The San Jose Sharks were once a constant threat in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They haven’t quite reached the top of the mountain, but damn if they haven’t tried, year after year.
But now the Sharks are known for consistently being one of the worst teams in the NHL. They have failed to qualify for the playoffs in the last six seasons, and they are the only team that has yet to win this year. Their record is a dismal 0-3-2.
All the losses are starting to fall on San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky.
“Yeah, believe me, it sucks,” Warsofsky said after the Sharks lost to the lowly Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. “I keep thinking there must be a reason why this is still happening. I’d give up one of my kids for a damn victory.”
Warsofsky apologized Monday for the comments.
“I love my children. I will never give up on them,” Warsofsky told reporters Monday. “I love my wife. Obviously I’m a passionate and emotional person, and I probably got ahead of myself there, and so I apologize for those comments.”
Rhetoric aside, you can understand why he seems so desperate to win. That said, he surely knew what he was getting into when he became coach of the Sharks in June 2024. This team was always going to take a lot of patience to operate.
Although general manager Mike Grier has openly set out to rebuild the franchise in the way most proven to create a winner — by losing and acquiring elite talent through the draft — that doesn’t make things any easier when you’re the on-court coach that Warsofsky is, trying to fix this on-ice product and failing to do so on a daily basis.
Ultimately, San Jose’s struggles this year are a painful reminder that the Sharks are no match for teams like the Anaheim Ducks and Montreal Canadiens who are clearly trying to take the next step in competition and be a playoff team for the foreseeable future. The Sharks have the same goal, but they follow a different schedule than the Ducks and the Habs. And that’s probably where Warsofsky’s frustrations come from.
If San Jose finishes at or near the bottom of the rankings and lands the No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft, the Sharks would be able to select NCAA phenom and founding forward Gavin McKenna. That would likely lead to another set of problems for San Jose – like how to find meaningful roles for McKenna and current Sharks young forwards Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Michael Misa and William Eklund? But it’s a problem Grier would like to have. That would make these last six years and this season worth it.
However, Warsofsky still has to get this team to tread water until they get there.
The overtime losses to the Golden Knights and Vegas Ducks to start the season were at least close games where the Sharks had the lead at times. But their three games since then have ended in a 5-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, a 6-3 loss to the Utah Mammoth and a 3-0 loss to the Penguins. It’s not even close.
The Sharks therefore have the five worst goals in the league and 35.8 shots against per game. Their offense isn’t much better, with a second-worst total of 23 shots per game and seventh-worst at 2.60 goals per game.
Grier filled out his roster this summer with a slew of veterans on short-term contracts with little to no trade protection, such as Jeff Skinner, Adam Gaudette, Ryan Reaves, Nick Leddy and John Klingberg.
We wholeheartedly approve of what Grier has done with his roster, but that is little comfort to the team right now. He’s in the middle of a change process that will regularly move Sharks players around until further notice, so it’s understandable if the coaching staff or players get frustrated from time to time.
Almost every other team has a better chance of making the playoffs this year than the Sharks. Their long-term future is bright, but their current prospects are not. Warsofsky’s main task is therefore to keep his players’ heads in the air while the ship takes on water around them. San Jose’s rebuild was fun last year with Celebrini and Smith’s rookie seasons, but the current grim reality of Grier’s construction job has put some serious gray clouds among the Sharks’ positives.
So, it won’t be fun if and when San Jose drops to the bottom of the standings. They are already here and the season is only a few weeks old. The worst may be yet to come for the Sharks, and Warsofsky’s increased stress levels may be just beginning.
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