"The San Jose Sharks have been beneath your notice for years. As this formerly stalwart franchise has missed the playoffs in six straight seasons, they've existed as a total non-competitive nothing that makes every aspect of the game as easy as possible for their opponents. While playoff-starved clubs like Buffalo and Detroit at least gave their fans some exciting streaks, and moments where the postseason felt within their reach, San Jose just loses, all the time, and not in fun ways."
"They haven't been able to score. They haven't had a good goalie. They put up a minus-105 goal differential last year, which was a whole 35 goals worse than the next team in Chicago. The Sharks of the last few years served no use beyond feeding talented guys in their prime to other teams, or volunteering as a dumping ground for contracts. It all sucked."
The San Jose Sharks missed the playoffs for six consecutive seasons and produced a minus-105 goal differential, 35 goals worse than the next-worst team. The team struggled to score and lacked reliable goaltending, becoming a source of talent for other teams and a dumping ground for contracts. A rebuild strategy focused on losing to maximize draft lottery positioning produced top draft picks and a promising group of young players. Those prospects have driven recent improvement, turning an 0-6 start into an 8-6-3 record and a four-game win streak. A recent game showcased advanced power-play passing and an overtime goal by three players averaging 20 years old.
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