Sharks current record: 9-24-3 (.292)
Sharks projected record: 22-56-4 (.292)
NHL record for worst season in 82-game history: 14-57-11 (.238)

The San Jose Sharks are in a free fall right now, as we check in for the last Sharks Sterility Stare for the calendar year 2023. They have lost 7 straight games, as the goaltending has just disappeared—and perhaps so has the offensive burst that was visible previously for a short time. In the losing streak, San Jose has been outscored, 33-10, and with a road game against Colorado tomorrow, it is bound to become 8 straight. Yikes.

The last 6 losses have been particularly bad, with no defeat coming by less than 3 goals. Goaltender Kaapo Kähkönen is the “hot hand” right now, with a season save percentage of exactly .900, currently. Fellow netminder Mackenzie Blackwood has fallen hard, sporting just an .889 mark right now. The steady barrage each man faces in the crease has not subsided, so the defensive efforts continue to stink, badly.

The good news is that the Sharks are still ahead of pace to avoid being the worst team in the 82-game era of the NHL, but that’s hardly a relief after the team teased its fan base with a 9-7-2 stretch from November 7 to December 12. Now those are the efforts and results everyone expects, so this current 7-game slide is just a painful punch to the gut—again. It doesn’t seem fair, of course, that the team is so bad again and again.

Think about it: between the first 11 games and the last 7 games, the Sharks have put up a combined 0-17-1 effort that has killed the season … not that there were high hopes to begin with in October. Yet the tease of those 5 weeks of fun play permeate more deeply in a psychological sense, because it was hope rewarded. Now, those who show up to the Shark Tank in 2024 will be expecting to lose again. That’s not good morale.

The big tease? The potential return of injured captain Logan Couture, a former standout player despite the fact he’s never made an All-Star Game. Rumors have it that “a level of optimism that we haven’t had before” surrounds the star center’s possible first game back—and soon. Yet until he does take the ice, the Sharks need to regroup in January 2024 and regain the effort/focus that led to such good results for that one period.

Once January does begin, San Jose has 3 consecutive home games to take advantage of before heading out on another long road trip (January 9-16, 5 games). It will be Detroit, Winnipeg, and Toronto coming to town, and the Sharks will need a win soon—or the pressure mounts with each successive loss and makes it that much more challenging to change the flow of negativity and losing. And the team already has been there …