Sharks Morning Skate 04/15/2026

0:00The San Jose Sharks Audio Network is on 24 hours a day. Whether you're in the office or on the co, make sure that you download the Sharks SAP Center app and hit listen anytime. You can also find us on your computer by going to sjsharks.com slash listen. If it's a game broadcast breaking news or a player feature, the place to find it is right here. On the San Jose Sharks Audio Network. It's time for the shark's morning skate with all the latest on San Jose Sharks hockey. Here are your hosts Dan Ruzanowski and Drew Remenda. We're in the Wendy City for game number 81 of the regular season. And for the first time Drew since we started doing this show, I can say that the San Jose Sharks have been eliminated from the playoffs. But as we look back at what was accomplished this year, we still have two games to go.

1:01Black box tonight, Jets tomorrow in Winnipeg. An amazing year. Fantastic here. And not where you wanted to be right now, but they accomplished a few things that they said they wanted to get better at. Number one was playing meaningful games late in the season. They did that. They were doing that until L.A.1 after the sharks beat Nashville. They were a team that wanted to be better in third periods. They did that. Much better in third periods. Much better with the lead in third periods. They did that. They wanted their guys to develop. And it's hard when you've got all these young guys that they all developed. And I think we can look at everybody and go check did that as well. The other thing is to me, the culture that has been created on this team this season, with the mix of the guys and the people that they are

2:02and the teammates they are, that culture should serve the sharks. Future really, really well. Because the young guys that are here that have experienced that, thanks to Ryan Rees and Tyler Tafoli, and Barclay Goodor and Mariel Lemieux, and Alex and Delkovich, so many guys have contributed to that culture being as powerful and strong and as important as it is. The young guys have seen that, understand that, and hopefully that continues as the sharks move before. You know what else they accomplished? They gave the fans hope. Again, the fans are excited. Everybody is excited around the organization. The whole city of San Jose is bleeding teal again as it should. And not that it didn't before. The accelerator pedal was on idle. And now the accelerator pedal is to the floor with the excitement that the fans have about the team. And it's not just Maclin, Celabrini, but this kid has dragged this team right into the fight.

3:05And what he did, in my opinion, was never allow any kind of a drop-off in the enthusiasm and the caring about the team, the desire to win, and the hatred to lose. Yeah, absolutely. This is a team that, well led by Maclin without a doubt, offensively incredible. A driver constantly. And whenever you would ask Maclin about what he was doing, he would stop talking about it, or he immediately defer to his teammates, his line mates, goalie, everybody. You watch Maclin on the ice. He's the last guy off the ice after a period, after a game. He's always waiting for the goalie. Always giving the goalie the headbutt. Everybody is recognized for their contribution. He has been a big part of the culture of this team. But what I think this team has done is put the pride back in Teo. It was tough for the last couple of years. 20 wins is tough to take in an 82 game season. And now this team's got 38 wins.

4:06Ryan Wersowski's talked to his team about, hey, our goal is 40 now. Playoffs are out, okay? We did what we did. We tried as hard as we could. But now we're going for 40 wins. We're going to double our wins from last year. So that's another focus that they want to have. In a sense, I think it's probably good that the last two games are on the road, given the entire situation, because the sharks can focus on those things. Think about it. 40 wins is actually a big, big benchmark in the NHL for having a good season. And if the sharks can get the win tonight against Chicago, travel to Winnipeg, get the win tomorrow against a jets team that's out of the playoffs, then they'll have that 40 win season. That is something to play for. It's also something that the team wants to build for next year. And the best news is that I'm looking at these guys on the ice right now, and I can hear it, and I can feel it. They're not thinking about next year yet. They're not thinking about the summer. They're thinking about today. They're still out. Give me a chance. There's this tight land here,

5:06puts his arm around, eager a churner shell, because I'm a little bit of a jostle. Yeah, they're still out. They're still working on stuff. Look at all the defensemen still out. They're not off. They're not on the bus. They're not ready to go home yet. And that's been really a characteristic of this team all year long. I know. Folks, I understand what you're thinking. Wait a minute. You guys, they didn't make the playoffs, which is their goal. Yeah, you're right. They didn't. But that doesn't mean that you quit. That doesn't mean that you don't give everything you got in these last two games. Some guys are playing for jobs. Still. Some guys are trying to show Mike Greer that they belong. Some guys are trying to show, you know, maybe they don't, but they're not going to belong here. They're going to be on somewhere else. So they, they've all got something to play for. But as a collective, as a group, they still want to play for each other. And that's the important thing. I want to talk about three different players right now that the way they've developed this year, the way they're continuing to develop. They're all in different stages. Let's start with Michael Mesa.

6:0618 years of age. I think he had a pretty solid year for an 18-year-old learning to be a national hockey league player, learning what it's like to be in this environment to have the cauldron of the pressure of the playoff race. Your thoughts on Michael Mesa? I think he got better at learning how to play with pace in his game. I talked to him about the biggest thing that he's had to learn. He goes and he said things that I didn't junior that I can't do here. He said because this is the national hockey league. He said I could get away with stuff in junior. I can't get away with here. So that's incredible that already he learned that. But the pace that he plays without the puck, how well he supports the puck in the zone. It does a really good job on breakouts. Good job supporting through the neutral zone. He's smart and he knows where to go when the puck isn't on his deck. He's also been pretty good in recent games about using his body properly when he gets into a physical confrontation.

7:07But also he had worked with Mike Ricci and with Jeff Olm or on face-offs and face-off plays. And he actually, if you look at his numbers, they're really good. It's the hardest thing for a young player to understand or a young centerman to understand is to get how to get better at face-offs. And they will. They'll continue to working on it. But you look at everybody. I remember when Connor McDavid came in the league. He couldn't win a draw to save his life. Now he's one of the best in the league. That's the hardest thing to learn. But they'll get it. He's a hell of a player. He's going to do in that too, obviously. Second player I want to talk about is Igor Chernashov. We showed some of his promise in the preseason. We said this is going to be a national hockey league player for a long time. Then he went to the Barracuda, worked on his game. Got a recall, played a few games. Look good. Fell back a little bit, went back to the Barracuda. Now on this recall, he comes into this game with a two-game goal-scoring streak. He's using his power. He's using his intelligence. And to me, the intelligence part is one of his biggest assets. You nailed it. Absolutely.

8:07He's a big body that extends plays in the offensive zone. Goes to the net. That pass he makes to Maclin against the national predators. I said on the highlight when I did my review of it, I said, if he doesn't get that pass to Maclin, I'm all over him a boat, not shooting the puck. But what he did there, he holds and holds and holds, forces the demand to come over. That opens up the passing lane. That's that smart you're talking about. He had to make sure that pass thing he was open gets it over in his beauty and it's in the net. But he's also a big body who protects the puck very well. And he is a guy that has the smarts and the ability to play with Will and Maclin and be a formidable line as they continue to get used to each other and continue to get a game experience. Last player I want to talk about just of the individual basis is Luca Cagnoni. It's been a long year for him in many respects to get better five on five. That's the goal they gave him. He has improved over this season. He's gotten smarter about how he uses his energy. But I thought his first game back in the NHL,

9:08he just jumped up and did a lot of great things. What did you see? The ability to get the puck, get back to the puck and move the puck quickly. It changes the way that the team plays when you're deep and get the puck up here quickly. Obviously because he can get on the attack. He was very good. He's a very intelligent player. He's got great edge work, good skater. And you saw there was a one play in the power play. He dances across the blue line. And you think, give it back. Give it back to Mack. Because Mack rolled up off the face off. And then steady pops it to the middle to the bumper play. I was like, oh, that was nice. He's very smart. He sees the ice very well. Again, reps, reps, reps, reps. More reps he gets. The better he's going to be. We'll have a few more reps for you today. We'll be on the air at five o'clock Pacific time. Jermall Mayors will join me with the broadcast of the Sharks and the Chicago Black Cocks. Game number 81 on the season. Until then, that's our morning skate today. You've been listening to the Sharks morning skate.

10:08Make sure you're listening all season long to the latest Sharks news and information right here on the San Jose Sharks Audio Network. Thank you.