The Sunday Surmising piece today is about the San Jose Sharks again. Despite losing to the Seattle Kraken last night at home in a game Los Tiburones could have won, the team still occupies the final playoff slot in the Western Conference with a 17-16-3 record. The Kraken were on a four-game losing streak, but the Sharks gave up three third-period goals to Seattle on just eight shots on goal to blow another late lead. Doh!

But we have to remind ourselves this is a Sharks team that was terrible for the past two seasons (and more), and that it is a very young team still struggling to find consistency in its play. San Jose looked pretty good for the first 41 minutes of last night’s game before giving up two soft goals in the span of 2:32 in the third period to see a hard-earned lead disappear quickly. Unable to recover, the Sharks dropped a winnable one.

These are the games that try fans’ souls, of course. The winnable ones on home ice against mediocre teams like Seattle need to be locked down, and San Jose let a few points in the standings get away here. With the halfway point of the season coming soon, the Sharks have a lot of room to improve—which is actually good news, considering the reality of the standings (see below). Yet … they have to deliver on potential very soon.

San Jose has played 36 games while notching 37 points, which leaves them with some space ahead of No. 9 Utah (37G, 37P), No. 10 St. Louis (37G, 36P), and No. 11 Calgary (36G, 34P). However, this only matters if the Sharks can take care of business, and they’ve been a bit uneven recently. They now have three road games left this year, before they close out 2025 at home. There are eight games before we next go to a live contest.

Let’s take a peak at those matchups:

  • December 23 @ Vegas (33G, 42P): Beating the Golden Knights on the road is tough for a young roster.
  • December 27 @ Vancouver (35G, 33P): San Jose may view this one as a must-win situation, really.
  • December 29 @ Anaheim (36G, 44P): Again, a tough road matchup requiring the Sharks to be on.
  • December 31 vs. Minnesota (36G, 49P): A tough home situation on New Year’s Eve, for sure.
  • January 3 vs. Tampa Bay (35G, 41P): This is a winnable game at the Shark Tank for San Jose, with rest.
  • January 6 vs. Columbus (35G, 34P): The Blue Jackets are the “worst” team in the Eastern Conference.
  • January 7 @ Los Angeles (34G, 39P): The Kings sit one spot ahead of the Sharks in the playoff chase.
  • January 10 vs. Dallas (36G, 53P): The Stars just beat San Jose in the Shark Tank on Thursday night.

It’s a tough road ahead, so San Jose has to win the winnable ones and perhaps steal a few victories on the road as well. We see a loss in Vegas, a win in Vancouver, a defeat in Anaheim, an upset victory against Minnesota, another win against the Lightning, and a big romp against Columbus. Then two rough outings to end this eight-game stretch, leaving the Sharks with a 21-20-3 record, depending on the circumstances.

To make that happen, though, the San Jose roster needs to keep maturing—and sadly, they need to do it quickly in the middle of this season. The two soft goals Yaroslav Askarov let in last night after the Sharks had taken a 2-1 lead were inexcusable. The worst thing a young hockey team can do is give up a score right after they get one; it’s like baseball or football, holding the other team down after you score. It’s a total must.

Through our experience as athletes, coaches, and sports journalists, it’s mental toughness this San Jose roster still lacks. This constantly happens to them, where they score, take their collective foot off the gas, and give a goal right back almost immediately. This time, it happened just 1:19 after the Sharks had taken the lead. Nothing is more demoralizing, yet the San Jose team can erase these kinds of mistakes with effort.

Perhaps the worst part about Askarov’s blunders was the fact the game winner came off the stick of a Kraken player who had not scored a goal all season prior to this game! Ryan Lindgren was goal-less in 32 games player this season, but he beat the Sharks best goaltender in a key moment when it hurt San Jose the most, really. That kind of garbage goal is exactly what the developing San Jose roster cannot let happen.

So, the Sharks continue to evolve, grow, and mature, and sometimes it doesn’t happen as fast as the fans want it to, in terms of consistent play. But the San Jose roster is on the cusp, for sure, and we look forward to continuing to watch the team develop. We just wish games like last night’s content would not happen.