The 2023-24 Sharks: Worst Team Ever?

You know, I had spent the last two weeks wondering what my first hockey story of this young season should be. There are a lot of good storylines that have developed within the first month of the season. So many amazing things have occurred this season, and a lot of them are definitely worthy of a piece on Vocal.

Unfortunately, you know what else is worth writing about? The demise of the San Jose Sharks.

Seriously, what in the hell is going on with this team!? Now, let's get something straight. I did not expect the Sharks to be a playoff team. No one did. This team has been going south ever since they were defeated by the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference Final in 2019. The following season was paused by the pandemic, and the Sharks finished with the worst record in the Western Conference. With the announcement of the modified playoffs and draft lottery, the Sharks--as one of the seven worst teams that season--would be part of the draft lottery. At least they would have been...if they hadn't given their 1st round pick to the Ottawa Senators to get Erik Karlsson.

So the Sharks were not in that year's lottery, and the following seasons were subpar as well. But at least those seasons had a sliver of promise and positivity. This season? Yeah...not so much.

0-9-1. That is the Sharks' record after their first ten games of the season. It's hideously awful. I read a comment on YouTube saying that this year's team could be worse than their second season (1992-93), which saw them lose 71 games! Yikes. The worst record in NHL history still belongs to the 1974-75 Washington Capitals, as they went 8-67-5 in their inagural season. That's 21 points in the standings. As of this writing, the Sharks are on pace to go 0-73-9. That's nine points! That's less than half of the total that the Caps racked up during their debut season.

I can't help but find this next tidbit funny. You know who gave the Sharks their only point in the standings? The Colorado Avalanche! It was the second game of both teams' seasons, and the Sharks led 1-0 for nearly the entire game until Cale Makar tied it late in the 3rd period and forced overtime. Avs won in a shootout, giving San Jose their only point in the standings. Fittingly, that was the best game the Sharks played, and not just because of the point. It was because they gave a Cup contender fits for the whole game. We haven't seen anything close to that in the eight games that passed, and their 10th game was definitely the biggest embarrassment.

On November 2, 2023, the Sharks hosted the Vancouver Canucks, who were off to a crazy good start to the season. I was watching a few other games, but when I first saw the score, the Canucks were up 4-0 after the first period. My thought: "Well, they'll still be winless." I was right, but I didn't expect what I saw next. 8-0. After two periods. By that point, I tuned in to the 3rd period to see if Vancouver would get the ten spot, and Anthony Beauvillier delivered with two goals in the third. It was 10-0! The Sharks scored a meaningless power play goal to make them feel good over losing by a measly nine goals, but even so, this was a huge embarrassment. The Vancouver Canucks scored 10 goals on the Sharks. The Sharks' PP goal was their 10th goal all season.

You read that last statement right. In 10 games, the Sharks have scored a grand total of 10 goals, literally a goal per game. In all of this tragedy, Tomas Hertl is the points leader with five points (G/4 A). Surprisingly, the Sharks do have two players with more than one goal: Fabian Zetterlund leads the team with three goals, while Filip Zadina has two goals, and combined with Hertl's one, that's six right there. The other four goals: William Eklund, Thomas Bordeleau, Anthony Duclair (who was part of the Florida Panthers' Cup Final run last season), and Luke Kunin.

I do feel for Hertl in this mess. Hertl, who was drafted in the same year as Nathan MacKinnon, signed an eight-year extension prior to last season, so he's in it for the long haul--nailed down until the end of the 2029-30 season. The first season of that deal was Erik Karlsson's Norris Trophy year, and that season led him to be traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins. So the Sharks really are starting over, with Hertl and Logan Couture being the only two stars on the team. However, Couture is injured, big time, leaving Hertl to carry a huge mess this season. I would say it'll get worse before it gets better, but can it actually get worse than this?!

Another person I feel for in this mess is Mike Grier. History was made with Grier's hire as the Sharks' general manager: he became the NHL's first Black GM. Unfortunately, poor Grier has inherited a big mess. While last year wasn't good, at least it wasn't like this season. This season is a horror show. Thankfully, this is the NHL, not the NFL. The NFL tends to not give Black coaches or GMs any mulligans. I've seen Black NFL coaches get fired for things that would get White coaches (at least) another chance, if not an extension. Granted, Mike Grier's a GM, but the same thing applies with GMs. NHL teams are patient, plus, it's the Sharks. They know good and well that it'll be a while before they go anywhere. Because of this, Grier's job has to be safe. They won't take this out on him.

It truly is a horror show in San Jose. Bay Area sports has been suffering recently with the A's leaving Oakland and the Niners in a slump, but the Sharks are definitely taking the cake. I've watched this team for years. This was a team with a lot of promise. They almost never missed the playoffs. They reached the Cup Final in 2016. I don't even recognize this Sharks team anymore. It's a huge catastrophe. There's one positive, though: the Sharks have nowhere else to go but up.