How much pressure are the Sharks under this season?

Heading into the 2026-27 season, many people wonder which team is going to be the big surprise of the year.

One team that is looking make headway and get back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs is the San Jose Sharks. The team showed glimpses of being a postseason contender during the 2025-26 campaign, stumbling in the final weeks of the regular season. However, optimism around the team is high, but with that, the pressure to succeed is growing, as well.

With new captain Macklin Celebrini carrying the torch, San Jose has the assets and tools to make an honest push for a Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, potentially even a top three spot in the wide-open Pacific Division. There are plenty of unknowns heading into a new season, but one thing that is known around the league is the Sharks are not to be taken lightly.

On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, JD Young from Locked on Sharks joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton to take a look at the pressure gauge in the Bay Area.

JD Young: I mean, the vibes in San Jose are immaculate right now. You have Macklin Celebrini, who was just named the captain, you know, shocking no one that Celebrini was given the ‘C.’ But it does feel like this is the team that can make the playoffs for the first time since the 2018-19 season. As you guys just talked about, the Pacific Division…it’s two teams and a whole bunch of mess. The Sharks feel like they can be one of those teams who kind of climbs out of the mess here. You have Celebrini…you get lucky and you get Ivar Stenberg, Michael Misa, who’s looked absolutely fantastic so far in the preseason. Will Smith going into year three, like there’s a lot to be excited about for San Jose, and especially with this offense.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…