John Klingberg

The Sharks have signed center Philipp Kurashev to a one-year, $1.2MM contract, per PuckPedia. He was a UFA after being non-tendered by the Blackhawks. They have also signed defenseman John Klingberg to a one-year deal worth $4MM, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. Additionally, the Sharks will bring in center Adam Gaudette on a two-year, $4MM contract per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. All three signings were first reported by Brennan Klak on X.

San Jose has confirmed Klingberg’s deal.

This pair of moves most notably features a pay-raise for Klingberg after he played through last season on a one-year, $1.76MM deal with the Edmonton Oilers. Klingberg didn’t sign that deal until mid-January, limiting him to just 11 games played before the end of the regular season. He recorded four points, eight penalty minutes, and an even plus-minus in those appearances — showing signs of rust after only playing 14 games of the 2023-24 season, but still able to hold up to 17 minutes a night. With his legs under him, Edmonton moved Klingberg into a nightly role during the postseason. He again recorded four points, though this time added a plus-three and one penalty, through 19 appearances.

Klingberg looked capable of the nightly role, even despite a bilateral hip surgery limiting him to just 44 games over the last two seasons combined. He’s scored 13 points in those appearances, though handled a clear-cut top-pair role pre-injury and a third-pair role after returning. A lofty price tag in San Jose could push him up the team’s depth chart on a very shallow right-shot side. He should fill a second-pairing role alongside Henry Thrun, Shakir Mukhamadullin, or Sam Dickinson. All three youngsters have the mobility to help cushion Klingberg as he looks to transition from an injury to a battered role with San Jose.

Boosting the offense will be Kurashev and Gaudette, who each filled minor roles on their NHL squads this season, though through very different paths. Gaudette is coming off of his first full season in the NHL since the 2021-22 campaign, when he played 50 games for the Ottawa Senators. He scored just 12 points that season, prompting an assignment to the minor leagues that took two seasons of strong scoring to work out of. In what was the first full AHL season of his career, Gaudette managed 51 points in 65 games during the 2022-23 campaign, split between the Toronto Marlies and Springfield Thunderbirds. He returned for Springfield last season and exploded for 44 goals and 71 points in 67 games. That was good enough to earn a call-up back to the Senators that he took full advantage of, with 19 goals and 26 points in 81 games.

Meanwhile, Kurashev took a hard fall from grace last year after managing a career-season in 2023-24. He recorded 54 points in 75 games in a top-line role with the Chicago Blackhawks that year, but tumbled all the way down to just 14 points, split evenly, in 51 games this season. The steep drop in scoring coincided with concerns about Kurashev’s two-way game, and calls for his assignment to the minor-leagues. The 25-year-old winger has shown flashes of scoring upside throughout his career, with 130 points in 317 games. He’ll look to rediscover his flash of scoring as he joins a similarly skilled-and-speedy Sharks lineup.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro-Imagn Images.