The San Jose Sharks hit the week of Nov. 9-15, 2026, with a familiar problem hanging over everything: the losses are piling up, and the answers have to come fast.
A five-game skid has dragged the Sharks to 7-11-1, leaving them with 15 points and sixth place in the Pacific Division. The young talent is still flashing, but the team keeps running into the same wall - slow starts, shaky defensive stretches and too many nights spent chasing the game instead of controlling it.
That was on display again Saturday in a 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars. Michael Misa, Ivar Stenberg and Will Smith scored for San Jose, while Macklin Celebrini piled up three assists.
The Sharks kept battling back, but they never found the equalizer. That’s been the story too often lately: enough offense to stay alive, not enough structure to finish the job.
Celebrini remains the engine. He leads the Sharks with 21 points heading into Monday’s game against the New York Islanders, and his ability to create offense and tilt possession has become central to whatever progress this team makes.
Smith has also given San Jose a real lift, with seven goals and six assists so far. Misa and Stenberg joined the scoresheet against Dallas, another sign that the next wave is starting to make its presence felt at the NHL level.
The challenge, of course, is turning those individual bright spots into wins.
Defensively, the Sharks still haven’t found the right formula. Jacob Trouba and Darnell Nurse were added to bring experience and steadiness to the blue line, especially with younger defensemen like Sam Dickinson and Eric Pohlkamp in the mix. But the overall group hasn’t been consistent enough, and opponents have too often been able to settle in and dictate play.
Special teams remain part of the problem as well. The power play has shown some promise, but recent struggles have kept San Jose from cashing in when chances are there. The penalty kill has been uneven, too, which only adds to the pressure on a team already fighting uphill most nights.
Injuries are another layer to watch. Alexander Wennberg and Igor Chernyshov are both on injured reserve with upper-body injuries.
Wennberg has an expected return date of Nov. 9, though his status for the Islanders game is still uncertain. Chernyshov is targeting a possible return around Nov. 14, which could put the Utah Mammoth matchup in play for him.
Quentin Musty and Kyle Keyser are also on injured reserve with upper-body injuries, and both are expected back around Dec. 1.
The schedule gives San Jose four chances this week to change the mood around the season. It starts Monday night at home against the Islanders, then continues Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The weekend brings a road game against the Utah Mammoth on Saturday, followed by a home date with the Nashville Predators on Sunday.
The Islanders game offers the clearest shot at snapping the skid right away. Pittsburgh brings a different kind of test, with enough experience and offensive punch to punish mistakes. Then comes the back-to-back setup over the weekend, where fatigue and goaltending choices could matter.
For the Sharks, the big picture hasn’t changed: the young core is giving the organization reasons to believe. Celebrini is looking like a franchise centerpiece, and Smith, Misa and Stenberg are all gaining valuable experience.
But development only goes so far. San Jose needs cleaner defensive hockey, more dependable special teams and better nights from the veterans around those young players.
The immediate goal is simple enough: stop the losing streak. The harder part is making sure one good week doesn’t vanish as quickly as the last one did.
In Other News...
Sharks Lineup Suddenly Gets More Complicated With Veteran Set To Return
The Sharks forward group is getting a familiar veteran back just as the roster starts to tighten up again. San Jose assigned Filip Bystedt to the Barracuda in the AHL, a move that comes with Alexander Wennberg set to rejoin the lineup after a stint on injured reserve. Wennberg has been out with an upper-body injury, and his return gives the Sharks another experienced option down the middle as they try to settle their rotation.
For Bystedt, the assignment sends him back to the Barracuda after his first taste of NHL action with San Jose. The 2023 first-rounder made his debut with the Sharks and appeared in five games, but he heads back to the minors looking for more reps and a chance to keep developing. With Wennberg back in the mix, the Sharks now have a little less room for experimentation and a little more pressure to sort out the best combination up front. [Read more 🡒]
Sharks Early Slide Is Raising A Bigger Internal Concern
The Sharks opened the season with a couple of overtime wins, but the early optimism has given way to a rough stretch that now includes a five-game losing streak. Along the way, the team has been trying to sort through the usual growing pains of a young roster while also dealing with the kind of mistakes that can snowball when confidence starts to slip.
More concerning for San Jose is that the skid has already led to a players-only meeting, a sign the issues may go beyond what shows up on the ice. Ryan Warsofsky has continued to talk about development and the need for young players to keep learning through it, but the conversation around the club has widened to include questions about his ice-time decisions and lineup choices as the Sharks search for a way to steady things. [Read more 🡒]
Sharks Face An Uncomfortable Test As Celebrini Carries More Load
The Sharks return home trying to steady themselves after losing five of their last six, and the matchup with the Islanders offers a little bit of everything that has defined this early stretch. San Jose is leaning more heavily on Macklin Celebrini, who has been one of the clubs most important drivers lately and is riding a point streak, while the opponent brings its own pressure after dropping three straight. It is the kind of game that can tell you a lot about where a young team is right now, especially when the schedule starts to ask more of its top players.
Bo Horvat has long been a difficult assignment for San Jose, and Victor Eklund adds another layer to the night as he makes his first trip to the Sharks home arena after a strong start to his rookie season. For the Sharks, the bigger question is how much more they can ask of Celebrini in the middle of a losing skid and still expect him to keep producing. The answer may say as much about the teams depth as it does about its future. [Read more 🡒]