Division rivals play a huge part in determining the success of an NHL team. Throughout the rest of the off-season, we’ll look at how the Calgary Flames stack up against each of their division rivals heading into the 2024-25 season, continuing with the San Jose Sharks.

Hockey in California has generally been pretty good over the years and although the Sharks have yet to win a cup there was a time not too long ago when they were a consistent playoff team even making it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2016 where they ended up losing to Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.

San Jose is probably the only team in the Pacific Division that we can confidently say is worse than the Flames. While they added a couple of good veteran pieces to go alongside a few talented young forwards, their depth and defense are atrocious.

The Sharks have been in rebuild mode for roughly five years and have accumulated multiple high-end prospects that will begin to help push the timeline forward on making a return to the playoffs. The Sharks are building something special with their young forward core and recent acquisition of Yaroslav Askarov in goal but their back end isnt too promising with nothing major in the pipeline other than Sam Dickinson.

The Flames played the Sharks three times last season and finished with a 2-1-0 record.

While the San Jose Sharks have a weak roster they did take a step forward on paper with some of the acquisitions they made during the off-season as well as some of their prospects finally ready to play in the NHL. 2024 first overall pick Macklin Celebrini will undergo his rookie season as well as 2023 fourth overall pick Will Smith. The 2021 seventh overall pick William Eklund will play in his second full season in the NHL as well.

The Sharks have high-end talent in Celebrini, Smith, Eklund, and Fabian Zetterlund but the amount of inexperience and rawness is going to overshadow a lot of that talent this season. Those players are going to need a couple of seasons before they start putting that franchise on their backs. Toffoli, Wennberg, and Goodrow were solid additions that will provide a much-needed veteran presence but they don’t make that much of an impact where they create a better forward group than Calgary. The Flames lack superstars but they have depth and loads of experience. Connor Zary is expected to take a step forward this season and with the way Matt Coronato has performed throughout preseason so far he could very well be ready to be a valuable piece to this Flames roster.

The Sharks have one of the worst defensive groups in the NHL. A first paring of Ceci and Mario Ferraro is anything but ideal and it just gets worse from there. Walman, Jan Rutta, Henry Thurn, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic make up the remaining four and the only thought that comes to mind is uh-oh. The only thing left to say about the Sharks’ defensive group is that Mackenzie Blackwood and Askarov are going to be very busy this season.

This is the only category where the Sharks may have a slight advantage. Forget about Dustin Wolf and Askarov, both are young goaltenders ready to make their first mark in the NHL. They’re both highly touted prospects and come in with a clean slate. If we take a look at the other two goalies, Blackwood is stronger than Vladar which is the only reason that the Sharks get the edge in the goaltending department. Blackwood has played 121 more NHL games than Vladar, and with all the injuries he has faced, his save percentage remains above .900, unlike Vladar. It’s close and very possible Wolf has a better year than Askarov but on paper, a Blackwood/Askarov tandem looks to be stronger than a Wolf/Vladar tandem.

The Flames will play the Sharks four times this season, one more time than last season.

The Sharks finish second last this year and Celebrini wins the Calder Trophy.