Grading, evaluating Sharks' offseason heading into upcoming 2025-26 NHL season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
How would I grade the Sharks’ offseason?
It appears as if the Sharks don’t have too much left up their sleeve this summer.
“I would say we probably are finished,” GM Mike Grier said last week.
Let’s review each move…overall grade at the end!
William Eklund
The Sharks inked their 22-year-old star winger, who broke out with a career-high 58 points last season, to a three-year, $16.8 million extension ($5.6 million AAV) that kicks 2026-27.
That figure was in line with San Jose Hockey Now’s predictionin early June: “If Eklund and the Sharks discuss three or four-year extensions, over $5 million AAV seems like a realistic possibility.”
So no argument with the not my money anyway.
The Sharks, however, may regret not locking up their budding star to more years…but Eklund is also not a sure thing to develop into a playoff-caliber first-line winger. And from Eklund’s perspective, he’s sick of losing, so I’m sure that he would want to commit long-term to a winning program.
So it’s couple that’s moving in together, but isn’t sure if they’re ready to get married yet.
Grade: A
John Klingberg
Klingberg, 32, signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Sharks.
If healthy, the 6-foot-2 right-hander should prove to be a bargain. In his prime, he was one of the top offensive defensemen in the NHL, and he looked spry during the Edmonton Oilers’ Stanley Cup Final run.
But he’s also played just 25 regular-season games over the last two years because of persistent hip troubles.
The Sharks also don’t have a secure safety net to quarterback the top power-play unit after Klingberg. So he better stay healthy.
It’s high-risk, high-reward move, even on a one-year pact. But it also could have the greatest pay-off of any of Grier’s moves this summer.
Grade: B-
Adam Gaudette
The Sharks inked 28-year-old center-winger Gaudette to a two-year, $4 million contract.
Gaudette has had an interesting career track: In 2019-20, he had 33 points in 59 games with the Vancouver Canucks. Last year, he scored a career-high 19 goals with the Ottawa Senators.
In between, however, Gaudette bounced between the NHL and AHL with multiple organizations.
NHL scouts think that he’s a legitimate talent though, so if he’s finally found his consistency, he could prove to be another bargain.
At worst, he should be a usable fourth-liner.
Grade: B+
Philipp Kurashev
Kurashev, 25, signed a one-year, $1.25 million contract with the Sharks.
The 6-foot-0 center-winger is yet another reclamation project: The Chicago Blackhawks declined to qualify him after he scored just 14 points in 51 games last year. In 2023-24, he had a career-high 54 points.
So will the real Kurashev please stand up?
Grade: B
Alex Nedeljkovic
The Sharks traded a 2028 third-rounder to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Nedeljkovic.
On and off the ice, Nedeljkovic should be an excellent complement to star prospect Yaroslav Askarov.
Dealing a third-rounder seems like a high price for your backup goalie, but it was important to find a compatible personality who’s capable of stepping up between the pipes if Askarovfalters, but also has no problem taking a backseat.
Losing a third-rounder hurts, but the Sharks should be able to easily recoup that by the 2028 Draft.
Grade: A-
Dmitry Orlov
Orlov, 33, signed a two-year, $13 million contract ($6.5 million AAV) with the Sharks.
For most of his career, Orlov has been one of the better two-way defensemen in the league and was the No. 2 blueliner for the 2018 Stanley Cup-winning Washington Capitals. Orlov, however, had an up-and-down last two seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Like many of the Sharks’ acquisitions this off-season, Orlov will have to find the fountain of the youth, but the 5-foot-11 left-hander is still a quality blueliner, and should be a steadying force for what’s been one of the league’s worst defenses over the last three years.
And if his decline is real, a two-year commitment won’t hurt. Orlov is also regarded as a solid locker room presence, which the young Sharks always need.
Grade: A-
Nick Leddy
The Sharks claimed the 34-year-old blueliner off waivers from the St. Louis Blues.
In his day, the 6-foot-0 left-hander was also one of the better two-way defenders in the league. Leddy slipped last year, but still retains most of his trademark skating chops.
He’s in the last year of his contract, $4 million AAV. Just two seasons ago, Leddy still provided top-four caliber work, so hopefully he was just banged up last year.
Grade: A
Ryan Reaves
The Sharks acquired the 38-year-old enforcer for Henry Thrun.
On the surface, swapping a 24-year-old defenseman for a limited and older skater — Reaves played 7:48 a night last year — seems like an obvious no-no.
But honestly, both Thrun and Reaves are considered low-value trade assets, and Reaves brings a very particular set of skills to the Sharks that they don’t have.
Thrun is a fork, which the Sharks have plenty of, while Reaves is a meat tenderizer, one of the few around the NHL.
Although Reaves has slowed down on the ice, non-Sharks league sources believe he’s still one of the most feared enforcers in the NHL, will protect San Jose’s many young stars, and will also inject a one-of-a-kind energy into a quiet locker room.
Grade: B
I’d give the Sharks a B- grade this offseason.
Individually, Grier has made a series of good-to-great moves. But collectively, I’m not sure that these moves will take the Sharks out of the cellar.
On one hand, it’s not necessarily Grier’s fault, it’s hard to sell the top free agents on a last-place team. Grier, wisely, also exercised caution with his free agent expenditures, not overextending himself in the middle class of the market — there’s a danger in overspending on free agents and ending up with a better-but-ultimately-mediocre team.
On the other hand, Grier built the team that has finished last in back-to-back seasons. If San Jose is still unattractive to free agents, it’s Grier’s short-term pain for his vision of long-term gain.
The Sharks need to get out of last place sooner than later, and hopefully, this is the group that does it. Right now, that’s very much still in doubt.