Belief is cheap in July. Every coaching staff in the league spends the offseason convinced its group is trending upward, and most are proven wrong by December. What makes the San Jose Sharks worth listening to this summer is that their optimism is backed by the largest single-season improvement in the NHL, a 34-point surge that dragged the franchise from the bottom of the standings and to within four points of a playoff spot.
Assistant coach Jeff Ulmer is not hedging about what comes next. “We know it’s going to be tough, but we think that we can take a shot at the playoffs,” Ulmer told Luc Muir of Ball Exclusives. “I think we’re all ready and focused on the right areas; it’s going to be exciting.” For an organization that has not played meaningful April hockey in seven years, that is a notable shift in tone, and one the roster is now built to justify.
The Sharks have already emerged as the NHL’s most improved team last season, jumping 34 points and nearly doubling their wins from the season before. Macklin Celebrini is in the driver’s seat after breaking the Sharks’ single-season points record with 115 (one more than Joe Thornton’s from 2006-07). That leap forward, powered by a blossoming supporting cast, has changed the entire tenor of the organization heading into 2026-27.
The Veterans Brought In to Change the Standard
The clearest signal of intent is the reconstructed blue line. General manager Mike Grier spent the offseason adding Jacob Trouba, Darnell Nurse, and Michael Kesselring, importing exactly the kind of hardened, physical experience a young team tends to lack. Ulmer sees their value in how they change the texture of games, describing a pair in Nurse and Trouba who, in his words, keep opposing forwards “on their toes.”
Kesselring is the most uncertain of the group after an injury-marred season in Buffalo, but the staff is betting on his tools translating. Ulmer believes the 26-year-old’s reach and defensive habits can lift a penalty kill that finished 26th in the league, a unit he insists was better than its ranking.
“I think we gave up a lot of goals from missed clears, but I really liked our structure,” he said. “Doug Houda runs it very similarly to Vegas’ kill. They made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, and I thought ours was right there with them during the regular season.”
Oct 11, 2025; San Jose, California, USA; San Jose Sharks assistant coach Jeff Ulmer (center right) talks with head coach Ryan Warsofsky (center left) during the third period against the Anaheim Ducks at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
That is a striking claim: that a bottom-six penalty kill was structurally sound enough to rival a Cup finalist. It reframes the unit’s struggles as a problem of execution rather than design, the kind of flaw that veteran discipline is meant to solve. If Ulmer is right, the fix is less an overhaul than a cleanup.
Growth That Has to Come From Within
For all the veteran reinforcement on defense, the Sharks’ ceiling is tied to the players already in the building. The staff’s approach to developing them has been deliberately unhurried, a philosophy Ulmer credits for the leap several young players made a year ago. “I think we’re just trying not to overwhelm our younger guys,” he said, pointing to the video work and gradual role expansion that shaped Michael Misa’s rookie year.
The payoff was visible by season’s end. Misa averaged under 13 minutes a night but grew into a genuine top-six contributor down the stretch, and he is now positioned for a far larger role. That same patient blueprint awaits Ivar Stenberg, the No. 2 pick who posted the second-best draft-eligible season in Swedish Hockey League history behind only Daniel Sedin.
Ulmer stopped short of projecting a lineup spot but liked what the 18-year-old flashed in development camp, praising how he “played in traffic and protected the puck” against older competition. The player the staff seems most eager to unleash is Igor Chernyshov. The 6-foot-3 winger showed flashes of top-line chemistry with Celebrini and Smith across a 28-game debut, and Ulmer’s endorsement was pointed.
The obstacles are real. The Pacific Division is deeper this season. With the Sharks still carrying a history of disastrous starts that could undo everything before it begins, Ryan Warsofsky is in a tough spot. But the difference now, Ulmer argues, is that the people steering the group have grown alongside it. “We’ve added some good leaders; even the coaching staff, we’ve been through it now,” he said. “We know how to get our guys ready, and I anticipate taking another step this season.” The belief is the easy part. This roster, at last, looks capable of backing it up.
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