It’s been three weeks or so since our last Sharks Sterility Stare piece, and we have seen a recurring theme in that time period: blown leads late. Five times in the last 20 days, including today against the Edmonton Oilers, the San Jose Sharks have watched third-period leads evaporate and turn into losses. If the team had hopes of making a surprising postseason run, the guys buried themselves with bad execution recently. Ugh.

San Jose current record for 2024-2025: 11-19-6 (.389)
Sharks projected record for 82 games this season: 29-46-7 (.396)
San Jose record last year (2023-2024): 19-54-9 (.287)
NHL record for worst season in 82-game history: 14-57-11 (.238)

While the team did finish its six-game road trip with three victories, the Sharks’ last five defeats have all come after they held the lead in the third period. Good teams don’t do that, and if they do, by fluke? They certainly do not let it keep happening. This team could be 16-15-5 right now and pushing past a .500 record if it just had the shut-down ability to close out a victory in the final 20 minutes (or less) of any game at all.

To wit:

We discussed this issue last season, when the team was much worse. But this defies logic; overall, the team has now lost six of its last seven games, and when you have the lead in so many of your losses late in the game, you need to preserve those—or else other teams are just going to feast on you in those moments without fear, which is what seems to be happening right now. There is no worry for the opponents. None.

The goaltending should be getting better at this point; the same with the defense. But coming into today’s game against the Oilers, San Jose was 31st in a 32-team league in goals allowed—which is just inexcusable. Vítek Vaněček took the first two losses, and newly acquired Alexandar Georgiev absorbed the third and fourth defeats. Today, it was goaltender of the future Yaroslav Askarov who let the pucks in late. Hmmm.

For starters, Vaněček (3-8-1, 3.84 GAA) is mediocre; we knew this. After posting a decent 8.6 Point Shares in 2022-2023 with the New Jersey Devils, he took a step backward last year, dropping down to 3.6 PS as his GAA jumped almost three quarters of a goal in the process. That’s how the Sharks acquired him in March 2024 for Kaapo Kähkönen, who saw his GAA drop 1.30 goals in the process of playing for a decent team.

So, Kähkönen got worlds better in going from San Jose to New Jersey; thus, naturally, Vaněček has gotten a lot worse traveling the other direction, seeing his GAA rise from 2.45 two years ago to 3.84 this year with the Sharks. This doesn’t mean Kähkönen is “better” either; it just means both goalies are mediocre in the sense they’re only as good as the team in front of them. Goalies like that are a dime a dozen on this globe.

As for Georgiev, well … he topped the NHL in wins and total goals against last year with Colorado, thanks to his 3.02 GAA, and that should tell you all you need to know. The Sharks traded Mackenzie Blackwood (3.31 GAA in 63 games with San Jose overall) to the Avalanche for him recently, and his numbers in the Black & Teal are predictably bad (3.75 GAA, .869 save percentage). He is not the answer to anything here.

This brings us to Askarov: he played very well in two late November starts (1.96 GAA, .927 S%), and today was his first NHL action since then. He stopped 39 shots for a .929 S% in this one against Edmonton, the defending Western Conference champs, on the road. In three starts with the Sharks this season, he still hasn’t lost in regulation, posting a 1-0-2 record with pretty stellar peripherals so far. We can live with this.

He’s allowed some growing pains, since he is just in his age-22 season. Clearly, though, he is a singular talent high above the other netminders discussed in this piece. It’s unreasonable to suggest this, but Vaněček and Georgiev should not get any more starts for this team—unless the San Jose front office is thinking it wants to “save” Askarov for next year’s Calder race, tank the rest of this season, and …

Secure one more high-reward draft pick next summer, which would then set the team up nicely for the next decade. With recent top picks like left wing William Eklund (No. 7 overall in 2021 Draft), center William Smith (No. 4 in 2023), and forward Macklin Celebrini (No. 1 in 2024)—not to mention defenseman Sam Dickinson (No. 11 in 2024)—the Sharks have a solid core in place for the next handful of seasons. And?

Toss in Askarov (No. 11 in 2020, Nashville), and yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus in San Jose on the ice.