They went from 52 points to 86 - a 34-point jump, the largest single-season improvement in the NHL. Their 19-year-old centre passed Joe Thornton for the franchise's all-time single-season scoring record with 115 points. The rebuild is not just on track - it is running ahead of every reasonable projection. This review series has a different tone for entry #24.
By Pucky Editorial · May 2026 · 2025–26 Season Review Series
The San Jose Sharks went from 20 wins to 39 wins in one year. That is not a rounding error or a scheduling quirk. It is a 19-point improvement in the win column, a 34-point improvement in the standings, and the largest single-season turnaround in the NHL in 2025-26. It is not a typical season review entry for this series. Every team reviewed at positions #32 through #25 has a story of decline, collapse, missed opportunity, structural failure, or injury catastrophe. The San Jose Sharks' story is different. Their story is a 19-year-old who passed Joe Thornton for the franchise's all-time single-season scoring record, a prospect pipeline that has been called one of the best in the league by every credible scouting publication, and a rebuild that is not just on schedule - it is demonstrably ahead of it.
They still missed the playoffs. Seven straight years without postseason hockey. That is the metric by which teams are judged, and it belongs in the first paragraph of any honest season review. But context is everything in a rebuild, and the context of this franchise - last in the NHL at 52 points just twelve months ago, now at 86 with the best young forward in the league and two of the most anticipated teenagers in the game alongside him - demands a different read than the conventional missed-playoff analysis. The San Jose Sharks are not a franchise in crisis. They are a franchise in ascent, and 2025-26 was the proof of concept.
Macklin Celebrini - C · No. 1 Overall Pick 2024 · San Jose Sharks
Macklin Celebrini 19 years old · Sophomore season · Hart Trophy finalist · Team Canada, 2026 Winter Olympics
45Goals
70Assists
115Points
82Games Played
+8Plus/Minus
115 points passes Joe Thornton's franchise single-season record - the most in Sharks history in a single year. At 19 years old, in his sophomore NHL season, on a non-playoff team. The 58-point gap between Celebrini and the team's second-leading scorer (Will Smith, 57 pts) is the most extreme individual-to-next-player differential on any NHL roster this season. He was named a Hart Trophy finalist - the first player in franchise history to receive that recognition since Thornton. He represented Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics. His December alone - eight goals including a viral highlight-reel snipe against the Rangers - produced Rookie of the Month honours. "His vision evokes shades of Joe Thornton, dishing passes that carve through defences like a hot knife through butter." He is the most exciting player the franchise has developed since Thornton himself, and he is three years younger than Thornton was when he arrived in San Jose.
There is no framework within the conventional rebuild narrative that adequately captures what Celebrini did in 2025-26. Players do not score 115 points at 19 on non-playoff teams. The historical comparisons become unwieldy - Wayne Gretzky at 19 had 137 points in the WHA and 51 in the NHL. Sidney Crosby at 19 had 102 points but on a Penguins team with more support. The specific combination of factors - the franchise-record total, the age, the roster context, the Hart Trophy candidacy - produces a season that has no clean precedent. He is simply extraordinary, and the franchise built around him has a specific, rare thing that most rebuilds do not: certainty about the centrepiece. There is no debate about whether Celebrini is the player. He is the player. He has already passed the franchise's all-time single-season scoring legend in his second year.
2024-25 vs 2025-26 - The Full Turnaround
34 points of improvement. From last in the NHL to 11th in the West - the largest single-season jump in 2025-26.
| Metric | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 52 | 86 | +34 |
| Wins | 20 | 39 | +19 |
| Goals For | 210 | 251 | +41 |
| Goals Against | 315 | 292 | -23 |
| Home Wins | 9 | 21 | +12 |
| League Standing | 32nd | 16th overall (11th West) | ↑16 |
The 34-point improvement was the largest in the NHL in 2025-26 - ahead of any team's single-year turnaround. The prior-year Sharks were genuinely historically bad: 20-50-12, 315 goals allowed, 8th in the Pacific. The 2025-26 Sharks went 39-35-8 with 292 goals against (a 23-goal improvement defensively) and 41 more goals scored. Every single category improved simultaneously. The biggest driver was Celebrini's leap from 63 points (sophomore partial season) to 115 points in a full 82-game season. But the supporting evidence - Smith improving to 57 points, Askarov stabilising in goal, Warsofsky's system producing better defensive results - suggests the improvement is systemic rather than one-player driven. The rebuild is not just Celebrini. It is accelerating across the roster.
San Jose Sharks - The Young Core
#1 Overall · 2024 Macklin Celebrini 19 115 pts · franchise record · Hart Trophy finalist · already the best player in franchise history by this measure at this age. Has alternate captaincy, representing the locker room at 19 while the team operates without an official captain.
#4 Overall · 2023 Will Smith 20 57 pts (23G–34A) in 67 games · second on the team and 58 points behind Celebrini - the gap the team must close. His even-strength production and power-play goals suggest a player who will consistently produce 65-75 point seasons as the secondary star alongside Celebrini.
#2 Overall · 2025 Michael Misa 18 Arrived this season at 18, began earning NHL minutes. The third piece of the generational centre group San Jose has assembled. His full-time integration in 2026-27 gives the Sharks three top-2 picks from consecutive drafts playing together in their early twenties. That is unprecedented modern rebuild depth.
#11 Overall · 2024 Sam Dickinson 20 Defensive prospect developing in the system. The blue-line anchor the franchise is building toward. His timeline for full-time NHL contribution is 2026-27 or 2027-28 - arriving precisely when Celebrini, Smith, and Misa are entering their prime.
#26 Overall · 2023 Quentin Musty 21 Physical winger developing alongside the top picks. Contributes the net-front presence and competitive intensity that the more skilled forwards around him don't always provide.
Goaltender Yaroslav Askarov 23 21 wins in 2025-26. Developing into the starting goaltender the rebuild needs. His numbers (3.10 GAA improving) reflect a young goaltender on a team that is still conceding 292 goals. His trajectory is the most important non-forward development for the franchise's long-term ceiling.
2025–26 Individual Season Grades
115 pts (45G–70A) · 82 GP · franchise single-season record · Hart Trophy finalist
The only A+ in this entire review series. He is 19. He passed Joe Thornton's franchise scoring record. He was a Hart Trophy finalist. He represented Canada at the Olympics. He played all 82 games. He has an alternate captaincy. Every superlative applied to him in this review is accurate and still insufficient. The grade acknowledges that he is doing something historically rare in a historically difficult context - carrying a rebuilding team on his back at an age when most players are finishing their first season. He is the most exciting individual story in this entire 16-entry review series.
57 pts (23G–34A) in 67 GP · second on the team · creativity and finishing both developing
Smith was the clear second-best offensive player on the team, and the 57-point total in 67 games (a pace of 70 over 82) reflects genuine secondary-star development. His even-strength production, his power-play goals, and his ability to create offence independently of Celebrini's facilitation are all improving. The gap between him and Celebrini (58 points) is the team's central structural challenge - not because Smith is underperforming, but because Celebrini is performing at a level that makes everyone else's numbers look modest by comparison.
34-point improvement · largest in the league · managed the young roster with evident skill
The 34-point improvement under Warsofsky is the most persuasive argument in his favour that any coach in this review series can make. He inherited a 20-win team, integrated Michael Misa at 18, managed Celebrini's minutes and linemates to produce a franchise-record season, and improved the defensive numbers by 23 goals against simultaneously. He is not a well-known name outside of San Jose. The results of 2025-26 suggest that will change.
21 wins · improving GAA · developing starter on a rebuilding team
Askarov's 21 wins - compared to Alexandar Georgiev's 7 wins in the same position the prior year - is the goaltending side of the 34-point improvement story. He is 23 and still developing. His numbers reflect the defensive structure around him more than his individual ceiling. The defensive improvement (315 GA to 292) in front of him suggests both that he is better and that the team's system has improved. The B-minus reflects where he is rather than where he is going - the ceiling is meaningfully higher.
3yr/$5.6M extension signed · depth production around Celebrini and Smith
Eklund provides the skilled depth winger production that makes Celebrini's line function. His extension was a reasonable commitment to a player who has shown consistent improvement. He is not a star - the gap between him and Celebrini and Smith is significant - but he is the kind of reliable secondary contributor that competitive teams need in their bottom-six and Rebuilding teams need to identify early. The extension secured him at a cap-friendly rate that gives Grier flexibility as the core emerges.
50 games · often healthy scratch · inconsistent · promise alongside frustration
The young Russian defenceman remains one of the rebuild's more frustrating individual developments. When he plays physically and aggressively, he shows genuine top-6 defensive upside. When he is passive - which is often - he is a liability. Warsofsky limited him to 50 games with healthy scratches. That is the appropriate response to inconsistency but the challenge for 2026-27 is whether the coaching environment can unlock the aggressive version more consistently. He is the prospect whose development trajectory is the most uncertain.
2025–26 San Jose Sharks - Key Statistical Leaders
| Player | POS | GP | G | A | PTS | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macklin Celebrini | C | 82 | 45 | 70 | 115 | Franchise record · passed Joe Thornton · Hart finalist |
| Will Smith | F | 67 | 23 | 34 | 57 | 2nd on team · 58 pts behind Celebrini |
| Tyler Toffoli | RW | - | - | - | - | Veteran depth around the young core |
| Yaroslav Askarov | G | ~40 | - | - | 21W | Up from 7 wins (Georgiev) last year |
| Alex Nedeljkovic | G | ~30 | - | - | 2.87 GAA | Best team GAA · acquired pre-season |
| Michael Misa | C | Limited | - | - | - | 18yo · 2nd overall 2025 · early NHL exposure |
The Only Direction His Development Points Is Up
Celebrini at 19 had 115 points. Players who score 115 points at 19 on non-playoff teams do not plateau. Every comparable historical trajectory points to continued growth - more control of the game, better linemates, more developed teammates around him, and a full second season of NHL physical adaptation. The 2026-27 version of Celebrini should be better than what this franchise just watched for an entire year. That is the most exciting sentence in this review series.
The Third Top-2 Pick Enters His First Real NHL Season
Michael Misa at 18 got his first NHL exposure in 2025-26. At 19 next season, on a team that has shown it can win 39 games without him fully integrated, his full-time arrival changes the offensive depth picture meaningfully. Three top-2 picks - Celebrini (1st), Misa (2nd), Smith (4th) - playing together as teenagers and 20-year-olds is the kind of prospect concentration that produces playoff contention on a specific, fast timeline.
58 Points Between #1 and #2 Is Unsustainable as a Playoff Team
The Sharks cannot make the playoffs with Celebrini carrying 115 points while the second scorer has 57. The gap needs to close through Smith's development, Misa's arrival, and potentially a veteran addition above the current supporting cast. Grier has shown willingness to be aggressive in adding veterans around the young core. A third Celebrini season of franchise-record production needs 70-point contributions from two other forwards to produce playoff hockey.
21 Wins Is the Start - The Rebuild Needs an Elite Goaltender at the End
Askarov is 23 and improving. His 21 wins on a team that allowed 292 goals is appropriate to the stage of development. By the time Celebrini, Smith, and Misa are in their prime (ages 22-24), the franchise needs Askarov to be performing in the .920+ save percentage range. Whether that is achievable - whether Askarov's ceiling is elite rather than very good - is the most consequential developmental question for the rebuild's ultimate ceiling.
39 Wins in 2025-26. The Playoffs Could Arrive in 2026-27 or 2027-28
The Sharks needed approximately 92-94 points to make the Western Conference playoffs in 2025-26. They finished with 86. The 6-8 point gap is, at the rate of improvement they are tracking, one year away or two years away depending on whether Misa and Smith take the expected step forward simultaneously. A 2026-27 playoff appearance would mean the rebuild was completed in approximately three years from the bottom. That would be one of the fastest rebuilds in modern franchise history.
Dickinson and Mukhamadullin Arriving - The Blue Line Is the Rebuild's Last Piece
Sam Dickinson (11th overall 2024) and the ongoing development of Mukhamadullin give the Sharks genuine blue-line depth arriving on the same timeline as the forwards. A fully developed Dickinson as a top-pair defender in 2027-28 is the final structural piece of a roster that already has its franchise centre, its No. 2 scorer, and its third top-2 pick. The defence is the slowest piece. The patient investment in it is the right approach.
“A star is born: Celebrini has single-handedly accelerated the rebuild and got some valuable experience by representing Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics." - NHL.com, April 2026 - on the individual most responsible for the franchise's 34-point improvement”
The review series began with Vancouver at #32 - a franchise without direction, without a star, without a coherent path forward. It arrives at #24 with San Jose - a franchise with the best young centre in hockey, two more top-2 picks developing alongside him, and the largest single-season improvement in the league to point to as evidence that the direction is correct. The contrast illustrates why the ranking exists: not all missed playoffs are equal, and not all non-playoff teams are in the same situation.
The Sharks will miss the playoffs for an eighth consecutive season in 2026-27, or they won't. If they make it, it will be the fastest rebuild from a franchise's historical floor to a playoff contender that the modern NHL has seen. If they miss it, it will be by a small margin with a 20-year-old scoring 120 points and two 21-year-olds producing the secondary scoring that 2025-26 couldn't find. Either outcome is the best possible outcome for a franchise that was 20-50-12 twelve months ago. The Sharks are not broken. They are building. And the thing they are building around is the most exciting player this franchise has had in a generation.
Season Review Verdict
115 points at 19. Franchise record. Hart Trophy finalist. The biggest improvement in the league. Seven straight missed playoffs - and this is the one that actually feels like progress. The B-minus is the highest grade in this review series and it is earned. A non-playoff team does not normally receive a B-minus. A non-playoff team with the largest year-over-year improvement in the league, a 19-year-old setting franchise scoring records, and three top-2 picks developing simultaneously is not a normal non-playoff team. The secondary scoring gap is the work that remains. Askarov developing into an elite starter is the question with no confirmed answer yet. The defence takes another year. Seven consecutive missed playoffs is the number that defines the franchise externally regardless of the context behind it. None of that diminishes what happened in 2025-26. A 19-year-old passed Joe Thornton's name off the franchise's single-season scoring record. The rebuild is running ahead of schedule. The most exciting player in the franchise's history since Thornton is 19 years old and will be better next year. That is not a crisis review. That is a franchise that found its man. Everything else is time.