Sharks Locker Room: In This Respect, San Jose Isn’t Getting Better

Are the San Jose Sharks getting better?

That’s been the big question recently, amidst another long losing streak.

On one hand, after a 7-2 loss to the Florida Panthers on Saturday night, the 14-32-6 Sharks have virtually the same record after 52 games as last year’s 14-33-5 Sharks.

It’s their sixth-straight loss, and their third skid of six games or more this season.

On the other hand, the Goal Differential through 52 games this year is a more bearable-looking -54 as opposed to last season’s -90 at the same point.

But there’s another way to look at the question of whether the San Jose Sharks are getting better: Are they improving in season?

On Dec. 7, the Sharks were overwhelmed by the Panthers in Fort Lauderdale, giving up 54 shots, en route to a 3-1 defeat. Then-San Jose netminder Mackenzie Blackwood, dealt just two days later, made 51 saves to keep things close.

“They’re ultra-competitive,” head coach Ryan Warsofsky said of the defending champs.

That defeat dropped the Sharks to 10-15-5.

Warsofsky was singing a similar tune tonight.

“That’s the top of the top, right there,” he said of the Panthers. “I think we think we were working hard, but we don’t even have a clue how hard you have to work to win in this league consistently.”

San Jose is 4-17-1 since that loss in Florida.

That doesn’t look like a team that’s getting better.

“Now you’re seeing teams find their identity in this league,” Warsofsky said on New Year’s Eve, after a 4-0 loss against the Philadelphia Flyers. “Earlier on, I think we were probably catching teams by surprise.”

Maybe that’s it, and maybe we have to see San Jose’s response to that. There’s still plenty of season left.

And where it counts most — the future of the Sharks — I think they’re getting better?

Macklin Celebrini is Macklin Celebrini. Will Smith has two goals and four assists in his last seven contests. William Eklund is well ahead of last year’s pace of production. Henry Thrun has played some of the best hockey of his career…at times. Yaroslav Askarov — .852 Save % in his last four appearances — is dealing with his first slump in the NHL.

The San Jose Barracuda still appear to be headed to the playoffs.

But the Sharks can’t keep going this way either.

There’s still plenty of season left — and plenty of time for things to go from bad to worse, especially with the upcoming Trade Deadline.

San Jose pushed back after that lifeless Dec. 31 loss, their eight-straight, with back-to-back wins over Eastern Conference powers New Jersey Devils and Tampa Bay Lightning.

They’ll need to summon that spirit again, before what was once an encouraging season goes awry.

MORE QUOTES COMING SOON…

Jake Walman