As part of TheHockeyNews.com's current series ranking the off-seasons of every NHL team, we're focusing today's article on team No. 9 – the San Jose Sharks.
For more than a 15 years, the San Jose Sharks were a consistent threat to win the Stanley Cup.
From 2003 through 2019, they missed the playoffs just once and had five Western Conference Final appearances in that span. They were a consistently dominant team, and their fans grew accustomed to annual playoff appearances.
But then their competitive cycle closed. In the past seven years, the Sharks have failed to make the playoffs and have finished higher than seventh in the Pacific Division just once. That one time was this past season, as the Sharks finished fifth after improving by 19 more wins from 2024-25.
GM Mike Grier has had some good fortune at the draft lottery since the season closed, adding star winger Ivar Stenberg in this year’s draft after building a core that includes superstar Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith and Michael Misa.
There’s been extensive roster turnover in San Jose this off-season, and the good news for Sharks fans is Grier’s blueprint for success is coming together quite nicely.
The Sharks sit in 9th place in TheHockeyNews.com’s series ranking each team’s off-season. Criteria for these rankings include roster arrivals and departures, GM and/or coach changes, promotions, and contract extensions.
Let’s analyze the Sharks' additions and subtractions from this summer and discuss where their competitive future stands.
Arrivals:
Mason Marchment (LW), Jacob Trouba (D), Darnell Nurse (D), Michael Kesselring (D), Eric Comrie (G)
Grier landed a proven scoring winger in veteran Mason Marchment, who signed a five-year, $33.7-million deal. Other than adding Eric Comrie to serve as the Sharks’ third-string goalie behind Yaroslav Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic, the clear area of need for San Jose was on defense.
Grier addressed that need directly with the trades and signings they’ve made this summer.
The Sharks have young defensemen Sam Dickinson and Keaton Verhoeff as part of their long-term foundation, but defensemen tend to take more time to develop, so Grier went out and brought in veterans to replace the five D-men they parted ways with this off-season.
Jacob Trouba, Darnell Nurse and Michael Kesselring are far from perfect blueliners, but they’re essentially stop-gap measures along with veteran Dmitry Orlov. Nurse and Trouba are signed for the next four seasons, but by the end of that time, San Jose will be leaning on Dickinson and Verhoeff as their cornerstones on the back end.
Grier’s plan here is very savvy, and you can see all the pieces falling into place.
Departures:
William Eklund (LW), Mario Ferraro (D), John Klingberg (D), Philipp Kurashev (C), Ryan Reaves (RW), Shakir Mukhamadullin (D), Nick Leddy (D), Vincent Desharnais (D), Laurent Brossoit (G)
The Sharks freed up some salary cap space and playing opportunity when they traded William Eklund to the Ottawa Senators, and their youth movement made him expendable. In return, the Sharks received the ninth-overall pick in this year’s draft – which turned into Verhoeff. This is tremendous asset management on Grier’s behalf.
The Sharks did part ways with a slew of D-men, including Nick Leddy, John Klingberg, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Mario Ferraro and Vincent Desharnais. But this is now an area Grier can zero in on this coming season and next season.
It’ll be extremely difficult for San Jose to trade for a an elite defenseman, but as their group of young forwards develop, Grier will need to add only a few final puzzle pieces to have a consistently-dangerous team for a long time.
The Bottom Line:
Even after all of these off-season changes, Grier and the Sharks have $3.3-million in salary cap space. That's not enough to acquire a Grade-A talent, but enough to have some flexibility to address in-season needs.
So long as Celebrini, Smith, Misa and Stenberg continue developing into true needle-movers, Grier can focus his attention on augmenting San Jose’s core with their cap space. Grier has gone about this rebuild the right way, with patience and attention-to-detail. Now he’s reaping the rewards as his plan comes together.
Making the playoffs next season is a realistic goal for this new-look Sharks team. You never know how fate and the injury bug will alter your plans, but the good news for San Jose fans is that their team is probably going to become Pacific powerhouses in short order.
They have the generational talent a team needs to win a championship, and though a Cup seems unlikely for San Jose in 2026-27, they are on the rise, and Grier’s 2026 off-season has pushed them closer to that goal.
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