The Sharks have been playing their best hockey of late. This week, they dominated the Kraken 6-1 and looked far and away the better team. They followed that performance up by outclassing one of the West's best teams, the Jets, to a final score of 2-1 in a close-fought but comfortable win for the Sharks. They are currently 6-3-1 in their last 10 games and have a .500 record for the first time since the 2021-22 season, their last under the old Wilson regime.
It's been impressive hockey from top to bottom. The Sharks look faster, more structured, and are playing better with the puck on their stick. The shift from the Sharks' earlier struggles aligns roughly with Warsofsky’s change to a 2-1-2 for-check structure from a 1-1-3, which helps the Sharks force the issue more and take advantage of their speed and skating. While this isn’t the only thing that has changed, it is a noticeable and smart adjustment by Warsofsky to make early in the year.
The players are also just as responsible for the surge. Kurashev, Wennberg, and Toffoli have added consistent scoring depth beyond the Sharks' young trio after slow starts, while the defense has started to gel after being battered to start the season. The most significant impact is far and away Macklin Celebrini, the 19-year-old currently leading the NHL in scoring at the time of writing, with 23 points in 15 games. He has been a consistently dominating force night in and night out. The Sharks are not winning these games without Macklin Celebrini. He is the clear heart of this team, and he sets the team's identity with his speed and tenacity, something that has started to trickle down to the rest of the lineup.
This leads me to the most significant change for the Sharks, their mentality. It’s still early, and this could change by as early as tonight. But over the past two weeks, the Sharks have been playing with a winning mentality; they haven’t been self-destructing or shooting themselves in the foot, but they have been playing consistent, structured hockey. Last night against the Jets, the Sharks of old would have sat back and tried not to lose against a strong Jets team, but they stayed on the gas and didn't let up While there were points they were pushed back, they continued to play their game, with speed and effort. The team, as currently constructed, is still off from where it can ultimately be, and it is far from being a legitimate threat. However, the Sharks are learning how to win games, and given their young talent, that should scare the rest of the NHL.