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Sharks are looking to take a step forward in their rebuild: Off-Season Recap
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Photo credit: © Eakin Howard-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Aug 18, 2025, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 18, 2025, 12:32 EDT
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This is Off-Season Recap, a summer series where we’ll look at what the other 15 teams in the Western Conference have done ahead of the 2025-26 NHL season. So far in the series, we’ve looked at the seven other Pacific Division teams: Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, Los Angeles Kings, Vegas Golden Knights, Anaheim Ducks, and Seattle Kraken. In this article, we’ll look at the very bad, but very fun, San Jose Sharks.

The San Jose Sharks’ 2024-25 Season in a Nutshell

In 2023-24, the Sharks finished with a league-worst 47 points, winning just 19 games and dropping 54 games in regulation. They improved slightly in 2025-26, as their 52 points were still last in the league, but they had a 20-50-12 record.
There isn’t really much else to say about their season. They were expected to be bad, and they were awful. The Sharks were pretty fun to watch this season, but the rebuild will continue for another few seasons.
Speaking of which, what does their core look like after coming out of the rebuild?

Their rebuild is going well

One reason why the Sharks were pleasant viewing was because of the 2024 first overall pick, Macklin Celebrini. In 70 games, the youngster scored 25 goals and 63 points, leading the team. Another youngster, William Eklund, scored 17 goals and 58 points in 77 games. Selected fourth overall in 2023, Will Smith had a successful rookie season, scoring 18 goals and 45 points in 74 games.
Those three players are all natural centres, but Smith and Eklund could end up moving to the wing as the rebuild continues. As for veterans, the Sharks traded a handful of veterans before the deadline, including Jake Walman, but Tyler Toffoli was a mainstay in their top six, scoring 30 goals and 54 points in 78 games.
Some defenders who could return to the Sharks’ backline include Timothy Liljegren, Mario Ferraro, and Shakir Mukhamadullin. Luca Cagnoni played six games with the team last season, and 11th-rounder in 2024, Sam Dickinson, could end up playing games next season for the Sharks.
In net, Yaroslav Askarov is their goaltender of the future, as he was acquired from the Nashville Predators before the beginning of the 2024-25 season. Last season in 13 games, the right-handed catching goalie had an .896 save percentage and 3.10 goals against average.

Off-Season Transactions

The Sharks were one of the busier teams in the Western Conference. They selected second overall in the 2025 draft, picking centre Michael Misa from the Saginaw Spirit. There’s a good chance the youngster will factor into the Sharks’ 2025-26 plans.
In terms of trades, they acquired netminder Alex Nedeljkovic for a 2028 third round pick, giving them a backup for the 2025-26 season. They made a small trade with the New Jersey Devils, trading Thomas Bordeleau for Shane Bowers, before acquiring Ryan Reaves and his cap hit for Henry Thrun. Not sure what that move was about. Their most recent trade saw them trade Danil Gushchin from the Colorado Avalanche for Oskar Olausson.
The Sharks were also busy on the free agency front. Eklund signed a three-year extension worth $5.6 million annually. They snagged Philipp Kurashev on a one-year deal worth $1.2 million, a good low-risk, high-reward type of signing as the centre scored 18 goals and 54 points in 2023-24.
Before the 2025 trade deadline, the Sharks traded a handful of veterans: Mikael Granlund, Jake Walman, Fabian Zetterlund, and Luke Kunin. They replenished the quota for veterans, signing Adam Gaudette, John Klingberg, Dmitry Orlov, and Jeff Skinner. All four players are on one or two-year deals, meaning they can be flipped for draft picks before the 2026 trade deadline.
The Sharks also claimed Nick Leddy off waivers from the St. Louis Blues. Because of that claim, they bought out long-time Shark Marc-Édouard Vlasic, giving him a chance to win a Stanley Cup with a contender. Another departure was Nikolai Kovalenko, son of former Oiler Andrei Kovalenko. He was non-tender and was acquired in the Mackenzie Blackwood trade.

What’s Next for the Sharks?

What’s next for the Sharks is pretty simple: to be bad in 2025-26. The league is still looking for a “generational” talent born in the 2000s, and projected first overall pick Gavin McKenna may be that player.
Last season with the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers, the 17-year-old scored 41 goals and 129 points in 56 games, with nine goals and 38 points in 16 playoff games, as the Tigers went to the Memorial Cup Final.
Chicago Blackhawks’ forward Connor Bedard still could be a generational talent, and he scored 51 goals and 100 points in 62 games in the season before his draft year. McKenna won’t play in the WHL, though, as he’ll play for the Penn State Nittany Lions in 2025-26.
Landing McKenna would quickly change the Sharks’ fortunes and give them another superstar-or-better type of talent at centre.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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