SAN JOSE — In the 10 weeks since the Sharks’ embarrassing playoff exit, general manager Doug Wilson has talked about how franchises sometimes need to take one step backward to take two steps forward, often referring to his team being in a “rebuild phase.”

On Thursday, Wilson wanted to clarify his message and declared that he still has high expectations for next season.

“I never lowered the expectations of making the playoffs, because we’re still a very good team,” Wilson said.

His use of the term rebuild, Wilson added, applied to San Jose’s hierarchy and culture — not the more conventional usage that indicates a team focused on the future at the expense of the present.

“I can understand when people say there are different types of rebuild,” he said. “We’re not going to finish last to try and draft people first or second. This is not something this franchise can do, because we already have some good players in key positions. You’re not going to see us with 50 points next year — we’re too good a team for that.”

Wilson talked for more than 30 minutes in an exclusive interview after a conference call on the signing of new contracts for two defensemen — a one-year, $1 million deal for veteran Scott Hannan and a two-year, $1.25 million deal for prospect Matt Tennyson.

Wilson described Hannan, 35, as a “great mentor for many of the younger players on our roster,” a group that would include the 24-year-old Tennyson. When asked if it was a tough adjustment to accept his new role on a team going through a rebuild, Hannan said he was happy to help out in any way but challenged the premise.

“I’m coming here with the anticipation of playing, and we’ll see where it goes from there,” he said. “And I think we have a great shot at winning this year — for everything.”

Later, Wilson said that is what he wants to hear from his players.

“I expect this team to do well, but it doesn’t really matter what I think. It’s what they think, and they know what they need to fix in that room,” Wilson said. “And I give them credit, they’re doing it. They are talking to each other, they are taking ownership in some things.”

What needed fixing, Wilson said the players told him, was a locker room where players looked at each other as co-workers and not teammates, an important distinction in a sport where individuals rely so heavily on one another to find success.

As part of the repair work, younger players — Wilson mentioned Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun specifically — are being given greater responsibility on and off the ice as part of a rebuilt hierarchy. In fact, Wilson said, he expects the Sharks to be one of the NHL’s most youthful franchises when the season begins.

“I said, yes, we’ll take a step backward and we’ll take a big step forward when everybody steps to the forefront,” he said. “That will take place in September.”

For more on the Sharks, see David Pollak’s Working the Corners blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/sharks. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/PollakOnSharks.