San Jose Hockey Now Podcast · Sheng Peng, Keegan McNally, Bleav

Realistic Path for Sharks To Make Playoffs? | EP 114 Zenon Konopka Talks Celebrini, Faceoffs

·2 hr 43 min·2 clips

The Sharks’ playoff path hinges on a top-nine winger, Will Smith’s health, and better defense.

The show opens with a sponsor thank-you and a nod to the holiday season before settling into Sharks business. Zenon Konopka joins as a Sharks consultant who has been helping the team with face-offs this past week. He also brings stories from his playing days, including spooking Dion Phaneuf and threatening Brian Boyle in the playoffs. From there, the conversation turns to the bigger Sharks question hanging over everything: are they good, are they bad, or are they just hovering around .500 after getting smoked by Vegas? The episode keeps coming back to that without pretending there is a clean answer. Igor Chernyshov comes up as part of the wider Sharks picture. The episode also leans into the season by talking about gratitude, Christmas wishes, and unsung heroes. That gives the discussion a warmer feel before it snaps back to hockey. The tone stays casual and conversational rather than polished. Even when the conversation wanders, it keeps circling back to the Sharks and what the team really is right now. The show also makes room for prospect and scouting talk. There is a recurring tension between public perception and how people inside the game talk about players. That gives the episode a little more edge than a simple holiday hangout. The overall effect is a panel that can joke around, then pivot into hard hockey talk without changing the room's temperature much. It feels like being inside a Sharks argument with people who have both opinions and context. The episode never pretends the team has solved itself. It just keeps pushing at the questions that matter.

As heard by us

Zenon Konopka's faceoff visit turns into a Sharks .500 check-in, prospect context, and one nasty old playoff story.

San Jose Hockey Now catches the Sharks at a perfectly annoying checkpoint: back to .500 after Vegas worked them over, close enough to ask playoff questions but not close enough to answer them cleanly.

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Why you'd press play

You want Sharks talk that starts messy and lands on actual roster reality.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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