SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks are holding their prospects scrimmage at Tech CU Arena on July 3, a chance for the public to see most, if not all, of the team’s top players in the pipeline in a relatively competitive environment.
By that point, most of the Sharks’ roster for the 2025-26 season will likely have taken shape.
The following two weeks, between the NHL Draft and the start of free agency, figure to be another transformative time for the Sharks, with players coming and going. With plenty of salary cap room available, the franchise is looking to make a significant step forward next season – or at least move out of last place.
The teardown is over, the team’s leadership has said, and now is the time to start building.
“We’re going to get another really good player this year,” Sharks general manager Mike Grier said in April of the draft after an NHL-worst 20-50-12 season. “But I hope not to be in this situation for a while after this year.”
Here’s what the next two weeks look like for Grier and the Sharks, and what questions and challenges might be ahead.
NHL Draft
The Sharks, as of now, have nine picks in the draft, held June 27 and 28, including three in the first 33 selections at Nos. 2, 30, and 33.
Assuming they keep the second overall pick, the Sharks are widely expected to take dynamic Saginaw Spirit forward Michael Misa in that spot.
Misa led the Canadian Hockey League in scoring with 134 points in 65 regular-season games and was ranked second among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting. Misa might not be NHL-ready just yet, but he could be a No. 2 center long term.
The greater intrigue will likely come from what the Sharks do with their other draft capital, as in two of the last three years, the team has moved a first-round pick it held before the draft.
In 2022, the Sharks traded the No. 11 overall selection that year (Conor Geekie) to the then-Arizona Coyotes (now Utah Mammoth) to receive picks in that draft at No. 27 (Filip Bystedt), No. 34 (Cameron Lund), and No. 45 (Mattias Havelid).
Last June, the Sharks traded the 14th and 42nd overall picks of the 2024 draft to the Buffalo Sabres for the 11th overall selection. That allowed the Sharks to pick up one of the draft’s best available defensemen in Sam Dickinson, who was just named the CHL’s Defenseman of the Year.
This year, among other moves, it seems plausible that the Sharks could package the 30th and 33rd overall selections to try and move up in the first round to grab another defenseman such as Boston University-bound Sascha Boumedienne or the WHL’s Blake Fiddler.
Contract talk
The Sharks’ list of restricted free agents includes forwards Noah Gregor, Klim Kostin, Nikolai Kovalenko, Danil Gushchin, and Thomas Bordeleau, defenseman Jack Thompson, and goalie Georgi Romanov. If these players are not given qualifying offers by June 30, they will become unrestricted free agents.
After a season in which the Sharks finished with a league-low 52 points, not everyone will be back. How the Sharks handle Kovalenko will be of particular interest, given that he was the main piece acquired in the December trade that sent goalie Mackenzie Blackwood to the Colorado Avalanche.
William Eklund is also eligible for a contract extension on July 1. That doesn’t mean it gets done this summer, as Eklund is still signed through next season. But assuming an extension is finalized, it could make Eklund the team’s highest-paid active player once it begins, and set the stage for extensions next summer for Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith in the summer of 2026.
Free agency
The Sharks, by all indications, will not be in the mix for the league’s top pending free agents, such as forwards Mitch Marner, Sam Bennett or Nik Ehlers. But the Sharks, as of Thursday, per PuckPedia, have over $41 million in cap space available, and need to spend over $20 million to get to next season’s cap floor of $70.6 million.
While the Sharks appear to be a team on the rise, attracting free agents could still be a challenge. Not only is the team at least one or two years away from legitimately competing for a playoff spot, but there will be plenty of competition for the type of players the Sharks might covet. San Jose has several needs, including a goalie to tandem with Yaroslav Askarov, a right-shot defenseman who can fit into their top four, and more scoring depth on the wings. This might mean the Sharks will have to sweeten any offers with more money and term to attract free agents.
Just about every NHL team, except the Pittsburgh Penguins, is looking to get better, not worse. California state taxes, which are higher than most places in the U.S., could also be a barrier to signing players.
Trades/offer sheets
Signing free agents is not the only way to improve a team, of course. The Sharks have some assets to dangle, such as picks and prospects, in a trade that could quickly help fill a roster hole. The Sharks last summer, for instance, dipped into that pool of assets to acquire Askarov, and something similar could happen this offseason.
Related Articles
San Jose mayor hopes Quakes will move downtown if soccer team is sold Back-to-back Cats: Panthers repeat as Stanley Cup champions by beating the Oilers in 6 games S.J. Sharkie of San Jose Sharks given ultimate honor — for a mascot Macklin Celebrini joins small group of Sharks named to NHL’s All-Rookie team San Jose Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini denied NHL’s top rookie awardThe Sharks also have enough draft capital to contemplate the use of an offer sheet to acquire a restricted free agent from another team. While the Sharks might be hesitant to give up their own first round pick next year, which is what will be needed to sign an RFA to a contract with an average annual value of $4,680,077 or higher, they could use their own second rounder to bring in a player in their early twenties that fits their rebuild.
Signing a player to an offer sheet that has an AAV between $2,340,038 and $4,680,076 would only cost the Sharks a second-round pick. St. Louis Blues goalie Joel Hofer and Dallas Stars forward Mavrik Bourque.
RFAs can begin speaking with teams about offer sheets on June 30 and can start signing offer sheets on July 1.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( As Sharks, Mike Grier seek improvement, questions — and challenges — loom )
Also on site :
- Nazi symbols prevalent in Ukrainian military – Le Monde
- Israel threatens to kill Iran’s supreme leader after missile strikes
- Kremlin comments on possible US strike on Iran