While the point production doesn't reflect it,
the 2024-25 season was a step forward for the San Jose Sharks. The cellar
dwelling Sharks wrapped up the season with a 3-0 loss, finishing with the worst
record in the league for the second consecutive year. The Sharks will have the
best odds to land the 1st overall pick once again this season, something that
landed them budding superstar Macklin Celebrini.
There is no player of
Celebrini's caliber waiting on the draft board, but the Sharks should be able
to add a decent talent that will help them bolster their roster of talented
prospects.
They will need it. They would wrap up the season with an
11th consecutive loss, their longest losing streak of the season. It was a
lackluster performance by a team that appeared better than last year's
underachieving roster, but they only finished the current season with more win
than the dismal 2023-24 season.
The Sharks opened the game with an
up-tempo approach that had the Oilers pinned in their end for the first 8
minutes of the game. They would not record their 1st shot on goal until the
8:20 mark, but that shot evaded Sharks goaltender Alexandar Georgiev. that shot
came off the stick of former Sharks defenseman Ty Emberson, who recorded his
first goal of the season last Friday against his former team.
Emberson's goal would be the only score of the opening period which saw the
Oilers comeback to lead in shots on goal 9-6 by the end of the frame.
Max Jones made it a 2-0 Oilers lead 10:17 into the 2nd period after Adam
Henrique moved the puck to the area behind the net and flipped it out front for
a quick shot from in tight. The Sharks were guilty of watching the puck as the
Oilers were able to move it quickly with a passing display.
The Sharks
showed a little life to start the 3rd period, but they would not generate any
serious scoring threats. Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner was never threatened
even though San Jose controlled the Edmonton zone for a solid 5 minutes.
Ty Dellandrea was called for a phantom slashing
penalty at 6:05, but San Jose was able to kill the Oilers man-advantage.
Noah Gregor just missed halving the Oilers lead with 4 minutes left in
regulation when his attempt from the right side clanked off the right post.
With nothing on the line, the Sharks either packed it in or they
simply ran out of gas. Head coach Ryan Warsofsky pulled Georgiev, which allowed
Corey Perry to bag his 19th goal of the season with an empt-net goal.
Game Notes: * The Sharks recognized captain Logan Couture, who
was in attendance with his wife Brielle. Couture announced on Tuesday that he
would not continue his NHL career after exhausting rehabilitation of his
injured pelvis.
* To nobody's surprise, Macklin Celebrini was voted
the Sharks Rookie of the Year by Bay Area media. He was also named the Sharks
Player of he Year. They also named Sam Dickinson as the Sharks 2024-25 Prospect
of the Year. Mario Ferraro was named Media Good Guy.
* With his 1st
period assist on Ty Emberson's goal, Connor McDavid earned his 100th point of
the season. McDavid is one of four players to have eight 100-point NHL seasons.
He joins Marcel Dionne, Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky. The Great One did it
15 times.
* The Sharks finished the season with a 20-50-12 record with
52 points. They finished the prior season with a 19-54-9 record for 47 points.
Not a huge improvement, but an improvement nonetheless.
* The final
game of the season was a sellout. They finished the season with 582,979 tickets
sold in 2024-25. That was 81% of capacity. They averaged 14,219 per game. NHL
attendance figures are based on tickets sold, not fans in attendance.
