San Jose Sharknado Warning

This has been a wild NHL season so far. We are almost two months into this thing, and we've seen a lot of surprising things happen, even by hockey standards. I've been looking for a non-Colorado Avalanche story to write about from this season, and honestly, this wasn't the planned story I had in mind. Given the fact that I saw something that confirmed my suspicions, I had to write about the San Jose Sharks.

The Sharks are off to a pretty decent start this season, though honestly, they've been in "have nowhere else to go but up" territory for a while. In October and most of November, I figured they'd be better than their last two years, but I didn't think they'd have a realistic shot at something. A day or two ago, I asked myself where the Sharks really stood. I was wondering if they were actually in a good position. Silly thought, right?

Yeah, about that:

There they are, folks. The San Jose Sharks... above the playoff line. As of this writing, they are in the 2nd Wild Card position. I know it's only December--late in football, but early in basketball and hockey, but even so, the Sharks are in a playoff position almost two months into the season!

The Sharks are a fascinating team, have been since they joined the league in 1991. I remember when you couldn't go longer than three years without seeing the Sharks in the playoffs. They made it there a lot. Granted, they were snakebit--always 1st or 2nd round exits, but it was in 2004 that they finally reached the Western Conference Final. It would be another dozen years until they would finally reach the Stanley Cup Final, but they ran into Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins that year.

Right now, the Sharks are currently in their longest playoff drought ever. Six years without a postseason, no playoffs in this current decade. The sound you hear is Buffalo Sabres fans saying "Only six years?! Amateurs!" But yeah, no playoffs for the Sharks since that controversial 2019 run to the West Final, and it was the team trading for Erik Karlsson prior to the 2018-19 season that basically stifled them. The drought included being one of the seven teams who didn't qualify for 2020's extended playoffs, and even worse, they were the only one of the seven teams who weren't in the Draft Lottery because they gave their first-round pick to the Ottawa Senators in that Karlsson deal.

But regarding this year, it seems like the Sharks may be back. So who's leading the charge?

Macklin Celebrini. Remember when literally every talking head in hockey hailed Connor Bedard as the greatest rookie since Sidney Crosby? I remember ESPN boosting up Bedard's first-ever NHL game by showing him and Crosby interviewing each other; all that did was make this hockey fan seem old. They pretty much said that Bedard would save the Blackhawks. But while the Blackhawks are still in the doldrums, here's Celebrini--drafted a year after Bedard--doing so much for the Sharks. Born on June 13, 2006 (a day this WWE fan remembers very well: their ECW brand premiered on Sci-Fi Channel), Celebrini was drafted first overall in the 2024 Draft, and in his rookie year, he finished with 63 points (25 G/38 A) in 70 games played, and ended up as a finalist for the Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year).

This year, Celebrini's turned it up. In 28 games played, in his second year in the league, Celebrini has 40 points (14 G/26 A). Not only is he leading the Sharks in points, but his point total is second overall in the league behind you-know-who in Denver. Yeah. Celebrini is, right now, closing in on Art Ross Trophy (NHL points leader) territory in only his sophomore season in the league. Celebrini has a good group with him. Will Smith (yes, there's a Will Smith in hockey) is behind Celebrini in points with 27 (12 G/15 A), and they do have some Cup experience with Tyler Toffoli, who has 18 points (7 G/11 A). Dmitry Orlov leads Sharks defensemen with 16 points (all assists), and in net, Yaroslav Askarov has been terrific with a 10-7-1 record, a 3.15 GAA, and a .905 SV%.

So now begs the million dollar question: will the Sharks make the playoffs this season? I know it's still too early to ask that. They have 54 games left. That's two-thirds of the season. A lot can happen in that time. Right now, the Sharks do look like they can maintain this good start and turn it into something good. Maybe they end up as a Wild Card. Maybe they sneak right into the Pacific Division's top three, because, well, the Kings and Golden Knights don't look too consistent right now. I know this much, Mike Grier (the NHL's first-ever Black General Manager) should be a shoo-in for GM of the Year this year should the Sharks make it. San Jose definitely looks good this year, and the remaining two-thirds of the season could see them playing relevant hockey games in March and April.