For all the optimism the San Jose Sharks are creating with more competitive play and a dazzling rookie leading some strong individual performances, the Vegas Golden Knights delivered another reality check with a 4-2 victory and a sweep of the three-game season series.
Seven straight wins by the Golden Knights over a two-year span show the current gap between the NHL’s top team and a team near the bottom. Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky dealt out some real talk as his team fell to 13-24-6.
“Power play was the only thing that was good (Tuesday),” Warsofsky told reporters. “I thought they had control of the whole game.”
The first-year coach was not pleased. Losing is still losing and it’s clear he doesn’t want the Sharks to accept that.
“Be ready to start from puck drop,” he said. “Puck play was soft. We didn’t execute. We were soft to play against in front of our net. Just not physical enough.”
Two winless streaks covering eight games have shaped a first half in which growth has come in fits and starts. This is the true beginning of the rebuild and there’s often a staggered pattern to progress. But as the Sharks dig further into the second half of their schedule, now is a good time to issue player grades. Each player is different and the marks are based on what’s generally expected of him.
Forwards
Macklin Celebrini: A+
It’s a shame that a hip injury cost him 12 games after his magnetic debut. Celebrini has been terrific and is only getting better. He’s nearly at a point-per-game pace and his advanced metrics have been improving. He’s already a zone-entry master, has great defensive awareness and plays with an infectious energy on every shift. And he’s 18. Eighteen!
Ty Dellandrea: C
Dellandrea has been a checking fourth-line forward who hasn’t moved the needle. He’ll hit people, do well when he gets on the faceoff dot and chip in some penalty killing. And he’s got the memory of scoring his only goal of the season against Dallas, his former team.
William Eklund: A-
It feels like Eklund has been around for some time, but this is only his second full NHL season. The 22-year-old is becoming a terrific core winger. He could fill the net a bit more — his eighth goal came Tuesday — but he’s become one of the Sharks’ top defensive forwards and he’s on a 55-point pace with a higher ceiling to tap into.
Barclay Goodrow: D+
Goodrow might feel better about his situation with the Sharks seeing how the New York Rangers have disintegrated. He’s a leader for a young San Jose group and the type of player who’s proven to be a clutch playoff performer. But the Sharks won’t get there, and his play hasn’t materially helped them.
Barclay Goodrow has played a leadership role on a young Sharks team but has just four points in 38 games. (David Gonzales / Imagn Images)
Collin Graf: Incomplete
It’s hard to judge Graf off the three NHL games he’s played since his recall, but the 22-year-old is getting an opportunity to play with Celebrini and Smith on a highly skilled young line. He’s yet to get his first goal in 10 games total but he’s had a couple assists after earning a promotion with 26 points in 29 games with the AHL’s Barracuda.
Mikael Granlund: A-
Granlund has cooled off with just three points over his last nine games but is still leading the team with 35 points in 41 contests. The trade to San Jose has worked for him; he’s been a model veteran and productive with 95 points over 110 games with the Sharks. And yet, are they bound to trade the impending UFA?
Carl Grundstrom: C-
A crash-and-bang forechecking winger signed to a two-year deal, Grundstrom has a good shot and can provide some depth offense — he had 12 goals for Los Angeles in 2022-23 — but he’s been unable to secure an everyday spot among the bunch of forwards San Jose has in the organization.
Klim Kostin: C-/D+
Kostin, 25, can be an effective toolsy power forward at times but his inconsistency — which has come with him playing at different spots — hasn’t faded. He’s been willing to work on his play away from the puck that Warsofsky wants, which has earned him more ice time over his last 10 games. There is still more within him.
Nikolai Kovalenko: B
Kovalenko is off to a nice start with the Sharks after coming from Colorado in the Mackenzie Blackwood trade. San Jose got a young forward it could put right into its lineup, as the 25-year-old has a goal and five assists in 12 contests. Better yet, Kovalenko plays bigger than his 5-foot-10, 180-pound frame.
Luke Kunin: A-/B+
It’s been a strong response season for 27-year-old Kunin as he works on a one-year extension. He already has 10 goals, and while he might face some regression, he’s one of San Jose’s alternate captains and embodies the hard-to-play-against mantra the Sharks want.
Will Smith: B-/C+
Not every rookie can hit the ground running in the NHL like Celebrini has and it’s wise to remember Smith was expected to have a slower arrival and that he won’t turn 20 for another two months. What’s important is he’s making progress and looking like a dangerous playmaker more often after a slow start.
Nico Sturm: C+
Sturm, who has dealt with some injuries this season and is currently day to day with a lower-body ailment, is as professional as they come and his faceoff acumen would play well on a contending team’s fourth line. You’d like to see him win more of his minutes, but he’s been fine when healthy.
Tyler Toffoli: B
The Sharks signed Toffoli to score goals, and that he has. He has a team-leading 15, including four in his first six games and six in the first 11 for a strong impression with his latest club. Toffoli could be a bit more noticeable in games he doesn’t score in but all in all, he’s met expectations.
Alex Wennberg: B
Wennberg has been a solid third-line center — among the upgrades San Jose needed over the summer — and has come up with some big goals for a team learning how to win. He’s a smart player and you can see why teams have picked him up over the years.
Fabian Zetterlund: B+
Zetterlund has hit a dry spell in goal scoring with just two in his last 19 games, but he remains on a 20-goal pace and can top last year’s 44-point total in a breakthrough season. The best development in his game has been on the defensive side. His 1.92 goals against per 60 minutes of five-on-five play is the best on the Sharks.
Defensemen
Cody Ceci: B-/C+
Ceci has been a lot better after a shaky first couple months. The veteran’s best work has come with Jake Walman as his partner; they’ve had a 52.63 percent goal share when together in five-on-five play. He’s chewing up a lot of minutes and providing some trade value if that’s the direction the Sharks go.
Mario Ferraro: D+
There’s no mistaking Ferraro was struggling badly early on. His actual GA/60 (3.52) is worse than his xGA/60 (3.22), so there has been some ineffective goaltending when he’s on the ice, but there was a lot of volatility to his game. Pairing him with Timothy Liljegren has appeared to be stabilizing.
Timothy Liljegren: B-
The fresh start for Liljegren has been beneficial, as he’s playing regularly after falling out of favor in Toronto. The 25-year-old is most effective when moving the puck and sparking transition offense. His ice time has dipped to the 15-to-18-minute range as he’s had a few tough nights of late, but he had a power-play goal in a nice 20-minute effort Tuesday.
After a falling out in Toronto, Timothy Liljegren is playing regular minutes in San Jose. (Darren Yamashita / Imagn Images)
Shakir Mukhamadullin: Incomplete
Tuesday’s game was Mukhamadullin’s ninth since his recall from the AHL. The 6-foot-4 blueliner looks like a player with minimal NHL experience. He’s calm and effective on some shifts and hurried and unsteady on others. But he has a bright future. Perhaps a big future.
Jan Rutta: C-
The 34-year-old is far from the Sharks’ best defender. He also hasn’t been their worst. The Sharks were wise to split up a pairing with Ferraro, as neither was effective together. Matching Rutta with youngster Mukhamadullin has produced some promising results on the third pairing.
Henry Thrun: C
After playing a lot of minutes often out of necessity as a rookie last season, Thrun started the year in a smaller role when the club traded for Walman. The 23-year-old has earned enough trust with Warsofsky over his recent play to get top-pairing minutes in Walman’s current absence.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic: Incomplete
The longest-tenured Shark made his season debut on Jan. 2 and got an assist in 11:56 of action after missing the first 40 games because of a lower-body injury. He’s two games away from 1,300 in his career. It looks like he and Mukhamadullin could split duty on the third pairing over the upcoming schedule.
Jake Walman: A
The Sharks were giving Walman a chance to play top-four minutes when they grabbed him from Detroit in a salary dump. Did anyone expect him to become their No. 1 defenseman? The 28-year-old has been a plus player while leading the blue line with five goals and 25 points. The only drawback is that he’s been dinged enough to miss 12 contests.
Goaltenders
Yaroslav Askarov: A+
The highly personable Askarov has only played in seven games as the bulk of his season has been in the AHL, but he’s giving off No. 1 vibes with a .923 save percentage. He has some showman in him and looks like he’s having the time of his life, whether staring down Connor McDavid or stopping Nikita Kucherov and Jack Hughes.
Alexandar Georgiev: C-
San Jose and Colorado are on vastly different planes as teams, but it’s been evident why the Avalanche upgraded with Blackwood as Georgiev has lost five of his six Sharks starts and has allowed four goals or more in four defeats. (After giving up another iffy goal Tuesday, Georgiev was strong in stopping 38 of 41 shots.) He’s still below average in goals saved but his .881 SV% is still not good enough.
Vitek Vanecek: C
When he was in action, Vanecek was up and down — he had a stellar 49-save effort to beat Columbus, was touched up for seven goals in Vegas and everything in between. It hasn’t been easy behind a leaky defense and then he was struck by a deflected puck while watching from the bench on Dec. 17. A tough season indeed.
(Top photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
