Here's some perspective on Sharks' horrific start
You don't have to be an avid hockey fan to know that the San Jose Sharks are having a historically hellacious start to their 2023-24 campaign. So how do they compare to teams from yesteryear?
As hard to believe as it may be, this year's rendition of Team Teal isn't the first to start off a season on a long winless streak or to give up 10 goals in back-to-back tilts. If you're a Sharks fan wondering if this team could turn things around, here is a look at how past teams have faired.
San Jose's 0-10-1 record to open up the season may be bad, but it still isn't the worst ever recorded (not yet, at least.) That dubious honor is still held by the 1943-44 New York Rangers, who started off that season with 11 straight regulation losses according to Team Teal stats aficionado SharksStats via the X platform.
Did that Rangers team bounce back? Not even a little bit. The NHL season was shorter then and New York didn't turn things around in that smaller window of time, ending the season 6-39-5.
Then, there is the last team to give up eight-plus goals in consecutive games. That, SharksStats tells us, was the Los Angeles Kings in the early 1970s.
What happened to that Kings team after giving up 18 goals in two tilts? They ended their season 20–49–9 and gave up 305 goals while only scoring 206.
As for the last team to give up 20 goals over consecutive games, well, that honor remains with the Sharks from their second season in the league back in the early 1990s.
As you might have guessed, things didn't go well that year, either. That Sharks team, captained by Doug Wilson (who later became Sharks general manager), ended the season 11-71-2 with an 8-33-1 home record. They gave up 414 goals while scoring just 218.
Suffice it to say, history doesn't give the Sharks a very good chance of turning things around. But could this be the team that breaks the mold and ends the year on a high note?
We'll just have to keep watching to find out, starting with San Jose's home game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.
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