SAN JOSE – Some intriguing questions – ones that haven’t been raised in years – are now being asked with the San Jose Sharks in the midst of a playoff chase.
For one, would the Sharks actually be buyers at the NHL trade deadline, rather than the sellers they’ve been in recent years?
Don’t rule it out, Sharks Sports & Entertainment President Jonathan Becher said, although the team’s approach to the March 6 deadline will likely come with some stipulations.
Becher didn’t want to speak for general manager Mike Grier, but told Bay Area News Group, “We wouldn’t do anything medium-term bad for us. If something helps in the short term and in the medium term, maybe we’d do it, but there’s no rentals that we’re looking at, right?”
The Sharks (23-19-3), having won five of their last seven games, entered Wednesday in the second and final wild card spot in the Western Conference. Their most crucial stretch of the season begins Thursday when they play the Washington Capitals to open a four-game road trip.
Starting Thursday, the Sharks play nine of their next 10 games before the Olympic break away from home.
A series of losses could drop the Sharks into a hole they can’t escape in the tightly packed West, and force Grier to look at trading one or more of his numerous pending unrestricted free agents.
A winning record in this stretch, though, would keep the Sharks in the playoff conversation and open up the possibility of adding players before the deadline. But dipping heavily into the team’s deep prospect pool for a short-term fix seems unlikely.
The Sharks made the playoffs in 14 out of 15 seasons from 2004 to 2019, but have missed the postseason each of the last six years. The Sharks have finished with the NHL’s worst record each of the last two seasons, but now feel situated to have a competitive window open for a long time.
“I’ve got to say, I’ve got other people going, push, push, push. We’re going to try to do this the right way,” Becher said. “One time good and then fall off the cliff — which you’ve seen other sports teams do — is not what we want to do here. We want to be consistently great again.”
Sharks owner Hasso Plattner said before the season began that he expected the 2025-26 team to be significantly improved over the previous year and that he eyed the 2026-27 season as the one when the franchise would end its postseason drought.
In that respect, the Sharks have been a little ahead of schedule. The improvement has no doubt happened, as the Sharks’ 49 points so far are just three fewer than they had all of last season.
But making the playoffs for the first time since 2019 isn’t out of the question. It’s just a matter of what Grier and the Sharks might do between now and the trade deadline to help fortify their chances.
Over the weekend, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Sharks tried to acquire Dougie Hamilton from the New Jersey Devils last summer, but that the trade was blocked by the veteran defenseman. Are the Sharks still interested in Hamilton, who has two more years after this one remaining on his contract? Is Hamilton any more open to a move to the upstart Sharks?
It’s obviously a different time for Plattner’s team.
“He’s obviously excited,” Becher said of Plattner. “(In October) he said, ‘Look, if we make the playoffs this year, that’s great,’ but that’s not the plan. The plan is to be a lot better, which I think we’ve already proven we are this year, and set ourselves up for next year.
“If we magically make it, everyone will be ecstatic. But focus on the medium term, not just the short term.”
An Olympic roster freeze – meaning no trades across the NHL — lasts from Feb. 4-22. The days before the freeze could act as a soft trade deadline, with some teams looking to offload pending UFAs who are participating in the Olympics, rather than risk those players getting hurt during the Games and their trade value diminishing.
Plus, once the freeze is lifted, only 12 days are left before the deadline.
If the Sharks want to add a player on an NHL contract, they’ll have to move at least another one out, as they are at the league maximum of 50 contracts.
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Sharks forward Will Smith practiced without any restrictions on Wednesday in Washington but will not play against the Capitals, coach Ryan Warsofsky said.
Will Smith (upper body) practiced with contact with the Sharks today in D.C. but won't play vs. Capitals tomorrow, per coach Ryan Warsofsky.
He wasn't sure yet about whether Smith will play Friday at Detroit. Has to see first what the report on him was following practice today.
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) January 14, 2026
Smith, who sustained an upper-body injury in the Sharks’ Dec. 13 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, also practiced with the Sharks last Friday and on Monday, although he was wearing a non-contact jersey in last week’s skate at SAP Center.
Warsofsky said he needed to see the medical report on how Smith felt physically after Wednesday’s practice before determining whether he would be available to play in Friday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings in the second game of the trip.
Before his injury, Smith was second on the Sharks with 29 points in 33 games. With Smith and Philipp Kurashev, who had 15 points in 31 games, out of the lineup, the Sharks are 7-5-0. Kurashev also sustained an upper-body injury in the game against the Penguins.
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