As the playoff push for the National Hockey League kicks off, one team in particular stands out in the race for one of the four wild card positions. The San Jose Sharks have sustained a seven-year playoff drought following the 2019 team’s loss to the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference Finals.
Since 2019, the Sharks have yet to reach a top-ranking spot within the NHL standings, despite the presence of young stars such as top first round picks Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini. The duo are the two top-performing players on the team and are additionally surrounded by numerous Stanley Cup winning veterans such as Tyler Toffoli and Dmitry Orlov—so what’s preventing the Sharks from hoisting the silver trophy at the end of June?
There is no doubt that the abundance of players under the age of 21 contributes to the team’s overall connectivity, as they bring a light-hearted yet competitive energy to the ice. But it may play a part in the lack of chemistry seen between the veterans and newer recruits. For most players on the Sharks, they’ve only played in San Jose for two or less years.
In hockey games, a team consists of four lines of three forwards or centers, and three lines of two defensemen. When organizing these lines, coaches typically want the players to have the most chemistry on and off the ice. Arguably, the Sharks’ best choice for first line of forwards is Collin Graf, Macklin Celebrini, and Will Smith because of their consistency in scoring goals on their respective shifts. But in recent games, head coach Ryan Warsofsky has experimented with different players as forwards alongside Celebrini and Smith, which many say is the root of the team’s frustration.
It is extremely important that players on each of these lines continuously play with the same teammates, as it promotes camaraderie and reliability during on ice shifts. Warsofsky, in his second season of head coaching in the NHL, seems to lack the knowledge to wisely select or scratch (when a player is not permitted to play in a certain game) players that will win the team games. Notably, Graf, who hasn’t started a game on the first line since March 17, has proved through his statistics that his hockey IQ and ability to pass and handle the puck surpasses others who have been positioned with Smith and Celebrini ahead of him.
But despite the immense number of losses clocked on the team’s record, the 2025-2026 season has been an unprecedented turn of events for the team in teal. This year, in spite of its ups and downs, has been a massive step up from last season’s 20-50-12 record. As this article is being written, the Sharks continue to slide in and out of the second Western conference wild card spot, and every point counts. So whether the team makes the final push into the postseason or ends this season riding on the upwards success towards next year, the Sharks continue to prove why the future is teal, and why the future is now.