I’m not yet entirely sure how good the 2026-27 San Jose Sharks are going to be, or what my overall expectations are for them, but I am pretty confident they are going to be one of the most interesting, and probably entertaining, teams in the entire league. I know I want to watch them. I think you should, too.

Even though the 2025-26 season did not result in a playoff berth, it still represented a big step forward from where they were in the previous years. They were at least competitive and played at a reasonable NHL level. That was a massive change from the previous three years which was, without exaggeration, one of the worst three-year runs for any team in the salary cap era.

Their 2023-24 and and 2024-25 seasons, where they won 19 and 20 games respectively, were the two lowest single-season win totals in the salary cap era for any, excluding the lockout and Covid-shortened seasons. By overall points percentage, they were two of the six-worst seasons, even if you do include the lockout and Covid-shortened seasons in there.

They were not just bad, they were historically bad. At least in terms of the NHL’s most recent history.

A lot of that was by design.

They went full scorched Earth with their rebuild and hope the lottery balls would smile upon them. They have. Especially in 2024 when they won the top spot to select Macklin Celebrini. They are one of just three teams over the past eight years that had the worst record in the league and actually retained the top spot, and it was a great year for that to happen.

The lottery luck continued this past season when, despite winning 39 games and staying in the Western Conference playoff race until the final week of the season, they were able to move up from the No. 9 overall pick to the No. 2 overall pick and select forward Ivar Stenberg, adding another potential star forward to a core group that already includes Celebrini, Will Smith and Michael Misa.

Over the past 10-15 years a lot of these full-scale rebuilds have struggled to produce the desired outcome because it’s really hard to build up an entire organization after tearing everything down to the foundation. The lottery balls are not always going to fall your way. Along with that, there is usually a dramatic difference between, say, the first overall pick and third overall pick.

Sometimes even between No. 1 overall and No. 2 overall.

It’s also just really, really difficult to add enough pieces around those guys even when you get the right player at the top.

As I wrote back in May after their lottery win, just having a bunch of top-three picks in a row doesn’t necessarily guarantee immediate success. Or any success. It’s still a long way back from being that far down.

If there is a team that looks positioned to actually pull it off without it taking 10 years or more to do so, the Sharks are a good candidate to be the one.

There is certainly a lot of excitement around them going into 2026-27, especially with Celebrini already starting to establish himself as one of the best players in the world. He is a monster of a player, and it feels like he still has another level to reach. He will be even more terrifying when he does, because he not only has obscene skill and production, he will also outwork everybody on the ice. I’m not saying he’s Sidney Crosby, but I am saying he has some of that style to him that blends elite skill and gritty work ethic. That is a hell of a combination.

But even with him, and some of the young core players around him, this team still had a lot of issues and holes in 2025-26.

They certainly had a busy offseason and made a lot of additions, but was it enough to close the gap and result in them taking the next step and getting back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs?

Let’s look into it a little bit.