While the NHL offseason cycle continues to slow down significantly, there have been a few notable Sharks headlines announced this week that are worth discussing here. Let's begin:
The first significant Sharks headline announced this week was that Macklin Celebrini has been confirmed as the cover athlete for the upcoming EA Sports NHL 27 video game. This is a huge honor for Macklin Celebrini, the Sharks, and the EA Sports NHL franchise, as Celebrini is now the youngest player to ever grace the cover of an EA Sports NHL video game. He is also the first Sharks player to be on the cover of EA Sports NHL since Owen Nolan in 2001, and the only other Sharks player to be featured on the cover of an NHL video game besides Celebrini and Nolan was Joe Thornton for NHL 2K7.
Secondly, the NHL announced season/home openers for all 32 teams for next season yesterday, followed by the full season schedule earlier today. As for the Sharks, I will not be doing a full season schedule breakdown here, but they open their 2026-27 season on Thursday, October 1 at home against the Florida Panthers. Team Teal also plays eight of their first 12 games on the road next season. The Sharks' longest homestand of the 2026-27 campaign consists of seven games between January 18 and February 15, with the NHL All-Star break splitting that particular homestand as well. San Jose's other longest road trip next season is six games from March 9-18, in which they will be visiting a mix of Eastern and Western Conference teams. Fortunately, the Sharks will not be playing in as many back-to-back sets of games next season as they did last season. New promotional theme days/nights for the Sharks next season include collaborations with PWHL San Jose, Love Island, the Golden State Warriors, and Hello Kitty. Team Teal concludes its 2026-27 regular season on Saturday, April 10 at home against the Anaheim Ducks.
Overall, I love that Macklin Celebrini is on the cover of the next NHL video game, and the cover designs for both the standard and deluxe editions of NHL 27 look absolutely amazing, especially the deluxe version. While I do not play console games anymore compared to when I was a child, I almost want to purchase a copy of NHL 27 as a collector's item. Now that the Sharks' full season schedule for next season has been released, I have a better idea of what games I may potentially be able to attend in as soon as just over two months. I hope everything tilts in my favor in regards to attending at least a handful of games at the Shark Tank next season, and I am certainly thrilled about the possibilities of seeing the newest Sharks players and at least a few new opponents play in person for the first time.
Source: Sharks + SAP Center App
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