Three Reasons Why The Power Play Should Improve In 2025-26

The San Jose Sharks' power play has a chance to make massive improvements this season based on several key areas. They finished 26th in power play percentage at 18.6. They scored 42 power play goals on 226 power play opportunities. Their 226 opportunities were 14th in the NHL, but the goals scored were only 25th. If the Sharks want to make a step to playing .500 hockey this season, improving the efficiency of the power play could be the first significant step.

Three reasons why the power play should improve:

Point Play Improvement

Since the Erik Karlsson trade in the summer of 2023, the Sharks have had inconsistencies on the point. Since then, the Sharks have struggled to find someone to run the power play. Here is every defenseman who has played at least 10 minutes on the power play since the start of the 2023-24 season (in order of time played):

Jake Walman
Calen Addison
Timothy Liljegren
Henry Thrun
Jacob MacDonald
Jack Thompson
Mario Ferraro
Kyle Burroughs
Shakir Mukhamadullin
Luca Cagnoni
Jan Rutta

This also doesn't include Mikael Granlund (noted forward), who played the point when the Sharks would run a five-forward, unit.

Enter John Klingberg.

Yes, Klingberg isn't the same player that he was when he left Dallas, but Klingberg will have the top power play unit to himself. It has been a while since Klingberg ran the top unit (he was the third most used defenseman on the 2022-23 Anaheim Ducks team, but Cam Fowler was the most used and ran the top unit), but, the skills should still be there.

In his last two seasons with Dallas, where Klingberg was the top defenseman, Dallas had the 5th best power play in 2020-21 (23.6%) and 11th best in 2021-22 (22.4%). Yes, those teams were much more talented than the current San Jose Sharks, but Klingberg was a massive part of their success.

Yes, Klingberg has struggled in his own zone at 5v5, but on the power play, he has been excellent at producing shot attempts and xGF. If he can get close to recapturing his former glory, it should provide a boost while the Sharks have the man advantage.

Consistency & Growth

The Sharks will be able to run out the same forward group that they ended the season with. Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Tyler Toffoli, and William Eklund should all be on the top power play unit. With all the turnover the Sharks organization has had, it has been hard to establish any chemistry. This season, there is no doubt on who the top players are and where they fit.

Will Smith enters the season established as a top-six forward, Macklin Celebrini is the Sharks' top center, Tyler Toffoli isn't going anywhere, and William Eklund just signed an extension. This is the group of guys that the Sharks are going to utilize on the power play and their high-leverage moments. While players like Alex Wennberg and Jeff Skinner make the occasional appearance, these four should be the Sharks' unit.

While the Sharks have been in their rebuild, it has been a rotating cast of personnel on the power play. Now the Sharks should have a solid unit to build their foundation on and start to reach that next level of chemistry.

Better Depth

Yes, this isn't the 2010 Team Canada the Sharks are trotting out this season, but they have better depth among the forward group to provide offense. Gone are the days of Barclay Goodrow and Luke Kunin having to play on the unit because Warsofski doesn't have the personnel to cobble together a strong second unit. Assuming PP1 is Celebrini-Smith-Eklund-Toffoli-Klingberg. The Sharks will have plenty of viable options for the second unit.

Alex Wennberg, Jeff Skinner, and Michael Misa (assuming he makes the team and we are assuming that), as three of the forwards, give a legitimate net front presence in Wennberg. Despite last season, Skinner is still a professional goal scorer and should have plenty of opportunities. Misa can take up the playmaking and shooting role similar to Smith. Players like Collin Graf, Philipp Kurashev, and Adam Gaudette can slide into that fourth forward option. Kurashev and Gaudette provide a bit more scoring juice, while Graff can be more of a line connecter between the three.

The Sharks also have more options on the blueline to help run the power play. Dmitry Orlov or Timothy Liljegren will most likely get the first shot at running the second unit. Still, Sam Dickinson (again, assuming he makes the team) could provide a long-term option, and getting him reps as a power play quarterback would be suitable for San Jose long-term. Luca Cagnoni and Jack Thompson could also be in the mix when they are recalled from the San Jose Barracuda. Cagnoni led the Cuda to an AHL-best 24% success rate on the power play last year.

Don't expect San Jose to be among the top power play units this season, but if they can go from the bottom of the basement to the middle of the pack, it would provide a considerable improvement for the team and their goal to play more competitive hockey this season. A jump from 18.6% to around 22% is the difference from 26th to 17th last season. That would be just eight more goals.