Baby Sharks fun to watch despite growing pains

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks occupy a unique gray area between expectations and results.

This is a fun, fast, young team filled with highly skilled forwards that are immediately eye-catching to anyone watching. But they are also 29th in scoring, averaging just 2.53 goals per game, which places their scoring output just above the lowly Anaheim Ducks and the surprisingly disappointing Nashville Predators.

San Jose also has its most promising goalie prospect since the Evgeni Nabokov era, with the emergence of fellow Russian netminder Yaroslav Askarov. Yet, despite a solid save percentage, his record as a starter stands at a mediocre 3-3-2. His win percentage is obviously not his fault, as the team struggles to provide goal support while the front office works to shore up its blue line for the future.

The phrase "growing pains" is often thrown around when teams clearly have promise yet struggle near the bottom of the standings. But that common cliché doesn't quite capture the disappointment of losses like the one the team experienced Saturday while hosting the Minnesota Wild, losing 3-1. Nor does the phrase capture the experience of seeing a team look lackluster on Friday in Utah while only putting up 19 shots in a 2-1 defeat. However, the team looked re-energized on the back end of a back-to-back, putting up 16 shots in the first period against the Wild.

This young core of Team Teal is going to struggle to find consistency, like any young team in any sport. Or more broadly, they will struggle with consistency like any young person does when they attempt to do literally anything. And no one should be particularly frustrated by kids being kids, especially if the kids regularly show flashes of greatness.

The key to enjoying this team during the 2024-25 season isn't hoping for wins and writing off any losing streaks as growing pains. The way to enjoy this iteration of the Sharks is to embrace the pockets of fun they create.

For instance, it is fun to watch Askarov play the puck and help jump-start the breakout from deep in his own zone. However, his confidence playing the puck did lead to some near turnovers that could have sunk the Sharks' chances early, had Minnesota been able to take advantage of a goaltender who wasn’t in the net. But when San Jose defenseman Jake Walman was asked in the post-game scrum about some of Askarov's adventures out of the crease, he didn’t seem too concerned about the potential for turnovers.

“It's fun to play with him when I'm on the ice. He has all the confidence in the world, and I love when goalies go back and play the puck,” Walman said. “It's like having an extra player out there. It helps us out. Even if we get into trouble sometimes, it's easier to break the puck out.”

Walman has the right attitude here. Not only is he probably betting that Askarov's passing will continue to improve in the long run, but he’s also having fun playing with a goalie who has the confidence to attempt passes with an even greater degree of difficulty.

Admittedly, being able to embrace the pockets of fun this team provides while largely ignoring the unsatisfying outcome of these games is the ultimate privilege of the fan and viewer. The aforementioned young kids, who are mostly high draft picks, have likely not done a lot of losing up to this point in their hockey careers, and the losses can become demoralizing after a certain point.

None of the present media were surprised to see Macklin Celebrini show signs of disappointment as his team dropped to 13-26-6 on the campaign.

“It's really frustrating. Tonight, I feel like we played really well. For the most part, we were all over them, and it sucks when you don't get the result,” Celebrini said.

The Sharks are in last place in the Pacific Division and will likely miss the playoffs. Teams that are bad enough the previous year to draft a generational talent first overall typically don't turn things around over the course of one offseason.

But what separates this Sharks team from those of the past—teams that exited the doldrums after years of trading for veteran talent only to fall short of the postseason—is that this team is exciting. They're still finding ways to generate chances, even if they're not finding the back of the net. Their young goalie is still stretching post to post to come up with clutch saves, even when he’s not getting the goal support needed for a win. And the team is showing promise of being maybe a year or two away from making a playoff push.

This season can still be fun for fans, even if the team isn't in the win column as much as anyone would like. Fans should treat this season like an inconsistent music album with strong lead singles. For Saturday's loss to Minnesota, just skip over the turnover that led to Marco Rossi's goal giving the Wild the lead, and keep replaying William Eklund's goal that cut the deficit in half. Focusing on wins will be for another season.

“I think we responded from the game in Utah (Friday) night and did some things better than we’ve done in the past,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “I thought this game was similar to the New Jersey and Tampa games, kind of what our identity should look like. Obviously, we had some brain cramps there and gave up a couple of goals and some chances that can’t happen in this league. But on the other side of it, we did some positive things that hopefully we can build on here going into the road trip.”

The Sharks now embark on a five-game road trip that takes them to Detroit, Columbus, the New York Islanders, Boston, and Nashville. They return to the Tank on January 23rd against the Predators.