When I did the Pacific Division Notebook in February, the Sharks were battling for a playoff spot. While the ultimately missed the playoffs again, this season was a big step forward for a young roster that spent the previous two seasons at the bottom of the Pacific.
The 2025-2026 season was a coming out party for the 2024 1st overall pick Macklin Celebrini. He set a Sharks franchise record with 115 points en route to being named a Ted Lindsay Trophy finalists and stood out as one of Team Canada’s best players at the Olympics. He may very well be the next great generational forward in the NHL. And he’s not alone in the NHL within his contention cohort on the Sharks.
Along with Celebrini, Will Smith, Igor Chernyshov, Michael Misa and Sam Dickinson are all three seasons or less removed from their draft and have all seen substantive NHL action already. And there may be more pieces coming. The Sharks pipeline is well stocked, particularly from the 2023-2026 drafts (exactly the 4 year cohort we like around here) and yesterday’s draft lottery win to move up to second overall adds more fuel.
There should be plenty of optimism in San Jose that there’s a very strong contention cohort building. The key in turning it into a true contender will be patience. Developing the Celebrini cohort to it’s maximum potential will give the Sharks their best chance to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup. They have the cap space to allocate to the youngsters and set themselves up for a long time provided they don’t get antsy and overspend on free agents trying to juice the rebuild. Continue moving out the vets to make roster space for the young players as they become NHL ready and the Sharks may be the next powerhouse in the Pacific.
