The San Jose Sharks are built for what comes next. The question is whether they’re ready for right now.
That’s the tension hanging over a team that has quietly assembled one of the deepest prospect pools in hockey while also taking a huge leap forward last season. Will Smith, Michael Misa and Sam Dickinson headline the rebuild, and San Jose’s 34-point swing from the previous year showed just how far the organization has come in a short time. When the Sharks moved budding talent William Eklund to the Ottawa Senators before the NHL Draft, they turned around and effectively swapped him for second overall pick Ivar Stenberg later that week.
At the center of it all is Macklin Celebrini, and 2025-26 was the kind of season that changes everything. He piled up 115 points with the Sharks and added 24 more internationally with Team Canada, including ten at the Olympics in Milano-Cortina. That run earned him the IIHF Men’s Player of the Year award, and it also set him up for a five-year extension worth $18 million per year that begins after 2026-27.
For San Jose, that means this is the last season before Celebrini’s new deal kicks in, and it explains why general manager Mike Grier spent the offseason pushing hard. The Sharks opened free agency by signing Mason Marchment and Jacob Trouba, then added Michael Kesselring in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres. Their boldest move came on July 1, when they landed Darnell Nurse from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for prospects Shakir Mukhamadullin and Zack Sharp.
Taking on Nurse’s $9.25 million annual cap hit comes with obvious risk, especially with the red flags in his game. But it also fits the moment. San Jose has reached the point where caution is no longer the point.
The improvement was already showing in the results against Vancouver. After the Canucks swept the season series in Celebrini’s rookie year, the Sharks answered by winning three of four in 2025-26, with former Canucks Tyler Toffoli and Adam Gaudette helping drive the turnaround.
There was another Canucks connection added along the way, too. San Jose brought in Kiefer Sherwood in January, and he later signed a five-year extension with the club in March. Even after finishing the last 28 games of his season with the Sharks, Sherwood’s 17 goals in 44 games for Vancouver still ranked third on the Canucks and tied him with Drew O’Connor, who played all 82.
The target for San Jose this season is clear: the playoffs. The Ducks made that jump last season, and with the Kings and Oilers at the tail end of their current contention windows, the path is there for the Sharks to follow.
They still have work to do, though. San Jose allowed the third-most goals in the league last season, a product of a shaky defense and a goaltending tandem of Yaroslav Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic that had trouble keeping the puck out. Trouba and Nurse should help some, but Ryan Warsofsky needs the entire back end to tighten up if this team is going to make the leap.
If that happens without blunting the offense, San Jose has the makings of a playoff roster. Even with their flaws, they were close last year. With Celebrini and the rest of the core another year older, the Sharks should be one of the most watchable teams in the league.
And the prediction here is simple: the Sharks are going to break into the postseason and jump one of the Pacific’s top three to get there.
Season Series
October 29 @ SAP Center
December 14 @ SAP Center
December 19 @ Rogers Arena
April 3, 2026 @ Rogers Arena
In Other News...
Canucks Finally Look Like They Have A Plan Worth Believing
After years of chasing quick fixes, the Canucks are finally operating like a franchise with a coherent direction. Under Ryan Johnson and the Sedins, the organization has leaned into a rebuild, and that matters because it changes the conversation from patching holes to actually building something durable. For a fan base that has seen plenty of short-term swings, the new approach at least gives the roster a clearer purpose and a better chance to grow into itself.
A lot will still depend on whether the pieces they have can hold up and develop, and Filip Chytil is one of the more interesting names in that mix. If he can stay healthy, he could give Vancouver real depth down the middle, which is the kind of support a young team needs when it is trying to turn a reset into a structure. The optimism is real, but so are the usual rebuild questions about development, lineup balance and whether the roster is being built to last. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Are Counting On Jamie Oleksiak For More Than Toughness
Jamie Oleksiak is the kind of addition Vancouver made with October and beyond in mind, not just the next opening night. The Canucks signed the veteran defenseman to a two-year contract to help shore up a blue line that could use more size, steadiness and a little more edge, while also leaning on him as a presence for younger players coming through the pipeline. His game has long been built around defensive reliability and physical play, and the expectation is that he can supply a modest offensive lift in the range of 10-15 points without being asked to do much more than keep things simple.
The question for Vancouver is how much of that plan holds up once the season grinds on. Oleksiak brings experience and a useful set of tools, but there are fair concerns about age and durability, especially for a player whose value is tied so closely to being available and dependable. If he stays on the ice, the Canucks have a defender who can stabilize matchups, protect teammates and set a tone. If not, the move becomes a much thinner bet, and one the team will be watching closely well before the 2026-27 season arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Fans Have Seen This Front Office Frustration Before
For a team that spent much of the offseason trying to steady the ship, the latest round of league-wide front-office criticism lands with familiar weight in Vancouver. The Canucks are part of a broader conversation about how NHL teams are trying to find the right path forward, and the common threads are hard to miss: a shortage of true star power, uneasy roster construction, and the kind of contract and coaching decisions that can shape a season long before puck drop.
What makes it sting for Vancouver fans is how often these debates circle back to trust. When management is questioned alongside clubs like Seattle, Detroit, Los Angeles and Edmonton, it is usually because the on-ice product has not matched the ambition behind it. For the Canucks, the concern is less about one move than the larger direction of the roster, and whether the front office can give supporters a reason to believe the plan is finally moving the right way. [Read more 🡒]