{"id":495598,"date":"2026-02-28T12:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T12:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495598\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T12:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T12:33:11","slug":"the-san-jose-sharks-are-finally-acting-their-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495598\/","title":{"rendered":"The San Jose Sharks are finally acting their age"},"content":{"rendered":"

The honeymoon is officially over for the San Jose Sharks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For months, this young, rambunctious, and altogether infectious bunch played with house money, thumbing their collective noses at the idea of another year of rebuild futility. They pretended to be a finished product.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t know any better. And if they did, they simply didn\u2019t care that it wasn\u2019t yet their turn to contend for a playoff spot.<\/p>\n

But reality remains undefeated<\/a> in the National Hockey League, and right now, it\u2019s pulled the Sharks sweater over its head while delivering a steady series of right uppercuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This team is currently teetering on the precipice of contention. A five-game losing streak that took root before the Olympic break continued Thursday, with an uninspired, sloppy third period in a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames.<\/p>\n

The Sharks no longer look like a scrappy underdog destined for the postseason. They look exactly like what they actually are: a young team collapsing under the weight of its own inexperience.<\/p>\n

If you merely squint at the Western Conference standings going into Friday\u2019s slate of games, the external panic and in-house dourness might seem a bit premature. San Jose is only three points back of a Wild Card spot in the West, holding two precious games in hand over the desperate pack elbowing for that final berth.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not the math that is setting off the sirens inside SAP Center; it\u2019s the method. The way the Sharks were losing \u2014 and continue to lose \u2014 is one giant, flapping red flag.<\/p>\n

All season long, this roster defied expectations, relying on sheer willpower and youthful ignorance to mask its flaws and make it look like a team that genuinely deserved a playoff spot.<\/p>\n

They cannot make that claim today. The magic has evaporated, replaced by the disjointed play you would naturally expect from a franchise trying to climb out of the NHL\u2019s basement.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the little things that kill you in this league, and the Sharks are suddenly ignoring all of them.<\/p>\n

Take Thursday night. San Jose looked great out of the gates. Then turnovers gave the Flames life in the second period. And then came a lazy, catastrophic line change from rookie Will Smith that directly set up Calgary\u2019s go-ahead goal.<\/p>\n

In the past, the Sharks would lean on Macklin Celebrini magic to pull them back into the game.<\/p>\n

Can you blame the kid \u2014 the standout performer of the Canadians\u2019 silver medal run, who saw nearly 26 minutes of ice time in the Olympic semifinals \u2014 for not having the juice for another heavy lift? He just had to carry a country on his back.<\/p>\n

But the (still) ascendant brilliance of Celebrini aside, none of what\u2019s happening with the Sharks right now should be considered terribly shocking or unexpected.<\/p>\n

But these are the standard-issue growing pains the NHL routinely beats into developing rosters.<\/p>\n

Bad habits? They were present at the beginning of the campaign. They reared their ugly heads at times, even during the winning runs. The joy of the Sharks\u2019 three-month party from November to January was that the Sharks were able to outrun them.<\/p>\n

Now, the demons have caught up.<\/p>\n

So, do the kids have another push in them?<\/p>\n

We are about to find out, because this weekend is the crucible.<\/p>\n

Get back on track against in home games against Edmonton and Winnipeg \u2014 find a way to duct-tape the dam \u2014 and next Friday\u2019s trade deadline won\u2019t loom so large.<\/p>\n

But if the swoon continues? You would be hard-pressed to tell general manager Mike Grier not to smash the \u2018sell\u2019 button. If they stumble through the weekend, the mandate becomes painfully obvious: sell high on expiring veterans like John Klingberg and Mario Ferraro. It\u2019s the right move for the team\u2019s long-term trajectory, which will come back into focus in a big way if the short-term goal of making the playoffs fades further.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to say the Sharks couldn\u2019t add pieces at the deadline, but let\u2019s be clear \u2014 the moves would not be of the \u201cwin-now\u201d variety. They would just be a logical extension of the rebuild.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, the Sharks\u2019 future remains absurdly bright. This team isn\u2019t close to a finished product. (Though if you\u2019ve watched the last five games, you don\u2019t need that reminder.)<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s how they play in this weekend\u2019s games \u2014 with a possible extension to Tuesday\u2019s home tilt against the Canadiens \u2014 that will define how this season is finished.<\/p>\n

Are the growing pains over, or are they just catching up after a lovely, blissful lull?<\/p>\n

Either way, it\u2019s time to put on the big-boy pants and see how they fit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The honeymoon is officially over for the San Jose Sharks. For months, this young, rambunctious, and altogether infectious…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[3805,2356,3802,6755,10831,3803,2558,385,3804,28512,835,10840,10843,99,362],"class_list":{"0":"post-495598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-bay-area","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-editors-picks","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-inside-sports","13":"tag-keywee","14":"tag-latest-headlines","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-pm-report","17":"tag-san-jose","18":"tag-san-jose-sharks","19":"tag-santa-clara-county","20":"tag-south-bay","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-sports-columnists"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}