Welcome to a proper  NHL Saturday piece today, as the league goes on hiatus for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Our beloved San Jose Sharks have arrived at this point with a 27-24-4 record, currently good enough for 11th place in the Western Conference. When we last checked in with the team, we were commenting on the fact that the franchise had found its superstar in forward Macklin Celebrini. Well, since then, the Sharks have lost four straight games, and it has sucked.

[As noted yesterday, we know our writings do not influence the universe unfolding as it should, although we should point out that we did nail the NFL’s Super Bowl matchup a month ago. You win some; you lose some. Duh.]

After improving their record to 27-21-3, it’s been a tough few weeks for San Jose, losing two road games in Canada by a goal each—and one in disastrous fashion to Edmonton—before embarrassingly going down in Chicago. There is no shame in the fourth loss, to Colorado on the road, but this five-game road trip ended up with just one victory when it could have three or four wins instead. You never want to leave points on the ice, but that’s just what the Sharks did:

  • At Edmonton: You cannot take a 3-0 lead in the first period and then lose a game. Any game. Anywhere. Ever. Heck, San Jose carried that same three-goal lead into the third period before coughing up two goals in the final three-plus minutes and losing in the first minute or so of overtime. It just reminds us of the same garbage this team has been putting on the ice for years now, it seems. How do things like this even happen? We truly don’t know. It’s a mystery.
  • At Calgary: Two nights later in Calgary, the Sharks entered the third period tied and lost by a goal. So be it. The point here is that the Flames are below San Jose in the standings, still, and you want to win these games away from home against “lesser” competition. The fact the Sharks certainly had their chances to win and did not says a lot.
  • At Chicago: After two close losses, San Jose fell behind to the Blackhawks 4-0 midway through the second period, and the team sort of mailed it in from there on out against a team below them in the standings. The Sharks got to within two goals in the early third, but they couldn’t close the gap against a “lesser” team. What’s worse is that Chicago scored those four goals on just 10 shots against San Jose goaltender Yaroslav Askarov. That’s an issue.
  • At Colorado: In truth, this was another winnable game, even if the Avs are very good. Colorado jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second after a scoreless first, and then the Sharks gamely fought back to tie it up in the third before giving up the final two scores in a 4-2 loss. We like this effort at the tail end of the road trip, but in the end, it’s only a moral victory—and those do not count in the standings. Losing four in a row when all were point opportunities?!

San Jose sits 20th in the NHL for scoring goals, and it also resides 27th in goals allowed. Those are not the numbers of a “winning team” as the Sharks have been playing a bit above their collective heads for awhile. Still … it seems like San Jose has lost a lot of points late in games this year, even if the numbers do not bear that out. Maybe when it happens? It just seems so improbably that the shock overwhelms our collective logic and sanity in postgame evaluation. Are we insane?

No.

But the Sharks have played the fourth-toughest schedule so far this season, and for a young team that hasn’t sniffed the playoffs in years, it seems unfair. The Oilers are the two-time, defending Western Conference champions, so there’s something there that the San Jose kids do not have: experience. Every time they blow a lead, in theory, they’re going to learn how not to do that in the future, but it is tough being patient when you see the team play so well at other times.

As for Askarov, he’s not performing well in his first full NHL season: a 3.53 GAA and an .888 save percentage mean he is not ready for primetime, and this team is only going to go as far as its goaltenders take it, really. Fellow netminder Alex Nedeljkovic—he of the Opening Night Blunder that Shall Be Forgotten—is a little better, as he is seven years older. However, his numbers (2.91 GAA, .899 S%) are not that much better. The San Jose front office has to figure this out soon.

If the Sharks want to make a playoff push over the final 27 games of the season, they need better defense and goaltending. The trade deadline is March 6, about a month away from today. Will San Jose deal for a veteran goaltender who can make a difference and carry this young offense to the Promised Land, even if just for the first-round experience? Time will tell, and maybe the franchise is willing to wait another year before making a real move.

But waiting sucks, doesn’t it?