Every once in a while over the last few seasons, the San Jose Sharks have provided a brief glimpse of how exciting their future looks. For the first time, we’ve seen an extended run of that phenomenon. The Sharks have won six of their last eight games and temporarily moved into a playoff spot, and though they’ve fallen out of one since then, they’re still far closer to contention than most pundits expected them to be at any point this season. However, even as their current hot streak shows how good the Sharks can be soon, some of the down moments and underlying statistics demonstrate that they still have some major areas to improve.
Sharks Winning in Important Ways
The Sharks’ recent stretch is a good sign not just because they’re winning games, but because of how they’re winning them. Some of the biggest contributors have been players who could be part of the team for years to come. Macklin Celebrini has spent a large portion of the season among the NHL’s top scorers. He and Will Smith have grown their bond from last season to become an elite duo and have helped each other take significant sophomore leaps. Collin Graf, Shakir Mukhamadullin and Yaroslav Askarov have been right in the middle of the current run, and Sam Dickinson continues to develop amid all the wins.
Furthermore, the Sharks are finding a wide variety of ways to win games. They’re winning both high-scoring and low-scoring contests. They’re winning via blowout and winning close games, including several in overtime. This is the mark of a team able to adjust to different circumstances and go with the flow of a game. It shows a maturity and adaptability that they didn’t have in recent seasons, and the growth of their young players — some of whom have shown significant improvement even within this season — is a huge reason for it.
Last season, the Sharks improved a lot, but it didn’t always translate in the standings. This season, they’re continuing to trend in the right direction, but now the wins are coming along for the ride.
Sharks’ Win Over Wild Provides Prime Example
Perhaps no game on the Sharks’ recent streak covers all the aforementioned trends better than their 2-1 overtime win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, Nov. 11. Askarov made 28 saves to keep San Jose in the game, while Smith scored the Sharks’ only goal of regulation. Smith, Celebrini, Dickinson and Graf all saw the ice in overtime, with Celebrini feeding Graf and Graf making a great move at the net to score the overtime winner.
Even though the Wild controlled the action for a large portion of the game and outshot the Sharks 29-18, San Jose scrapped and clawed and narrowly hung on to keep it close, eventually breaking through for the tying and winning goals while Askarov fought off numerous offensive attacks from Minnesota. It wasn’t exactly the prettiest way to win a game, but other recent Sharks teams would have lost that game handily.
The Sharks will hit plenty of bumps as they crawl their way back to contention. The key is to turn a portion of those tough nights into wins. For the first time in years, they’re coming up with ways to do so.
Sharks Need to Improve Defense and Power Play
Despite the recent wins, a closer look at some of the statistics in those games paints a less optimistic picture for the Sharks. They’ve been outshot in each of their last eight games — often drastically so — despite winning six of them. In four of the six wins, their strategy basically amounted to keeping it close, hoping their goalie would hang on and generating just enough offense. Winning those contests is certainly better than losing them, but the games show that they still have a lot of work to do.
Related: Sharks Need to Find the Defensive Equivalent of Tyler Toffoli
While the lack of goal-scoring in these games might seem like an offensive issue on the surface, the main problems are actually more defense-based. The Sharks have enough offensive talent to feel confident about their play on that side of the ice long-term, but their offense can’t get going if the defense allows tons of shots every game. If the defense is unable to gain control of the puck, the offense has no chance to get going.
This was never more obvious than in San Jose’s 2-0 loss to the Calgary Flames on Thursday, Nov. 13. The Sharks were outshot 36-16, allowed a goal off a disastrous clearing attempt out of their own zone, and avoided a few other close calls on similarly bad clears. If they can’t tighten up their defense to avoid these mistakes, a lot of their progress could be nullified.
If the Sharks do have an offensive area they need to bolster, it’s their power play. During the previously discussed eight games, they’ve gone just 2-for-21 on the man advantage, opportunities that become all the more crucial when they’re getting outshot so frequently. Maybe they could benefit from a shakeup to the units, such as a switch of defensemen John Klingberg and Dmitry Orlov on the first and second groups or elevating Philipp Kurashev to the first unit after his strong start to the season.
These issues can be looked at in both a negative and a positive light. In the case of the former, the Sharks’ challenges show that they’re on something of a thin line, in which they are emerging victorious but with some statistics that suggest their winning ways might not be sustainable. On the other hand, perhaps the Sharks can take some optimism that if they can clean up these issues, they can win at an even greater rate.
Sharks Could Look to Accelerate Rebuild
The Sharks are winning at a greater rate this season than many anticipated, possibly including some within the organization. With that in mind, it might be time for the Sharks to move on to the next phase of their rebuild sooner than they expected to. They could use the upcoming offseason to try to sign or trade for stars, both to support their exciting young players and to close up the gaps on their defense and power play. If the rest of the season goes well enough, they could even be buyers at the trade deadline.
The Sharks’ hope of pivoting towards a winning future is becoming increasingly tangible. They have some issues to clean up before they get all the way back, but at least they’re able to point to a decent record rather than some hypothetical success down the line.
