{"id":289583,"date":"2026-04-28T11:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T11:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/289583\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T11:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T11:26:15","slug":"3-reasons-why-sharks-missed-2026-stanley-cup-playoffs-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/289583\/","title":{"rendered":"3 reasons why Sharks missed 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

3 reasons why Sharks missed 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The San Jose Sharks<\/a> experienced their best season since their most recent trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2019, and there is no shortage of reasons to be excited about the Bay Area\u2019s future thanks to the incredible accomplishments of the club\u2019s young core.<\/p>\n

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The new face of the franchise is forward Macklin Celebrini<\/a>, whom the Sharks selected with the first overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft after winning the Draft Lottery. At just 19 years of age, Celebrini broke Joe Thornton<\/a>\u2019s franchise single-season points record with 115 points, scoring 45 goals with 70 assists along with a plus-eight rating. His 115 points were also fourth overall in total NHL scoring.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll also once again be representing Canada, as he did in the 2026 Winter Olympics earlier this year, in the upcoming IIHF World Championships.<\/p>\n

The Sharks were also bolstered by the contributions of youngsters Will Smith<\/a> (24 goals, 35 assists in 69 games played) and Alex Wennberg<\/a> (18 goals, 37 assists in 80 games played). Additionally, they got contributions from veteran Tyler Toffoli<\/a>, who scored 19 goals with 30 assists in 79 games played.<\/p>\n

Sharks<\/a> head coach Ryan Warsofsky, the youngest bench boss in the NHL at just 38, wants the players to be \u201cdamn proud\u201d<\/a> of what they accomplished despite coming up just short.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was a great group. They were coachable. They cared for one another, and that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about,\u201d Warsofsky said via San Jose<\/a> Hockey Now. \u201cThey played for one another, and yeah, we came short, but I think they should be damn proud of what they did. I don\u2019t know why I get emotional about it, but it was a fun, fun year that probably not a lot of people expected. No one thought we\u2019d have 39 wins. So I give a lot of credit to those guys of just continue to push, whether we challenged them, they answered it. And I know we fell short, but I don\u2019t want them to be defined by that.\u201d<\/p>\n

That being said, let\u2019s examine a few reasons why the Sharks came up just short<\/a> of getting into the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The Sharks need more secondary scoring to become a solid playoff team<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no denying that the sky is the limit for the Sharks, considering what Celebrini is doing despite not even being of legal drinking age in the United States. Additionally, Smith\u2019s 59 points and Wennberg\u2019s 55 points aren\u2019t anything to scoff at.<\/p>\n

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However, it\u2019s a simple fact that Celebrini can\u2019t do it alone. Statistics show that Celebrini accounted for nearly half of San Jose\u2019s offense. While impressive, there needs to be more offense to go around if the Sharks are going to take the next step.<\/p>\n

While Toffoli\u2019s 49 points aren\u2019t anything that most NHL teams would turn down, he\u2019s only a few years removed from reaching 73 total points scored with the Calgary Flames<\/a>. Additionally, his point total in each of the last three seasons has gradually gone down.<\/p>\n

For the Sharks to take the next step and book their first trip to the postseason since 2019, they\u2019ll need more from their secondary scoring and to take some of the pressure off young Celebrini.<\/p>\n

The Sharks didn\u2019t get adequate defensive play from both skating groups\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a club overall, the 3.55 goals allowed per game on average was ranked third-most in the NHL behind only the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> and the Vancouver Canucks<\/a>. Multiple Sharks defensemen had rotten plus-minus ratings, including Dmitri Orlov<\/a> (-28), John Klingberg<\/a> (-13), and Nick Leddy<\/a> (-9), while several Sharks forwards posted equally concerning plus-minus ratings.<\/p>\n

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For example, Eklund<\/a> finished minus-31, while Wennberg finished minus-25. Additionally, both Ty Dellandrea<\/a> and Barclay Goodrow<\/a> finished minus-18. Becoming solid two-way players who emphasize back-checking and not just hunting for offense will go a long way toward San Jose\u2019s future success.<\/p>\n

San Jose\u2019s goaltending must improve\u00a0\"David<\/p>\n

David Gonzales-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

As far as San Jose\u2019s goaltending department goes, it could stand for improvement. The Sharks landed highly-regarded prospect Yaraslov Askarov in a trade with the Nashville Predators<\/a> last season, and while he has a high ceiling, he still finished the season with a 3.63 goals-against average and a .884 save percentage, numbers that just won\u2019t cut it at the NHL level if a club has any realistic aspirations of being successful.<\/p>\n

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Additionally, first-year Sharks goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic<\/a>, a pending unrestricted free agent who was acquired during the offseason from the Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a>, posted a 2.87 goals-against average and a .896 save percentage.<\/p>\n

Another first-year Sharks goaltender, Laurent Brossoit<\/a>, who was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks<\/a> and mostly played in the American Hockey League this season, allowed six goals in his only NHL appearance.<\/p>\n

For the Sharks to have a more legitimate chance at the playoffs next spring, they\u2019ll need improved defensive play from both their forward and defensive groups, as well as improved goaltending.<\/p>\n

Related: 2 early Sharks trade candidates after missing 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"3 reasons why Sharks missed 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[4215,4216,10375,27929,2068,123777,123778,29792,1034,11510,1035,12753,404,4352,1603,1036,88,90,89,98,2193,13190,2992,3577,3809,20226,3578],"class_list":["post-289583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-alex-nedeljkovic","tag-alex-wennberg","tag-barclay-goodrow","tag-calgary-flames","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-dmitri-orlov","tag-eklund","tag-joe-thornton","tag-john-klingberg","tag-laurent-brossoit","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-nashville-predators","tag-nhl","tag-nick-leddy","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-ryan-warsofsky","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sharks","tag-the-sharks","tag-toronto-maple-leafs","tag-ty-dellandrea","tag-tyler-toffoli","tag-vancouver-canucks","tag-will-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}