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Inside the locker room at Sharks Ice last week, veteran goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic recounted his viral fight (opens in new tab) with Panthers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, 39-year-old Ryan Reaves hyped up 19-year-old teammate Macklin Celebrini, and players welcomed forward Kiefer Sherwood following a trade that signals a clear change in direction for a franchise on the rise.
The Shark Tank is back, and the tanking Sharks are no more.
Following back-to-back years with the worst record in the NHL, second-year coach Ryan Warsofsky has overseen a dramatic turnaround sparked by Celebrini, a generational talent with a legitimate shot at becoming the league’s youngest MVP in nearly two decades.
After struggling to get fans in the doors at SAP Center for the first half of the decade, the Sharks have sold out six of their last seven home games including Saturday’s 3-1 win over the New York Rangers when Celebrini scored a pair of goals in the first eight minutes.
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Warsofsky’s team opens a five-game road trip in Vancouver on Tuesday before a three-week Olympic break, when Celebrini will play for Team Canada. Ahead of this crucial stretch, GM Mike Grier dealt a pair of second-round draft picks to the Canucks for Sherwood, a 30-year-old forward whose contract is set to expire at the end of the season.
It’s the first time the Sharks have parted with multiple first or second-round draft picks in a trade since the franchise landed star defenseman Erik Karlsson in a 2018 swap with Ottawa. It’s an unofficial sign that the rebuild is over, and a signal that most moves the Sharks will make in the near future will prioritize winning above all else.
Multiple Sharks who have played against Sherwood described him as a “rat.” In hockey, that’s a compliment.
“You look around the league, and the team that wins the Stanley Cup will play with nasty,” Warsofsky said. “I think [Sherwood] brings that nasty.”
It’s been a long time since Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, and Brent Burns had the Sharks competing deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs. They never brought the ultimate prize home to San Jose, but they showed the rest of the league the Bay Area will embrace a winner.
There are a lot of casual fans who have been tuned out, but the Sharks’ bandwagon is back open for business. And with Celebrini guiding the way, a buzzy team with a new nasty streak has the potential to stay that way for a long time.