The 2025-26 season was one that the San Jose Sharks would take as just another stepping stone in their rebuild, a year to develop and grow, but halfway through the season that narrative has taken a complete 180. Sitting nicely in a wild card spot in the west, their horror winless start has turned into a fairytale story and with even more to come this season, one thing's for sure: they won't be slowing down. But its's vital they don't get too ahead of themselves.
San Jose are amongst a plethora of young budding teams who are on the cusp of a wild card spot, but despite pressure from below, the Sharks have kept their spot as the WC2, and held off some serious western competition for a while now. Having your franchise guy Macklin Celebrini firing on all cylinders, the youth core coming together as one, and the newly-acquired veteran group playing to playoff standard, the Sharks have a real chance at making the postseason. However for a team as fragile as they can tend to be, it is still one step at a time and they definitely shouldn't be putting all their eggs in one basket right now.
Among all the teams who have been towards the lower half of the standings over the last couple of year, the Sharks are a team that have future stars in bunches. Whether that is Michael Misa, Igor Chernyshov, or Sam Dickinson, they don't have to worry at all about young stars coming up through the pipeline, and although they could be gearing up for a postseason run this year, not one of those players should ever become subject to a trade this season, and the Sharks should stick with what they have, and trust the process no matter how quickly it is rolling.
Many a team have made the mistake over the years of fast forwarding their rebuilds, jumping on current form, and sacrificing their future for an early playoff run, and the Sharks cannot risk that. With everything they have been building over the last few years, keeping their roster, and maybe adding one or two wildcard guys is an option, but dabbling into your young prospects is something that would ruin something very special in San Jose. You have guys like Celebrini and William Eklund who are already playing to the standard of playoff hockey, but gearing up too early when things are in flow state right now would be more than detrimental to the franchise, and would be a car crash for something that simply isn't worth the risk.
Come the terade deadline, the Sharks look poised to be buyers in order to get themselves to the postseason, but making the right decisions is all that matters. Realise you have something special, realise that the team's rebuild has taken a massive acceleation early on, and realise that what is happening should be left to its own devices. Don't sacrifice your future for something that isn't worth the risk, and don't ruin something for the sake of unguaranteed success.