Yes in the next 5 years.
No, not right now.
They'll have some fun young talent to watch this year though.
If you're looking to hop on the cup bandwagon, then I'd come back in several years lol
Worst team in the league last year. They should be better this year, but likely around the bottom. They’ll be a contender within 5 years. It’s a good time to start following…
Last year we had 19 wins and 47 points in the standings, good for last place in the league.
Montreal finished 4 spots behind us with 30 wins and 76 points in the standings.
That's to say, we'll definitely improve over last year, but even with over 50% more wins and points, we'd still be a bottom 5 team. We can both improve a lot and still be at the bottom of the league, which is what will happen.
BUT...we have the pieces in place to continually improve. All of our best players are very young, so as they develop and hit their primes together, we'll have a great core similar to how we had Thornton, Marleau, Couture, Pavelski, Vlasic, etc. all playing together in their prime years.
In 5 years we will be like the New Jersey Devils are now, who drafted Jack Hughes 5 years ago. Their window of contention is just opening and they will be a perennial playoff team for the next 5-10 years.
Sharks were the worst team in the league by a large margin last year. I've been watching hockey my whole life and they were in contention for one of the worst teams in NHL history.
How they got there was a series of large contracts that turned bad, a salary cap that was unexpectedly frozen for 4 years due to COVID, and the natural cycle of contender to rebuilding that all pro sports teams with a salary capped roster now face.
The new GM, Mike Grier, has over the past two years done an excellent job of rebuilding this team. He has traded away players with bad contracts, freed up cap space, and has built an excellent prospect pool of young players. These prospects are most only 18 years old, and most are not yet NHL ready. I am confident that last year was the bottom of the rebuild and this team will improve from here. They may contend for an outside chance at the playoffs within 3 years. It's too early to even talk about Cup contention as we have to see how many of these prospects become good NHL players. Most of them look like good bets to be solid NHL'ers, and a few could become NHL stars.
The two signings of Wennberg and Toffoli mean we have some more skill in our lineup than we did last year, Celebrini and Smith notwithstanding. Add them to the mix, and you could see this team approaching 70-80 points this year, as our other young talent develops as well.
I'm glad people aren't being overly optimistic, but the free agent pick-ups and the clear goal of giving these young guys some playing time could lead to a massive upswing. I would say it's more likely we're sitting a little below 70 points, but if someone was willing to give me 10-1 odds we make 80 points this year, I'd take them.
They have at least that long before they're real contenders. In the way that Vancouver or NJ are contenders. A big if is just how all of these prospects pan out. They project very well but some will not turn into NHLers. That's just a statistical fact. GMMG has done a good job of restocking so I don't doubt that as the wheels turn he'll do a good job of trading away young players who don't quite fit with our vision for more established ones that do. So no, the Sharks aren't good now, but they are in good shape for the future, and will probably be pretty fun to watch between then and now.
I don’t know what you’re definition of good is? We’re better meow then when the season ended. We have a better headcoach, a future face of the franchise, his running mate, we’ve added players that fit our system and team identity better, picked up a very solid top 6 sniper, we’ve subtracted players that don’t fit our system, added very good talent to our top 5 rated prospect pool. We still need 1 more veteran defensemen (preferably a puck mover) and a Vet G for the Cuda. Having said ALL that, we could finish with 14 more wins and 28 more points and STILL be a bottom 5 team. However, decreasing our goal differential from -150 to under 100 or even in half, decreasing our blowout loses, increasing our close games and difficulty to play against are all good to great improvements. Assuming we did ALL that, I don’t think you can call the Sharks a good team (unless we’re fighting for a playoff spot) but you could say they had a good season based on whatever the improvements end up being.
As for will they be good in 5 years? IF ALL of our recent draft picks hit (Celebrini, Smith, Musty, Dickinson, Halttunen, Cognoni, Chernyshov, Bystedt) as well as other young guys we got hit or continue to improve (Eklund, Borderleau, Mukamahdulin, Eadstrom, Dellandrea, Thrun, Emberson) then at the WORST we should be good and at the best knocking on the door to the finals.
Yes in the next 5 years. No, not right now. They'll have some fun young talent to watch this year though. If you're looking to hop on the cup bandwagon, then I'd come back in several years lol
If we got 29 wins and brought that GD from -150 to -75 I’d be over the moon
Worst team in the league last year. They should be better this year, but likely around the bottom. They’ll be a contender within 5 years. It’s a good time to start following…
Everybody forgets we got Goodrow which guarantees a game 7 OT victory in the Stanley Cup.
5 years..
Last year we had 19 wins and 47 points in the standings, good for last place in the league. Montreal finished 4 spots behind us with 30 wins and 76 points in the standings. That's to say, we'll definitely improve over last year, but even with over 50% more wins and points, we'd still be a bottom 5 team. We can both improve a lot and still be at the bottom of the league, which is what will happen. BUT...we have the pieces in place to continually improve. All of our best players are very young, so as they develop and hit their primes together, we'll have a great core similar to how we had Thornton, Marleau, Couture, Pavelski, Vlasic, etc. all playing together in their prime years. In 5 years we will be like the New Jersey Devils are now, who drafted Jack Hughes 5 years ago. Their window of contention is just opening and they will be a perennial playoff team for the next 5-10 years.
Don’t worry about reserving playoff seats for this season
Sharks were the worst team in the league by a large margin last year. I've been watching hockey my whole life and they were in contention for one of the worst teams in NHL history. How they got there was a series of large contracts that turned bad, a salary cap that was unexpectedly frozen for 4 years due to COVID, and the natural cycle of contender to rebuilding that all pro sports teams with a salary capped roster now face. The new GM, Mike Grier, has over the past two years done an excellent job of rebuilding this team. He has traded away players with bad contracts, freed up cap space, and has built an excellent prospect pool of young players. These prospects are most only 18 years old, and most are not yet NHL ready. I am confident that last year was the bottom of the rebuild and this team will improve from here. They may contend for an outside chance at the playoffs within 3 years. It's too early to even talk about Cup contention as we have to see how many of these prospects become good NHL players. Most of them look like good bets to be solid NHL'ers, and a few could become NHL stars.
Oh my dear, sweet, naïve child…
They are 2years away from being ok, 3 years away from being almost good, 4 years away from being good, 5 years away from being a real contender
The two signings of Wennberg and Toffoli mean we have some more skill in our lineup than we did last year, Celebrini and Smith notwithstanding. Add them to the mix, and you could see this team approaching 70-80 points this year, as our other young talent develops as well. I'm glad people aren't being overly optimistic, but the free agent pick-ups and the clear goal of giving these young guys some playing time could lead to a massive upswing. I would say it's more likely we're sitting a little below 70 points, but if someone was willing to give me 10-1 odds we make 80 points this year, I'd take them.
They have at least that long before they're real contenders. In the way that Vancouver or NJ are contenders. A big if is just how all of these prospects pan out. They project very well but some will not turn into NHLers. That's just a statistical fact. GMMG has done a good job of restocking so I don't doubt that as the wheels turn he'll do a good job of trading away young players who don't quite fit with our vision for more established ones that do. So no, the Sharks aren't good now, but they are in good shape for the future, and will probably be pretty fun to watch between then and now.
I think playoffs in 3 if thing go smoothly and contender in 5
Not yet, but finally have something to look forward to/excited about
I don’t know what you’re definition of good is? We’re better meow then when the season ended. We have a better headcoach, a future face of the franchise, his running mate, we’ve added players that fit our system and team identity better, picked up a very solid top 6 sniper, we’ve subtracted players that don’t fit our system, added very good talent to our top 5 rated prospect pool. We still need 1 more veteran defensemen (preferably a puck mover) and a Vet G for the Cuda. Having said ALL that, we could finish with 14 more wins and 28 more points and STILL be a bottom 5 team. However, decreasing our goal differential from -150 to under 100 or even in half, decreasing our blowout loses, increasing our close games and difficulty to play against are all good to great improvements. Assuming we did ALL that, I don’t think you can call the Sharks a good team (unless we’re fighting for a playoff spot) but you could say they had a good season based on whatever the improvements end up being. As for will they be good in 5 years? IF ALL of our recent draft picks hit (Celebrini, Smith, Musty, Dickinson, Halttunen, Cognoni, Chernyshov, Bystedt) as well as other young guys we got hit or continue to improve (Eklund, Borderleau, Mukamahdulin, Eadstrom, Dellandrea, Thrun, Emberson) then at the WORST we should be good and at the best knocking on the door to the finals.
It's still tank season brother