Sharks missed – San Jose’s best season since 2019 ended just short of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Misryoum breaks down the three key issues that kept the Sharks from going all the way.
The San Jose Sharks had plenty to celebrate in 2025-26, even if the standings didn’t deliver a Stanley Cup Playoffs spot.
Misryoum looks at why the Bay Area club came up just short—despite a young core that looks built for the long run.
1) The offense didn’t get enough help beyond Celebrini
Macklin Celebrini’s numbers were the headline, and for good reason.. The 19-year-old forward carried the Sharks’ attack with 115 points. tying together elite playmaking and finishing in a way San Jose hasn’t seen in recent memory.. He wasn’t just productive—he was central.. When one player accounts for nearly half of a team’s offense, opponents can study tendencies and plan accordingly.
That’s where the next leap needed to happen.. Will Smith and Alex Wennberg contributed meaningful totals, and veteran Tyler Toffoli offered another layer of scoring.. But over the course of an NHL season. playoff-caliber teams typically need reliable “second waves”—goals that arrive even when the opposition best matches their top line.. Without that consistent support. the Sharks could look explosive for stretches. then stall when Celebrini was contained or forced into tougher matchups.
The frustration for fans isn’t that San Jose lacked skill—it’s that the spark never fully became a second, dependable engine. For a team still learning how to win in every game state, that gap can cost points when the schedule turns tight.
2) Defensive problems dragged both skating groups
On paper, San Jose’s overall goals-against rate looks strong enough to spark optimism. Yet hockey is rarely that clean. What stood out in 2025-26 was how often the defensive work—by both defensemen and forwards—didn’t translate into consistent, trackable results.
Plus-minus swings from multiple players signaled that even when the Sharks weren’t giving up huge totals every night. breakdowns still showed up often enough to matter.. When skilled teams start relying on effort to cover mistakes. the margin disappears quickly: one bad shift becomes a grade-A chance. and one missed detail becomes momentum that’s hard to reclaim.
Misryoum’s view is that the plus-minus issue wasn’t just about individual struggles.. It pointed to a style that still needs tightening—especially when defending leads or protecting against high-danger sequences.. The forward group has to backcheck with the same urgency it attacks with. and the defensive group has to stay disciplined when games speed up.
That two-way consistency is often the difference between “nearly there” and a playoff run, particularly for teams built around young talent that’s still forming its identity.
3) Goaltending—youthful ceiling, NHL-level need
A playoff push is brutally unforgiving for goalies. Even one or two goals in key minutes can swing standings. San Jose’s netminding group showed moments of promise, but the overall results still left the Sharks short of the stability required to finish the season strong.
Yaraslov Askarov arrived with real potential. but his season numbers at the NHL level didn’t provide the dependable floor the team needed.. Meanwhile. first-year starter Alex Nedeljkovic produced better stretches. and Laurent Brossoit’s limited NHL look didn’t offer enough evidence of a long-term solve.. In other words: the Sharks weren’t dealing with one missing piece—they were searching for a clear. reliable answer in a position that demands it.
Misryoum interprets this as the biggest “next step” area for a roster that otherwise has momentum.. Defense can improve by systems and habits, but goaltending has to give a team confidence that breakdowns won’t snowball.. Without that confidence, every defensive mistake becomes more expensive—and playoff races punish expensive mistakes.
For a club excited about its future, tightening the goalie equation isn’t just about stats. It’s about giving the entire roster permission to play with less fear.
The bigger story: a missed postseason with real momentum
The Sharks are not coming out of 2025-26 empty-handed.. They delivered their best season since their last playoff appearance in 2019 and did it with a young group that grew into its own identity.. Celebrini’s breakthrough. Smith’s emergence. Wennberg’s steady production. and Toffoli’s veteran presence all suggest a franchise that’s learning fast.
The sharp takeaway is that the Sharks are close, but “close” still wasn’t enough.. In the NHL, talent alone doesn’t guarantee a postseason berth.. Secondary scoring must sharpen. defense must stabilize across all lines. and goaltending must consistently manage the chaos that young teams will inevitably produce.
Misryoum expects San Jose’s next offseason to focus on those exact gaps—especially because the core is there, and because the team has proof it can win more often than people predicted. The ceiling is high. The difference now is finishing the job when it counts.