Sharks current record: 16-46-7 (.283)
Sharks projected record: 19-55-8 (.283)
NHL record for worst season in 82-game history: 14-57-11 (.238)

The Sharks Sterility Stare is sliding downhill, as the San Jose Sharks have lost 15 of their last 16 games heading into tonight’s home showdown against the next second-worst team in the league: the Chicago Blackhawks (19-46-5). Just last Sunday, the Sharks lost in Chicago by a 5-2 score, as San Jose dropped 4 more games in regulation last week since our last column, and it’s been pretty ugly to watch from afar.

Tonight, we will get an up-close view of this train wreck as we will go in person, probably for the last time this year. Every week as the losses pile up, we think the Sharks can’t get any worse, but after the trade deadline, we should have expected this sort of crash. San Jose can’t score a lot, and San Jose can’t defend a lick. The 8-2 loss against Nashville on the road was a perfect example of what’s going on right now here.

It was the last game of a 5-game road trip, so, yes, the Sharks were probably tired playing their fifth games in 8 days away from home. But still? After taking a 2-1 lead, the San Jose team maxed out: the Predators proceeded to drop 7 straight goals on San Jose in an ugly affair that just should have been subject to the Mercy Rule. The Sharks only average 2.2 goals per game, worst in the league, so there’s that to consider.

And defensively, San Jose is giving up 4.1 goals per game: the math, therefore, is not good. We can’t single out any one player for these losses, as we have earlier this season, simply because there’s no point. The team is in full rebuild mode after the trade deadline—as if it wasn’t already—and the Sharks received just 6 games and 1 point from its best player and team captain (center Logan Couture) this year. That was an $8M waste.

To the final point, and perhaps the most important? The team really needs just one more point or two to avoid historical stigmas. With 13 games left on the schedule, the Sharks should be able to win 1 of them or get to overtime a few times. Right? Otherwise, it’s going to be a long offseason answer questions about how they could have finished the season losing 28 of their last 29 games. And that’s a psychological burden.

Which of the final 13 games can San Jose win, reasonably? Tonight’s home game against Chicago, for one. If the Sharks don’t get at least a point tonight, it’s a crushing blow. The final 12 games after tonight include Dallas (H), Minnesota (A), St. Louis (A), Seattle (H), Los Angeles (H), St. Louis (H), Arizona (H), Calgary (H), Seattle (A), Minnesota (H), Edmonton (A), and Calgary (A). Let’s break this down to look for opportunities …

And we see just 4 games where the Sharks could be reasonably “expected” to secure a point in each: Chicago (H), Seattle (H), Arizona (H), and Seattle (A). That’s it; the other teams are making postseason pushes right now, and they’re not going to be shamed by San Jose this late in the season. Oh, sure, maybe the Sharks do pull off 1 upset, but again, the key word there is “upset”—and we’re looking for probability here for points.

Even if the Sharks don’t win another game, getting to OT in those 4 games above at a minimum, starting tonight, would put them at 16-55-11 (.262) for the year, and we’ll take it. Let’s hope the team finds a little more jump in their collective skates over the next month, however. No one wants to be remembered for this season, in the end. It’s the wrong side of sports history to be on, for sure.