The honeymoon is officially over for the San Jose Sharks.
For months, this young, rambunctious, and altogether infectious bunch played with house money, thumbing their collective noses at the idea of another year of rebuild futility. They pretended to be a finished product.
They didn’t know any better. And if they did, they simply didn’t care that it wasn’t yet their turn to contend for a playoff spot.
But reality remains undefeated in the National Hockey League, and right now, it’s pulled the Sharks sweater over its head while delivering a steady series of right uppercuts.
This team is currently teetering on the precipice of contention. A five-game losing streak that took root before the Olympic break continued Thursday, with an uninspired, sloppy third period in a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames.
The Sharks no longer look like a scrappy underdog destined for the postseason. They look exactly like what they actually are: a young team collapsing under the weight of its own inexperience.
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But it’s not the math that is setting off the sirens inside SAP Center; it’s the method. The way the Sharks were losing — and continue to lose — is one giant, flapping red flag.
All season long, this roster defied expectations, relying on sheer willpower and youthful ignorance to mask its flaws and make it look like a team that genuinely deserved a playoff spot.
They cannot make that claim today. The magic has evaporated, replaced by the disjointed play you would naturally expect from a franchise trying to climb out of the NHL’s basement.
It’s the little things that kill you in this league, and the Sharks are suddenly ignoring all of them.
Take Thursday night. San Jose looked great out of the gates. Then turnovers gave the Flames life in the second period. And then came a lazy, catastrophic line change from rookie Will Smith that directly set up Calgary’s go-ahead goal.
In the past, the Sharks would lean on Macklin Celebrini magic to pull them back into the game.
Can you blame the kid — the standout performer of the Canadians’ silver medal run, who saw nearly 26 minutes of ice time in the Olympic semifinals — for not having the juice for another heavy lift? He just had to carry a country on his back.
But the (still) ascendant brilliance of Celebrini aside, none of what’s happening with the Sharks right now should be considered terribly shocking or unexpected.
But these are the standard-issue growing pains the NHL routinely beats into developing rosters.
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Now, the demons have caught up.
So, do the kids have another push in them?
We are about to find out, because this weekend is the crucible.
Get back on track against in home games against Edmonton and Winnipeg — find a way to duct-tape the dam — and next Friday’s trade deadline won’t loom so large.
But if the swoon continues? You would be hard-pressed to tell general manager Mike Grier not to smash the ‘sell’ button. If they stumble through the weekend, the mandate becomes painfully obvious: sell high on expiring veterans like John Klingberg and Mario Ferraro. It’s the right move for the team’s long-term trajectory, which will come back into focus in a big way if the short-term goal of making the playoffs fades further.
This isn’t to say the Sharks couldn’t add pieces at the deadline, but let’s be clear — the moves would not be of the “win-now” variety. They would just be a logical extension of the rebuild.
Make no mistake, the Sharks’ future remains absurdly bright. This team isn’t close to a finished product. (Though if you’ve watched the last five games, you don’t need that reminder.)
But it’s how they play in this weekend’s games — with a possible extension to Tuesday’s home tilt against the Canadiens — that will define how this season is finished.
Are the growing pains over, or are they just catching up after a lovely, blissful lull?
Either way, it’s time to put on the big-boy pants and see how they fit.
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