The San Jose Sharks, who were once the Bay Area’s favorite hockey team, are down in the dumps. The Sharks are now a complete embarrassment. Their performance this season has been outrageous, and fans argue that they are one of the worst teams in NHL history.  

Back in their glory, the Sharks had been a competitive team from 1999 to 2019, and of those 20 seasons, the Sharks only missed the playoffs twice. The last glimpse of their triumphs was five seasons ago, in which they made the postseason and finished with a total of 101 points and ranking 6th in the league. But, their performance rapidly went downhill from there. In the following season, they ranked 29th in the NHL and concluded with a total of 63 points — half of what they scored last season.  

So far in the 2023-2024 season, the Sharks have a total of 5 wins and 16 losses, ranking them at the very bottom of the league. Fans can’t help but wonder: When and how did the Sharks become so bad? 

The main cause of the Sharks’ downfall is due to the departure of Joe Pavelski. Pavelski, being the star forward player on the team, had largely contributed to the Sharks’ success over the years. He is a veteran, who has been with the Sharks for 13 years, being the team captain for the last 4 years. He was highly regarded by his coaches and his teammates for demonstrating great leadership and sportsmanship. 

However, despite Palvelski’s wishes to stay in San Jose, he had no choice but to leave because the Sharks were unwilling to agree to his third-year contract. The Sharks were concerned about the regression of his performance because of his age. He signed with the Dallas Stars in 2019 and is now their star player.      

A handful of trades also contributed to the Sharks’ recent downfall.  The team traded Brent Burn, Timo Miers, and Eric Karlson, all of whom were top players, in an effort to “rebuild” and create a young, hopeful team core. This is one of the crucial aspects of forming a successful team. The Sharks got the short end of the stick in this trade because some of the players that they acquired ended up leaving while the others failed to have outstanding performances. The team decided to trade Karlson because he didn’t perform as well as they expected due to his injuries. 

As a result of these trades, the Sharks have struggled defensively because they have lost most of their defensive specialists. The Sharks also have a weak roster this year, because they are severely lacking young impact players, who can lead the team to their victory. 

“The Sharks are not winning much this season because they are not shooting very much,” expresses Mrs. Jones, a first-grade teacher at Laurelwood Elementary School who is an avid fan of the team. “I think they need to shoot the puck on goal more and strengthen their offense. They typically are getting fewer than 20-25 shots a game, and that’s not enough.” Mrs. Jones passionately emphasized, “If you can’t stand them at their worst, you don’t deserve them at their best!”   

Despite their disappointing performance in recent years, there are still faithful Shark fans like Mrs. Jones who will continue to show the team their full support. Hopefully, the Sharks will be able to improve this season and reclaim their past glory.