Should the Sharks consider missing the 2025-26 NHL playoffs a disappointment?

For some time now, the San Jose Sharks have been in transition. Sharks GM Mike Grier has been perfectly transparent in stripping down his roster and building through elite young players that teams can only get at the top of the NHL draft.

That has meant many years of subpar play, and it feels like the Joe Thornton/Patrick Marleau/Joe Pavelski Era was forever ago. But through dogged determination and a little bit of luck from the draft lottery gods, the Sharks are in a terrific position.

However, San Jose’s unexpected competitiveness this season raises an intriguing question: Will the Sharks consider this season successful if they fail to make the Stanley Cup playoffs?

Because right now, the Sharks are crumbling at the worst possible time, losing seven of their past 10 games – and recently ending a six-game losing skid. San Jose has had their doors blown off, as they’ve been outscored 29-12. So they now sit in 12th place in the Western Conference, four standings points behind the eighth-place Nashville Predators, although the Sharks have three games in hand.

That said, is it really a devastating blow if the Sharks don’t make it into the post-season this year? This writer doesn’t think so. San Jose is still in the infancy of its plan to eventually win a Cup, and while it no doubt hurts Sharks fans to have to continue showing patience, that really is the best approach to take with your expectations for this Sharks team.

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Here’s why: The Sharks have their generational talent in superstar center Macklin Celebrini, and they had to suffer in the standings to get him. The same goes for another budding star – forward Will Smith, who San Jose picked fourth overall in 2023. And last year, the Sharks added yet another dynamic asset in Michael Misa with the second overall pick. 

Add to that up-and-coming 19-year-old defenseman Sam Dickinson, and the Sharks are chock-full of young players other teams would kill to acquire. If San Jose’s draft and development team can find a high-end defenseman to serve with Dickinson in the Sharks’ top pairing, they’re going to have all the foundation a team needs to compete for a championship year-in and year-out for the next decade and a half.  

So, to return to that question, no, missing the playoffs this season would not be the end of the world for San Jose. Would it hurt? Sure, absolutely, it would hurt. But in the long term, it would be a mere blip on the radar of the Sharks organization. Losing out on the postseason would show San Jose’s players the level they need to reach to be a top-eight team in the West.

That measuring stick will be something the Sharks carry as they continue building out the rest of their lineup with experienced veterans who can help the core mature into a dynasty.

Thus, no matter what happens, it’s clearly not a waste of a season for San Jose. The Sharks have been competitive all season long prior to this current stretch, and they’re potentially looking at adding their fourth-straight top-5 pick. It’s not going to be all sunshine and lollipops for Grier & Co. as they try putting together a balanced group of players, but the hardest suffering is really now all behind the Sharks. 

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With Celebrini, Smith, Misa, and Dickinson on board, San Jose’s future looks extremely bright. If they add another fantastic youngster this summer, the Sharks will solidify themselves as the NHL’s best up-and-coming group.

If we’re at the same point next year as the point we’re at this year and San Jose is still crumbling at the end of the season, there’s a different conversation that will need to be had.

But as it stands currently, the plan appears to be working in Sharks Land. Soon enough, all this misery they’ve gone through will be seen as necessary for a new generation of San Jose stars – and maybe, just maybe, for the franchise’s first Cup.

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