Will Smith entered his sophomore season with the San Jose Sharks with high hopes. The then-20-year-old put in the work over the summer, spending time on the ice with Macklin Celebrini and working out with some of the top names in the league, including Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby. Smith also won a gold medal with the U.S. Men’s National team last summer, registering seven assists in ten games. He came into the 2025-26 season in better shape and better prepared to play among the best in the world.
In other words, there was every reason to expect that the fourth overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft would take a step forward in his development. And he did. The trouble for Smith is that when you’re skating along a talent like Celebrini, your step forward can look like a tiptoe.
Smith’s 2025-26 production
Despite playing fewer games this season than he did in his first season in the league, Smith had a better overall stat line.
| Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | +/- | Shooting % | TOI/Game |
| 69 | 24 | 35 | 59 | +1 | 14.5% | 18:11 |
In every statistical category, Smith showed improvement. He improved in goals, jumping from 18 last season to 24 this season. He also had eight more assists this season. His goal differential was also better. Last season, Smith was a minus-15. This season, he was a plus-1, showing a positive impact on the score sheet.
He was also on the ice more, averaging two minutes and 20 seconds more per game.
In total, it was a successful sophomore season.
Comparing Smith to other fourth-round picks and 2023 draftees
The trouble for Smith is that he will always be compared to his linemate. Better comparables at this point in his career would be players who were also drafted fourth overall and how they performed in their sophomore seasons. So, looking at the forwards drafted fourth overall in the past ten seasons and how they performed in their sophomore seasons, we can get an idea of how Smith stacks up in terms of his development. It’s not an exact science, but it’s a bit more accurate than comparing him to Celebrini.
| Player | Sophomore Season | Games Played | Points | Goals | Assists | +/- | TOI |
| Shane Wright (2022) | 2025-26 | 74 | 27 | 12 | 15 | +6 | 13:48 |
| Lucas Raymond (2020) | 2022-23 | 74 | 45 | 17 | 28 | -17 | 17:23 |
| Brady Tkachuk (2018) | 2019-20 | 71 | 44 | 21 | 23 | -14 | 18:56 |
| Jesse Puljujarvi (2016) | 2018-19 | 46 | 9 | 4 | 5 | -14 | 11:57 |
| Mitch Marner (2015) | 2017-18 | 82 | 69 | 22 | 47 | -1 | 16:23 |
| Sam Bennett (2014) | 2016-17 | 81 | 26 | 13 | 13 | -16 | 14:59 |
Some of those forwards had unsuccessful sophomore seasons. Shane Wright and Jesse Puljujarvi and Sam Bennett all had difficult second seasons in the NHL. The jury is still out on Wright, Puljujarvi has never developed into the top-line forward that teams were hoping he would become and Bennett took longer to develop, but many would say he’s lived up to his potential now. In other words, it’s a mix of everything.
Looking at the other forwards, you can see that Smith is in the mix and even slightly better with players like Brady Tkachuk and Lucas Raymond. Mitch Marner might be the best comparable because he came in around the same time as another superstar, Auston Matthews. As you can see, Marner had slightly better numbers than Smith in his sophomore season, but not by much.
If Sharks fans are looking for a positive, they could say that Smith might be on a similar trajectory to Marner. Looking at what Marner is doing in the postseason for the Vegas Golden Knights right now, there’s a lot to be happy and hopeful about.
You can also look at the players drafted around Smith and how they performed in their sophomore seasons. Connor Bedard was drafted first overall, Leo Carlsson second, Adam Fantilli third and Matvei Michkov seventh. Looking at those four players’ sophomore seasons, we can see how Smith stacks up against them.
| Player | Sophomore Season | Games Played | Points | Goals | Assists | +/- | TOI |
| Connor Bedard | 24-25 | 82 | 67 | 23 | 44 | -36 | 20:17 |
| Leo Carlsson | 24-25 | 76 | 45 | 20 | 25 | +6 | 16:14 |
| Adam Fantilli | 24-25 | 82 | 54 | 31 | 23 | +4 | 17:29 |
| Matvei Michkov | 25-26 | 81 | 51 | 20 | 31 | 0 | 14:50 |
You can see that Smith outperformed all of them except for Bedard in his second year in the league, although Fantilli did break the 30-goal plateau, which is an impressive feat for a young player in his second year in the league.
In total, Smith’s second year in the league is very good when you’re handed perspective outside of the Celebrini bubble.
Can Smith produce away from Celebrini?
Of course, the real question fans will ask is whether Smith can perform away from Celebrini. There is no denying that the two young forwards have chemistry on the ice. When the two players are on the ice together, they can create magic. The way that they seem to find one another with no-look passes makes for must-see highlights on a nightly basis. Smith is especially adept at finding Celebrini in spaces that seem improbable.
However, it stands to reason that fans will want to see how Smith can play without Celelbrini at some point in time. The Sharks will need to be able to split the stars up sometimes, especially in the playoffs when space on the ice gets tight and teams get deeper. Not to mention, injuries could always shorten benches.
However, at this point, it’s difficult to say whether Smith is capable of that, but there is reason to hope. Smith hasn’t had a bunch of time away from Celebrini, but the time he did play away from the Sharks’ top center was productive.
According to Natural Stat Trick, at even strength this season, Smith played 898:16 minutes with Celebrini and 121:46 minutes away from Celebrini. Natural Stat Trick reports that with Celebrini, Smith’s HDCF% (high-danger scoring chances percentage) was 42.17% at even-strength; away from Celebrini, his HDCF% was 44.44%. Of course, converting on those chances is another issue. With Celebrini, Smith’s HDGF% (high-danger goals for percentage) was 47.06% while without him, it was 44.44%.
Now, maybe, as more young players with the ability to score enter the Sharks’ lineup, Smith’s numbers go up. The Sharks right now are a single-line team, maybe a two-line team on a good day. With more talent, Smith has more players who can finish, and therefore, it might be a better test of what he can or cannot do with the puck. But, as of now, it looks as though putting him with Celebrini is the best option for the 21-year-old.
Areas of improvement for Smith
Smith is a young guy; he’s still developing. It’s hard to remember that while he’s playing in a man’s league, he’s still not fully developed physically. For some of the older Sharks’ fans, they may remember that this was about the age when William Eklund started to really think about the kind of muscle he was putting on and where he was putting that muscle on. It was around this age that Eklund also started to build his confidence as a player in the NHL.
For Smith, it’s time to see a similar trajectory in terms of body development and confidence in that development. The forward needs to start putting on the right kind of muscle that makes him faster and more formidable as a forward. He needs to start to trust his body and understand not only that he can take a hit and bounce back, but that he can also deliver a hit and not feel the ill effects of that hit afterward.
Smith needs to start becoming more comfortable with the physical aspects of the NHL this offseason and we’d like to see him develop that part of his game so that when he returns in the fall, he’s ready to deliver some of those hits on the forecheck during the season. He also won’t shy away from contact as he goes into some of those tougher areas of the ice. It’s easier said than done, but if Smith can feel confident in that part of his game, he can take the next step in his development.
Smith’s future with the Sharks
This was Smith’s second season of his three-year entry-level contract with the Sharks, which means he’s now eligibile for to sign a contract extension this summer. Of course, he doesn’t have to; that’s for the team and his agent to work out. Even if he signs a new deal, next season’s contract is $950,000, which is a great deal for a player who was a point shy of 60 points last season and is likely to break that mark this upcoming season if all goes well.
Editor’s Note: Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out the player reviews for the San Jose Sharks. We realize there were a lot of guys rotating into and out of the lineup and some of the key depth players were traded. As a result, Fear the Fin plans to focus on the players who are 1) still with the Sharks and 2) played 20 or more games for San Jose this season.
