may not assist anybody’s improvement.
Warsofsky mentioned this 12 months’s roster will “probably get younger as we get going here throughout the week and the next couple weeks, as the deadline comes and goes, and I’m sure that we want to see some guys that are (in the AHL) with the (Barracuda) before they hopefully go on their playoff run.
“So, there’s going to be mistakes. There’ll be puck-play mistakes. There’ll be systematic mistakes. As coaching staff, we’re going to keep teaching and coaching them and pushing winning habits and foundation habits. So when we get into next year, (we can) hit the ground running.”
With the NHL pausing its schedule to carry the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Sharks’ follow on Tuesday marked the primary time they’d been collectively as a crew since their 8-3 loss to the Dallas Stars on Feb. 8. The loss was the Sharks’ tenth of their final 11 video games, as they’ve fallen to thirty second and final place within the NHL’s total standings.
The break was desperately wanted — bodily and mentally — because the Sharks have received simply 5 of 27 video games since buying and selling goalie Mackenzie Blackwood to the Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 9.
“It was great,” Sharks rookie heart Macklin Celebrini mentioned. “It benefited me, for sure. I feel like it helps to get a little bit of time to kind of refresh after the first half of the year.”
The Sharks are scheduled to follow every day this week earlier than they depart on Saturday for a frightening seven-game highway journey, which begins with video games in Calgary on Sunday and Winnipeg on Monday.
On Tuesday morning, Warsofsky met with the Sharks’ management group and articulated his expectations for the season’s ultimate two months.
“We’re not here to mess around. We want to try and get better every day,” Sharks winger Tyler Toffoli mentioned. “We’ve been saying that all year. We’ve just got to get our game consistent and it starts with practice.”
The Sharks welcomed injured veteran facilities Alexander Wennberg and Nico Sturm again to follow Tuesday. Sturm, on injured reserve since Jan. 22, has missed eight straight video games with a lower-body ailment, and Wennberg has missed 4 straight video games with an upper-body challenge. Each had been full contributors in Tuesday’s follow and, per Warsofsky, are on monitor to be out there to play this weekend.
Wennberg and Sturm, who’ve a mixed 34 factors this season, is not going to remedy the entire Sharks’ points however ought to assist present some stability to a floundering crew that simply traded main scorer Mikael Granlund and top-pair defenseman Cody Ceci.
In Tuesday’s follow, Wennberg centered the second line with Fabian Zetterlund and Will Smith on the wings, and Sturm, a pending UFA who might be on the transfer earlier than the deadline, centered the third line with wingers Luke Kunin and Collin Graf.
“A lot has happened, from really the Blackwood would trade on,” Warsofsky mentioned. “You trade our starting goaltender, then you lose (Granlund and Ceci), and not just good players, but good people, and that affects you. We got kind of punched in the gut there a little bit, and it affected our game.
“Even though we were competing at times, games got away from us at times. And now we’ve got to reset. Those guys have moved on; we’ve got to move on, too. That’s the business we’re in.”
INJURY UPDATES: Warsofsky mentioned ahead Nikolai Kovalenko (higher physique) will possible be out there to play once more earlier than defenseman Jan Rutta (decrease physique) can return. Kovalenko, who missed the final three video games earlier than the break, skated Tuesday morning, and if he isn’t on the crew’s flight to Calgary on Saturday, he may be part of the crew partway by way of the highway journey, Warsofsky mentioned.
Rutta, a pending UFA, missed the final six video games earlier than the break, and his damage is taking longer than anticipated to heal. Warsofsky mentioned it’s too quickly to say whether or not Rutta can ultimately be part of the Sharks on the journey, which lasts till March 6.
NOTABLE: The Sharks recalled Graf and Jack Thompson from the Barracuda on Tuesday. Thompson was paired with Shakir Mukhamadullin throughout follow.
Initially Printed: February 18, 2025 at 6:31 PM PST
