The Sharks Are Set for Success: Embracing the Come Up

The San Jose Sharks are in recently uncharted waters. The Sharks, a veritable powerhouse in the NHL from the 2000s to the 2010s, fell off the deep end from 2020-2025, boasting some of the worst records in the NHL over that span. Sharks fans endured beatdowns that hadn't been seen since before humans landed on the moon.

But we did endure. We waited. We waited. Then we waited some more. And then we got lucky. We got Macklin Celebrini in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. And it is luck folks. There's no sugar coating this. The Sharks are not in their current standing in the NHL, and this entire article would be ridiculous, if they had drafted Artyom Levshunov #2, Beckett Sennecke #3 or Cayden Lindstrom #4. Even Ivan Demidov, who the Canadiens picked up at #5 and is a leader in the Calder race, wouldn't do this to a team.

I think the end of the Doug Wilson era left a bad taste in the mouths of Sharks fans. In the beginning of the end of it all, the Wilsii left us thinking we just needed some more time for Ryan Merkley to pan out for the team to be successful, that William Eklund could step onto a team of aging vets and reverse the inevitable and that a new coach or a new undrafted European winger was going to change our fate. It didn't, and fans left. Fans left in droves.

The ones that stayed wanted the team to lose to show management that removing Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, Logan Couture, Evander Kane, Vlasic and so many more NEEDED to happen to find the bottom of this tank. We needed the bottom for a chance to reverse this. We found it and then some during the first few years of the Mike Grier era. The issue is, I think the Sharks fans that have been through it all are now afraid of winning.

But let's back up. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. After all the Sharks are in and out of a playoff spot, have a shaky at best defense, and are being absolutely carried by Macklin Celebrini. Oh yes we've gotten player improvements and rookie performances, goalie magic and veteran resurgences that have helped. But this team is Macklin first, second, and third. Is this sustainable? Is there a precedent for a single superstar to change fortunes of a team this aggressively? History says yes.

The Come Up

Comparison of point growth over four years for Chicago, Pittsburgh, San Jose and Washington following the drafting of Toews, Crosby, Celebrini and Ovechkin

History actually says we're on pace with Chicago at 88 points in Macklin/Toews second year, and outpacing Washington. Only Pittsburgh improved more between years, and guess what they did? They added. In the offseason of 2006 they spent a 2nd to get Sharks fan favorite Nils Ekman, a 3rd to get 4th liner Dominic Moore, then spent a 3rd for tough guy Georges Laraque, and a 4th for extra forward Joel Kwiatkowski. Did it help? Well they made the playoffs, even if those moves were mediocre at best.

Did fans scream and yell about spending that many picks? Honestly I have no idea. It's possible some did. It's also possible that fans screamed when they re-signed a 39 year-old Mark Recchi in the 2007 offseason to a 2 million dollar deal (a 4.3 million dollar deal by today's salary cap standards).

I can already see some skin-crawling from conservative fans. A 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th for minimal contributors when the team has been bad for so long? 4.3 million dollars to a guy pushing 40? What are the Penguins thinking?

They're thinking for the future. They're thinking of the soon to be back-to-back cup finals, the Crosby-hoisted cup in his fourth year, and the dynasty that awaited them.

The Capitals certainly took their time to actually win the damn thing, ultimately getting there in 2018, but I doubt their fans regret 10 division titles in 13 years between 2007 and 2020 nor building excellent, league-leading teams around the greatest goal scorer of all time as quickly as possible.

And what of the Blackhawks? After back-to-back studs fall into their laps in Toews and Kane in '06 and '07, they sign 37 year-old Rob Lang to a 2 year 4M AAV deal (an 8.6 million dollar AAV contract today) in the offseason of 2007. They miss the playoffs at 88 points after this (right where the Sharks are in the rebuild), and then sign Brian Campbell to a staggering 8 year 7M AAV contract in the offseason. At the time in 2008 this contract would be close to 12M AAV in today's salary cap dollars.

I can see the hand-wringing now. Campbell is coming off a career year at 29 years old where he had 62 points. He's never going to repeat those numbers. And guess what? He didn't. He played three seasons for the Hawks, and helped them win their first cup in 2010.

Did that gamble sink the franchise? Nope. The Hawks found a way to balance their young guys with heavy contracts such as Lang and Campbell in an arguably tighter and more nebulous cap situation than we have now.

Mike Grier is going to make these moves, and he's going to make these types of moves soon. If he doesn't, he's not doing his job. He knows that he has to plan for the future in a different way than we've been doing recently.

It seems counter-intuitive. We've been told to be patient, to let the prospects brew and to accumulate assets to build for the future. I'm here to tell you, that future is now. Don't believe me? Believe the newest San Jose Shark Kiefer Sherwood.

Kiefer Sherwood Traded to the Sharks

The online fan response to trading a 2026 2nd and a 2027 2nd for the 30 year-old winger (and UFA to be) has been mixed at best.

A quick aside on the trade: I am a fan. First, I think any talk that this is a flip situation is silly in my humble opinion. I don't think Grier risks two 2nds to try to get MAYBE a first from a contender later at the trade deadline for Sherwood. I think Grier and his pro scouts genuinely like the player. I also think he's a great fit for a team needing a long-term solution for grit and scoring in the middle six. Musty, Chernyshov, Lund, Halttunen, Smith, Eklund, Wennberg, whoever you want to name doesn't bring what Sherwood brings. He's a hitter, but the kind you need. The kind that wins you playoff games.

Are the Sharks ready for that type of player? Time will tell. Personally I'd prefer spending that price for Kiefer Sherwood (and a 5 million dollar AAV extension) than continue to try to cover our holes with Skinners, Kurashevs, Gaudettes, Dellandreas, Grundstroms, etc. No disrespect to those players, but the Sharks have been applying band-aids until this team is ready. The team is showing Grier the way to go, and the way is up. This trade, and the preceding Wennberg extension are the first signs that Grier has started to build his team.

The Future is Teal

The Sharks are a team again. Relish this fact. They haven't been a team since 2019. Sure they've iced players in the same uniform. Sure they've had some comeback wins and some gutsy performances, but they haven't been a team.

The list of players no longer in the NHL that the Sharks have iced over the past half decade is longer than my arm. They've been stopgaps waiting for this moment. Mike Grier applied the tourniquet to stop the bleeding. He traded Karlsson, Burns, bought-out Vlasic and handled the trades of Hertl (and subsequently Askarov) with care. He kept his cap space open. He applied the band-aids to cover the holes. He didn't spin us bullshit either. He and we knew this team would step back for a few years. We dealt with watching the end of NHL careers and nightly shellackings.

The tourniquet has come down. This team controls its future again. And after the band-aids were applied, it now comes the time to take them off. This team has healed. It's time to get a badass tattoo over that wound and embrace the competitiveness of this team.

Did the Penguins think year 4 of Crosby era that they win the cup? Did the Hawks think Kane and Toews would still be on their ELCs when they lift if for the first time? Did Capitals fans realize they were witnessing history with every Ovi goal? Did management? Judging by their moves, they knew what they had, and weren't afraid to build. Grier has built up enough goodwill throughout this process, from selling to drafting to scouting and signing, that I say don't fear the come up. Embrace it.

-HWH