SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks once again moved out a defenseman at the NHL trade deadline, and once again, Shakir Mukhamadullin is getting a chance to play significant minutes.
Wanting to recoup an asset for at least one of his pending unrestricted free agents, Sharks general manager Mike Grier on Friday traded Timothy Liljegren to the Washington Capitals for a fourth-round draft pick this year.
Liljegren was averaging just over 20 minutes of ice time per game this season, often playing alongside Mario Ferraro. Now Mukhamadullin, 24, is in that spot, as he gets a chance to cement himself as an every-game player in the NHL in his third full season of North American professional hockey.
Friday, paired with Ferraro, Mukhamadullin finished with a season-high and team-leading 22:47 in ice time in the Sharks’ 3-2 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues at SAP Center. Mukhamadullin also led San Jose with 21:49 in ice time during 5-on-5 play and matched a season-high with three shots on net.
In his last four games before Saturday, when the Sharks faced the New York Islanders to finish a six-game homestand. Mukhamadullin has averaged over 19 minutes per game, well above the 16 minutes and change he averaged for his first 26 games from October to early February, as he was often injured or a healthy scratch.
Mukhamadullin has now played in 30 games this season, the same as last season, but figures to be a lineup regular from now on as long as he can stay healthy and his play doesn’t drop off.
“He’s played better hockey,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said Friday night.
In a way, this year’s trade deadline is a small reminder of what happened with Mukhamadullin last season around this time.
In Feb. 2025, the Sharks traded veteran right-shot defenseman Cody Ceci to the Dallas Stars, and a few weeks later, shipped left-shot blueliner Jake Walman to the Edmonton Oilers.
The moves allowed Mukahamadullin to play a bigger role, and he got time on the Sharks’ top defense pair, playing alongside Ferraro for several games before he sustained a season-ending shoulder injury on April 1 in a game against the Anaheim Ducks.
The Sharks would love to see Mukhamadullin take a similar step forward during this year’s stretch run. Not only are they trying to clinch their first playoff appearance since 2019, but they also have just two defensemen signed past this season in left-shots Dmitry Orlov and Sam Dickinson.
Mukhamadullin is on a one-year, $1 million contract this season and is a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights, and figures to be back in San Jose next season if his game continues to trend upward.
“It’s been an up and down season for him, as far as him finding consistency, and part of the consistency is he’s had a lot of injuries this year,” Grier said before Friday’s game.
“But I think his last four or five games have probably been maybe his best of the season. He’s playing with confidence again and skating and defending hard, so hopefully for him, it can be a really nice last 20 games and kind of be a springboard into next year.”
FERRARO WANTS TO STAY
Ferraro, a pending unrestricted free agent, was glad to still be with the Sharks past the trade deadline. Now he’d love to remain with in San Jose long term.
“Obviously, the idea of a contract with term, given that I love this place, would be amazing,” said Ferraro, who was drafted by the Sharks in 2017 and is now in his seventh season with the team. “But we’re not there in conversation yet, so it’s not something I’m worried about. Let’s just let that stuff take care of itself.”
Ferraro is in the final year of his four-year, $13 million deal, and his next contract, as projected by AFP Analytics, is slated to be worth around $20 million spread over four years.
Whether that would keep Ferraro a Shark, and whether Grier is amenable to such a contract, is unclear. Grier, though, said he’s open to keeping his pending UFAs, a list that also includes Ryan Reaves, Pavol Regenda, John Klingberg and Vincent Desharnais.
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ALLAN RECALLED
The Sharks, who had just six defensemen after trading Liljegren, recalled Nolan Allan from the Barracuda on Saturday.
The Sharks acquired the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Allan, goalie Laurent Brossoit, and a 2028 seventh-round draft pick in January for defenseman Jake Furlong, a 2028 fourth-round draft pick, and the contract of defenseman Ryan Ellis.
Allan had two goals and eight assists in 20 games with the Barracuda, including two assists in the team’s 4-1 win in Milwaukee on Friday night.
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