It’s been a tough last half-decade for the San Jose Sharks. They’ve missed the playoffs in five consecutive seasons, and needlessly delayed a full rebuild for several of those years.
However, the Sharks have managed to begin heading in the right direction under Mike Grier. The team is putting the pieces in place to have some long-term success, and while they’re likely to be well outside the playoff race once again this year, this should be the first step towards a brighter future.
Up front, the Sharks actually look a lot more interesting, based on the additions to the forward group. Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith are the obvious inclusions in terms of prospects making the jump to the NHL, along with a notable free agency pick up in Tyler Toffoli. Then add in the group of Mikael Granlund, William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund, and the Sharks’ possible top-six is actually quite a bit more formidable.
After that, there's some competition at the bottom of the forward group. Alex Wennberg and Nico Sturm are likely to center the bottom-two lines, while Carl Grundstrom, Barclay Goodrow and Ty Dellandrea were brought in as bottom-six additions, Thomas Bordeleau, Luke Kunin, Klim Kostin, Justin Bailey and Givani Smith return, both Danil Gushchin and Collin Graf still try to find a roster spot, and Logan Couture remains injured. Essentially, not everyone is making Sharks out of training camp.
The team also did well to create a bit more of a stable defense group this season. Adding Jake Walman and Cody Ceci, the Sharks have a couple more established blue liners, who can shelter some of the younger talent. Mix in Mario Ferraro, Jan Rutta, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and a healthy Matt Benning, and it’s actually a pretty veteran-heavy group, with Henry Thrun as the lone still-developing defenseman. It’s still a weak unit when compared to other teams around the league, but there’s at least a little bit more structure this season. Plus, after getting into a bit of NHL action last season, it appears as though Shakir Mukhamadullin (and even possibly Jack Thompson) will be pressing for a spot sooner than later as well.
In net, the team will be running back Mackenzie Blackwood and Vitek Vanecek, but with a bit of a twist. With the addition of Yaroslav Askarov, who will be pushing for an NHL job, the Sharks are able to experiment a bit more in goal. You don’t want to overwhelm a young goaltender and set them up to get little to no support, but the team could begin to ease Askarov into NHL action behind Blackwood/Vanecek.
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What this year should represent though is the first season where the team’s long-term core really starts to take shape. Up front, the trio of Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and William Eklund could be part of the organization for the next decade or more.
That said, a big part of this season will be about establishing which other players, like Fabian Zetterlund, Thomas Bordeleau, Henry Thrun, and others actually factor into the Sharks’ long-term plans. There’s significant opportunity within the Sharks’ lineup, but this year, there’s also a bit more support in the form of veteran depth.
The Sharks are probably going to be a ways out of the playoff picture once again, and it’s not all going to be pretty. But the pieces are now starting to fall into place, and this is the first season in a while where the Sharks are going to have some upward momentum.
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
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