- Earlier this month, the Sharks and the City of San Jose reached a tentative agreement on a plan that would see their arena undergo a seven-year upgrade with the team committing to stay through 2050-51, pending ratification from City Council. Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News relays that the approval was made official earlier this week, ensuring that the team won’t be going anywhere for a long time.
Sharks Rumors
Poll: Who Is The Early Favorite To Win The 2026 Calder Trophy?
The hockey world was treated to a true gift by the race for the 2025 Calder Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL’s top rookie. The class lived up to years of expectations, headlined by Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson tying Larry Murphy for the most assists by a rookie defender. He took home the Calder ahead of San Jose Sharks top center Macklin Celebrini and Calgary Flames starting goaltender Dustin Wolf – who both managed star-studded and historic performances of their own. The heap of talent left players who could have won the trophy outright in seemingly any other year – options like 26-goal-scorer Matvei Michkov. A rookie class so strong will be impossible to follow up, but the group in 2025-26 seem to have a great chance to come close.
Early predictions will have the Calder Trophy staying put through in 2026. The Canadiens are set to award star rookie Ivan Demidov with his first NHL season, after he led KHL super-club SKA St. Petersburg with in scoring with 49 points in 62 games last season. He was a sheer force at Russia’s top level, showing a pace, strength, and finesse that was unmatched by his competition. Demidov finished the year with five points in six Gagarin Cup Playoff matchups, before scoring four points in his first seven games with Montreal.
Demidov is now set to assume a key role in the Canadiens’ lineup. It’s hard to imagine he won’t play true top-line minutes. He offers the in-tight skill and low-zone grit to perfectly complement spot-shooter Cole Caufield and playmaking, two-way center Nick Suzuki. The stars will be Demidov’s ceiling if he gets a full year to such talented players. He nearly recorded a 20-30-50 season in the KHL – a league often lauded as near-equal to the NHL. That standing could set him up for 60, or even 70, points in his first year with Montreal.
It will be a tight race to catch up to, and overcome, Demidov. A slew of star collegiate players signed their entry-level contracts at the end of the season, and could easily be set for major minutes of their own. Sam Rinzel fills a need for right-shot defense for the Blackhawks and Oliver Moore seemed to bring his slick-passing to Chicago, Gabe Perreault looked like a strong utility player with the New York Rangers, and Ryan Leonard showed an ability to match the Washington Capitals’ pace.
And yet, all four could be outdone by Minnesota Wild defenseman Zeev Buium, who managed an impressive 98 points in 83 games at the University of Denver. He appeared in four Stanley Cup Playoff games, but only managed one assist. Also atop the defense charts is top KHL defender Alexander Nikishin, who ended a stalemate when he finally joined the Carolina Hurricanes for the playoffs. Nikishin ranked second on SKA St. Petersburg with 46 points in 61 games, and matched Buium’s postseason statline.
Even still, the OHL could emerge. Sam Dickinson served as the star of the 2025 Memorial Cup-winning London Knights, and seems well-primed for a big role with the desolate San Jose Sharks. He could be joined by the reigning ’OHL Player of the Year’ Michael Misa, who managed an incredible 62 goals and 134 points in 65 OHL games last season. Misa was drafted second in this year’s class, with New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer the only selection before him. The smooth-moving, sharp-eyed Schaefer could be another Calder candidate, though he hasn’t played a season-game since sustaining a broken collarbone during the World Junior Championships last December.
It will be hard for any player to rival the record-breaking heights that Hutson reached last season, but the list of candidates looking to follow him up seems endless. Any one of the aforementioned players could find their way into a star role, or the award could go to someone entirely different – like 2025 Hobey Baker Award-winner and Edmonton Oilers winger Isaac Howard.
With so much talent on the board, who do you think will win the 2026 Calder Trophy? If you choose ’Other’, comment your pick below!
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Sharks And City Of San Jose Have Tentative Agreement To Keep Sharks Around Through 2050-51
- The City of San Jose and the Sharks have released a Memorandum of Understanding that could keep the Sharks in town for many more years. Pending ratification from City Council later this month, the deal would see the arena undergo a $425MM renovation over a seven-year span with the city funding $325MM of that and the team $100MM. In return, the Sharks would agree to extend their stay in San Jose through at least the 2050-51 season. Their current arena is now more than 30 years old and has yet to undergo a significant renovation. Notably, it’s mentioned in the document that it is not feasible for the Sharks to stay at the renovated facility for the entire term of that agreement and that both sides will work to find a prospective location for a new arena district.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic Intends To Play This Season, Comments On San Jose Buyout
With training camps now around a month away, there should start to be an uptick in signings relatively soon as veterans look to find places to play for the upcoming season. Veteran blueliner Marc-Edouard Vlasic was a late entrant to the free agent market and indicated to Stephane Cadorette of Le Journal de Quebec that he fully intends to play in the NHL in 2025-26.
The 38-year-old was a core piece on San Jose’s back end for the better part of a decade and a half before his role started to diminish significantly in recent years. Last season, he spent time both on injured reserve and as a healthy scratch, limiting him to just a goal and two assists in 27 games with his average ice time dropping to 14:38, the lowest of his career.
In his prime, Vlasic was one of the top defensive blueliners in the NHL. In particular, he has been quite adept at blocking shots as he’s the all-time league leader in that regard, per QuantHockey although it should be noted that the statistic has only been tracked for around the last two decades.
Vlasic had one year left on his deal before free agency opened up with the Sharks apparently deciding very last minute to execute the buyout. The veteran voiced some frustration about how that came about, noting that in the exit interview back in April that they wanted him to continue to provide the veteran leadership they were seeking. Then, a few days before the end of June, they informed him that they’d be buying out the final year of his deal after 19 seasons.
From the outside, the move could have been reasonably foreseeable given his $7MM AAV and the very limited role he had been filling. Rather than string along a player who was once a franchise pillar with minimal ice time for yet another year, they opted to pay his $2MM signing bonus plus two-thirds of his $3.5MM salary over the next two seasons to move on.
GM Mike Grier wasted little time filling Vlasic’s spot on the roster. He brought in Dmitry Orlov in free agency while claiming fellow lefty Nick Leddy off waivers while John Klingberg adds some depth to their group of right-shot options as well. With what they had planned, there was clearly no room to keep Vlasic around.
As for Vlasic, given how limited his role was last season, it would be surprising to see him land a contract of any significance on the open market as it’s likely teams will envision him as a depth option similar to how he was deployed in San Jose rather than a full-time player. Several of those players will be signing tryout agreement in the weeks to come and it wouldn’t be shocking to see Vlasic need to go that route as well as he looks to extend his NHL career to a 20th season.
Celebrini Focused On Olympic Team
- Though limited in experience and facing stiff competition, San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini is taking steps to make Team Canada’s Olympic roster, reports Max Miller of Sharks Hockey Digest. Named unanimously to the 2024-25 All-Rookie Team, Celebrini was named as one of the 42 invitees (and 26 forwards) to Team Canada’s Olympic Orientation Camp, which is set to run August 26-28. Celebrini, 19, posted 25 goals and 63 points in 70 games during his rookie season, which propelled him to a third-place finish in Calder Trophy voting. Being chosen to represent his country in the Olympics and play alongside stars like Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Connor McDavid would be a tremendous opportunity for Celebrini’s development, and a welcome sight for the Sharks.
Mario Ferraro Open To Change Of Scenery
- In their offseason 2025 Summer Trade Watch List, The Fourth Period asserts that although he hasn’t asked for a trade, San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro is open to a change of scenery. Ferraro has been in the rumor mill for a few years now, and there’s an argument that the Sharks could move one more defenseman before the start of the regular season. Still, it’s become difficult to trade Ferraro since he’s best positioned as a fifth defenseman on a contending team, and San Jose’s reportedly high asking price of a first-round pick for his services. Now that Ferraro only has one year left on his contract, the Sharks may be more inclined to lower their desired return.
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Mike Grier’s Drafting Propelling Sharks To Certain Future
The San Jose Sharks have ranked dead-last in the NHL for two straight seasons. They’ve allowed the most goals-against (1,495) and scored the second-fewest goals-for (1,051) of the 2020s. And yet, it’s hard to imagine the Sharks’ headed towards anything other than an exciting, and profitable, future. With the help of the draft lottery, San Jose has built out a prospect pool that not only sits atop the league, but truly stands apart as well-crafted, high-performing, and set for cohesion at the NHL level.
That’s a fairly easy feat to pull off for a team that’s landed talent as prolific as William Eklund, Macklin Celebrini, and Will Smith. The trio have already emerged as prolific NHL scorers. Eklund reached the dazzling 40-assist mark as a 21-year-old this season. He was helped mightily along by Celebrini, who led the team in scoring with 25 goals and 63 points despite missing 12 games. That mark stands as the second-most from a Sharks rookie this century, behind Logan Couture’s 65-point rookie year. Smith ranks third on that list with 18 goals and 45 points this season.
Those three will serve as the cornerstones of San Jose’s offense moving forward. Given how great their starts have been, it’s hard to imagine the talent set to join them. San Jose landed OHL exception-status star Michael Misa with the second-overall pick this season, following a season where he led the OHL in scoring with 62 goals and 134 points in 65 games. It was a finish in the realm of former OHL greats like Patrick Kane, John Tavares, and Steven Stamkos. Misa has long been considered a superstar in his age group, and seems to have well outgrown the junior flight with his performance this season. With a hefty frame, pro-level skating, and a clear scoring knack – it seems well possible that he could push into the NHL as soon as next season.
San Jose had plenty of time to watch Misa as he faced off against a string of their top prospects this season. Winger Kasper Halttunen shined through as a strong, persistent sniper sat on top of the London Knights offense. He finished the regular season with 21 goals and 41 points in 38 games, then ramped to 15 goals and 21 points in 17 playoff games en route to an OHL and Memorial Cup championship. He was physically imposing, with the boost of tons of finesse on the puck and a killer wrist-shot. Those same descriptors could apply to Quentin Musty, who scored 30 goals and 59 points in 33 games with the Sudbury Wolves across the league.
San Jose also laid claim to another bruting OHL winger in Igor Chernyshov, who racked up an incredible 19 goals and 55 points in just 23 games playing opposite of Misa.
All three wingers seem to offer the hefty physicality and hard shot to compliment the nimble skill of players like Celebrini and Smith. If they can’t, San Jose has plenty more productive scorers rounding out their forward pool – players like Cameron Lund, Collin Graf, and Joey Muldowney.
While that list, and many more, fall into place on offense – the defense already seems to sit in the hands of Sam Dickinson. He won the OHL’s Max Kaminsky ’Defense of the Year’ Trophy with a lofty 29 goals and 91 points in just 55 games this season. He was electric in all aspects, showing the physical fundamentals to dominate the defensive zone and the all-out confidence to dominate on offense. Dickinson will also have a clear path to make the NHL roster out of training camp, helped along by the recent trade of Henry Thrun.
Dickinson’s presence could go long in paving the path for Shakir Mukhamadullin and Luca Cagnoni. The pair have each flirted with routine NHL icetime, though Cagnoni has earned the step headed into next season with an impressive 16 goals and 52 points in 64 AHL games this season. With none of the three firmly rooted in the NHL just yet, San Jose has brought in a trio of veterans – Dmitry Orlov, John Klingberg, and Nick Leddy – to help man the ship in the short-term.
The trio of defense prospects compliment each other nicely – with a mix of beefy, all-three-zones finesse in Dickinson, nimble skill in Cagnoni, and poised defense in Mukhamadullin. But they’re joined outside of the pro ranks by fellow physical, offensive-defenseman Eric Pohlkamp. Pohlkamp scored 35 points in 44 games with the University of Denver last season – and now seems well positioned to become the Pioneers’ #1-defender after Zeev Buium signed his entry-level deal.
But the Sharks are well positioned to ramp up their blue-line over the next few years. The 2026 draft class is rife with blue-chip defensemen – including Keaton Verhoeff, Chase Reid, Daxon Rudolph, and Ryan Lin. A top pick next year would likely mean another top defense prospect. Even if it doesn’t, San Jose could get another shot in 2027, with superstar defense prospect Landon DuPont already pushing himself above the rest of the pack.
The group is backed by perhaps the top goalie prospect in the world in trade-acquired Yaroslav Askarov, who posted a .923 save percentage in 22 AHL games this season and seems well set on earning San Jose’s starting role soon.
General manager Mike Grier has only promoted a few draft prospects to the NHL in his three years at San Jose’s helm. But many, many more have gone on to find starring roles on their teams and top scoring leaderboards. Grier has found that array of success all throughout the draft – from Celebrini at first-overall, to Cagnoni and Pohlkamp in the fourth and fifth rounds. Even more exciting, he seems well set to continue landing draft steals through two exciting classes in 2026 and 2027.
Plenty still hinges on the question of how all the pieces come together at the NHL level. There’s no guarantee that everything will click for 82 games of an NHL season, or how soon it will be until San Jose can pull their best prospects together. But they’re on the ramp to success, with plenty of strong performances already behind them, and even more set to come as soon as next season. For all of the claims of how to rebuild, it’s the Sharks who seem to be truly defining how to grow through strong draft picks.
Photo courtesy of Anne-Marie Sorvin-Imagn Images.
Sharks, Avalanche Swap Daniil Gushchin, Oskar Olausson
According to a team announcement from the San Jose Sharks, the Sharks have traded forward Daniil Gushchin to the Colorado Avalanche for forward Oskar Olausson. The former is still a restricted free agent while Olausson has one year remaining on his entry-level contract.
It’s a change-of-scenery trade for both forwards, with the beneficiaries being the two teams’ respective AHL affiliates. The only noticeable difference between the two is that Gushchin is considered more NHL-ready, but isn’t quite good enough to be an NHL regular.
The Yekaterinburg, Russia native was drafted by San Jose with the 76th overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft. He was coming off a relatively impressive season with the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks, scoring 22 goals and 47 points in 42 games with a +21 rating. After another season in Muskegon and one with the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs, Gushchin became a full-time player for the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda beginning in the 2022-23 campaign.
He has enjoyed plenty of offensive success throughout his time with the AHL’s San Jose, scoring 70 goals and 150 points in 182 games, with one goal in four postseason contests. Unfortunately, Gushchin has left much to be desired on the defensive side of the puck, owning a -48 career rating. Still, Gushchin’s ability to score will make the AHL’s Colorado Eagles that much harder to play against, given that they led the AHL in scoring last season with 250.
Unlike Gushchin, the Avalanche used a first-round selection to draft Olausson, who went 28th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft. He was a top-level talent for HV71’s U20 team, scoring 14 goals and 27 points in 16 games. Olausson transitioned to North American hockey a year later, scoring 26 goals and 49 points in 55 games split between the OHL’s Barrie Colts and Oshawa Generals. Given his success in one of the top Canadian major junior leagues, the Avalanche hoped Olausson could be a key contributor in a few years.
Unfortunately, his play with AHL Colorado has zapped much of that hope. Since joining the Eagles ahead of the 2022-23 campaign, the same year Gushchin became a full-time AHL player, Olausson has scored 33 goals and 66 points in 163 contests, with one goal and eight points in 17 playoff games.
Both players have spent limited time in the NHL since making their professional debuts. Gushchin has the edge, featuring in 18 games compared to Olausson’s four. Still, neither player should be expected to drastically improve those totals in 2025-26, unless their NHL club sustains multiple injuries to their forward core.
Former NHL Goaltender Wayne Thomas Passes Away At Age 77
Wayne Thomas, a long-time NHL executive and eight-year playing veteran as a goaltender, has passed away at age 77, “following a long battle with cancer,” according to a press release from the Sharks.
While undrafted, Thomas managed to appear in 243 NHL games between 1972 and 1981, compiling a 103-93-34 record for the Canadiens, Maple Leafs, and Rangers, with a 3.34 GAA and a .891 SV%. He earned an All-Star Game appearance in 1976 as Toronto’s starter, a season in which he saved 20.8 goals above average in 64 appearances.
Immediately after ending his playing career, Thomas transitioned into a coaching role with the Rangers. He later held goaltending/assistant coaching roles for the Blackhawks, Blues, and Sharks, as well as multiple minor-league clubs. Midway through the 1995-96 season, San Jose promoted him from assistant coach to assistant general manager, a role he held until he retired from the league following the 2014-15 campaign.
“While he achieved great success as a member of several NHL front offices, Wayne’s core passion was his daily work on and off the ice with NHL goaltenders throughout his coaching career, too many to list here, and he continued fruitful relationships with many of them up until his passing,” the Sharks wrote.
All of us at PHR send our condolences to Thomas’ family and friends, as well as the Sharks organization with whom he spent so many years.
Pacific Notes: Willander, Raty, Lekkerimaki, Eichel, Uljanskis, Thornton
After the Canucks made another piece of offseason business in trading goaltender Arturs Silovs to the Penguins over the weekend, The Athletic’s Thomas Drance took a deep dive into the roster math that lies ahead and what other moves could be coming.
Among those could be something of a crunch on defense. After signing 2023 first-rounder Tom Willander to his entry-level contract in May, Drance reports the club has him penciled in on Vancouver’s opening night roster, not on assignment to AHL Abbotsford to begin his professional career. He expects that the defenseman named Elias Pettersson, not their highest-paid forward of the same name, has received a similar designation.
As such, Drance relays to expect Vancouver to carry 13 forwards and eight defensemen out of the gate instead of the slightly more commonplace 14/7 breakdown, with prospect Victor Mancini and recent depth signing Pierre-Olivier Joseph likely the only legitimate candidates for the eighth spot. Mancini is still waiver-exempt, so that could work in Joseph’s favor.
For the forwards, Aatu Raty has the best candidacy for a job out of all their young fringe NHLers coming off a Calder Cup championship with AHL Abbotsford because of “the club’s needs down the middle,” Drance writes. One name that likely won’t be in contention for a depth job is top wing prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki.
“It sounds like the club is open to slow-cooking Lekkerimäki in the AHL to begin next season,” Drance said. “The gifted scoring winger is waiver exempt, and the club wants to be cautious about managing his development and not rushing him.” Older but lower-ceiling names like Arshdeep Bains and Linus Karlsson will be in contention for open fourth-line/press box slots instead.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- There isn’t anything new to report on extension talks between the Golden Knights and star center Jack Eichel, writes David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. An “open line of communication” remains after negotiations reportedly began over the past few months, but the needle hasn’t moved much since.
- Ducks defense prospect Darels Uljanskis is making the jump from Europe to North America to finish out his junior career, via Derek Lee of The Hockey News. Anaheim selected the left-shot Latvian in the seventh round last year. He’ll play out 2025-26 for the OHL’s Flint Firebirds after recording 39 points and a +12 rating in 44 games for AIK’s under-20 squad in Sweden last season.
- The Sharks announced on Tuesday that they’ve formalized a front-office title for Hall-of-Famer Joe Thornton, naming him as a player development coach and hockey operations advisor amid a slew of other minor staff changes. Thornton had remained in the San Jose area and worked frequently with the club in an unofficial capacity since retiring in 2022, but the franchise icon will now be firmly embedded in the process of building the team’s next window of championship contention.