The Sharks show some bite in 2025

The big change came with the firing of longtime general manger Doug Wilson and the hiring of Mike Grier, who said some painful times were in store for the Sharks as the team worked to rebuild.

And he wasn’t wrong. Over the previous three seasons, the Sharks have won 22, 19 and 20 games. But they were starting to build through the draft. First, it was defenseman William Eklund who gave Sharks fans some hope. Then came the Connor Bedard-Will Smith sweepstakes ahead of the 2023 draft. Despite having the worst record the previous season, the Sharks got Smith with the No. 2 pick.

But last year, the Sharks hit what many believed was the jackpot when they got the No. 1 pick and chose Macklin Celebrini.

And the returns on that pick are starting to come to fruition. If you’ve been off the Sharks’ bandwagon for a while, now might be the time to pack your bags and get back onboard because Celebrini could be the next great NHL player. He’s certainly on his way to becoming the best San Jose Shark of all time.

Not even 20 years old yet, Celebrini is tied for second in the NHL in points with 30, 13 goals and 17 assists, after netting a hat trick in a 3-2 overtime win over Utah Tuesday night. His 13 goals are just one behind league leader Nate MacKinnon from Colorado.

But more importantly, the Sharks are starting to play winning hockey after years wandering through the NHL desert. After a horrible 0-6 start to the season, the Sharks have won nine of their last 14 and are 7-2 in their last nine. And with nine wins on the season, the team is almost half way to last year’s win total of 20.

The Sharks added some grit this season with the addition of Tyler Toffoli and enforcer Ryan Reaves and they are still going through some growing pains — like coughing up a two-goal, third-period lead in the final 10 minutes to Utah – but the Sharks are showing signs of life and appear ready to be competitive in the NHL again.

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There may be some wondering about the outpouring of grief and sadness over the death of legendary football coach John Beam.

Why would there be so much focus on a junior college football coach and athletic director? It’s a horrible situation, to be sure, but why so much attention?

Because for a couple of decades, Beam was one of the top high school coaches in the state when he was guiding the Skyline program to dominance from the 1980s into the 2000s. For the longest time, it was De La Salle and its coach Bob Ladouceur, and Beam and Skyline. They were the top two programs in the Bay Area for a long, long time.

At Skyline from 1987 to 2003, Beam compiled a record of 160-33-3, winning 15 Oakland Athletic League title and 11 Oakland Section championships.

In his final two seasons with Skyline, he scheduled games with Serra, beating the Padres 32-6 in 2002, before Serra topped the Titans 41-32 in 2003.

That 2003 game in the Oakland hills was an event. Every media outlet in the Bay Area sent a reporter, with one guy from the Oakland Tribune grumbling about the amount of media at the game.

Hey, it was a big deal, as out-of-area games were just starting to become a thing as the top teams around the Bay Area wanted to find out how good the rest of the Bay was. Everyone knew De La Salle was king, but who was second? In a lot of those years, it was Beam and the Titans.

Beam then decided he wanted a new challenge and joined the Laney College coaching staff, eventually taking over the head coaching role in 2012 and leading the Eagles to the state championship in 2018.

I didn’t know Coach Beam personally, but I knew of his history and what he meant to the Oakland community. He gained national fame during the Netflix documentary “Last Chance U,” but a coach like Beam didn’t see community college as the last chance. He knew for a lot of athletes, it was their first real chance.

So despite all the records and accolades Beam received over his career, the biggest mark he left was improving the lives of hundred, if not thousands, of Oakland and Bay Area athletes — and that is what makes his death even more tragic.

Nathan Mollat has been covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal. since 2001. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.