{"id":154592,"date":"2025-09-19T15:10:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T15:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/154592\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T15:10:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T15:10:07","slug":"no-7-shakir-mukhamadullin-ready-for-a-full-time-nhl-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/154592\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 7 Shakir Mukhamadullin: Ready for a full-time NHL role"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shakir Mukhamadullin is a big, smooth-skating defenseman who has quickly become one of the more intriguing pieces in the San Jose Sharks\u2019 rebuild. Originally drafted 20th overall by the New Jersey Devils in 2020, he made his way to San Jose as part of the Timo Meier trade in 2023<\/a>. Since then, he\u2019s been one of the Sharks\u2019 top defensive prospects and started getting NHL games under his belt.<\/p>\n

Last season was an important step for him. He split time between the Barracuda and the Sharks, playing 30 NHL games and posting 9 points. It wasn\u2019t just about production; it was about showing that he could handle the pace and physicality of the NHL. His season was unfortunately cut short by a shoulder injury in April, but he left a strong impression heading into this year.<\/p>\n

Mukhamadullin isn\u2019t a newcomer to our Top 25 Under 25.\u00a0He was also seventh last season<\/a> and holds steady because he continues to develop at a steady pace. Fans and the organization alike are waiting to see if this is the year he really locks down a full-time NHL role.<\/p>\n

Position: Defense
Height: 6\u20194\u201d
Weight: 190 pounds
Age: 23
Date of Birth: Jan. 10, 2002
Draft Year: 2020 (Drafted 20th overall by the New Jersey Devils)
Shoots: Left
2025-26 Team: San Jose Sharks<\/p>\n

What we like<\/p>\n

Mukhamadullin\u2019s size immediately stands out. At 6\u20194\u201d with long reach, he can close gaps and break up plays in ways smaller defenders can\u2019t. What makes him special, though, is how well he moves for a guy his size. His skating is fluid, and he doesn\u2019t look stiff when he has to pivot or retrieve pucks.<\/p>\n

Offensively, there\u2019s upside here. He can make a good first pass and isn\u2019t afraid to jump into the play when the opportunity is there. You can see flashes of a player who could eventually take charge of a power play or at least be a steady puck-mover on the second unit.<\/p>\n

Defensively, he has the tools to grow into a reliable two-way defenseman. His stick positioning is improving, and when he leans into his frame, he can be hard to play against in front of the net. Coaches trusted him more as the year went on, giving him tougher matchups and more minutes, which is a good sign for his trajectory.<\/p>\n

Areas of improvement<\/p>\n

The biggest thing Mukhamadullin needs right now is consistency. Like a lot of young defensemen, he can make a great play one shift and a costly turnover the next. Cleaning up those decision-making lapses will go a long way toward earning a permanent top-four role.<\/p>\n

He could also stand to get stronger. He has the height, but still needs to add some muscle to really win battles along the boards and in front of the crease. NHL forwards will test him physically, and he\u2019ll need to hold his ground to be trusted in late-game situations.<\/p>\n

And, of course, health has to be a focus. Last season was derailed by injury, and he missed valuable development time. Staying healthy will allow him to get the reps he needs and build confidence in his game.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for Mukhamadullin?<\/p>\n

Initially, Mukhamadullin will need to prove that he\u2019s healthy. He\u2019s coming out of his shoulder surgery and his recovery timeline in April had him back in time for training camp. <\/p>\n

But being healthy enough to skate after surgery and being healthy enough to play in a game are two different things. So far, so good. Mukhamadullin was on the ice for the first day of training camp, and Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky said he\u2019s healthy. <\/p>\n

This season feels like a big one for Mukhamadullin. He\u2019s on a one-year deal and is expected to be with the Sharks full-time. If he stays healthy and shows steady improvement, he could work his way into a top-four role permanently and earn a longer contract next summer.<\/p>\n

If things don\u2019t click right away, the Sharks might still give him some Barracuda time to keep his minutes up \u2014 but the expectation is that he\u2019s ready for the NHL. This year should give us a pretty good idea of whether he\u2019s part of the long-term core on the blue line.<\/p>\n

Highlights<\/p>\n

Mukhamadullin scored his first NHL goal last season and he gets extra credit for scoring it against the Vegas Golden Knights.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s this highlight, a little bit of what we would like to see more of from Mukhamadullin in the future.<\/p>\n

Previous Top 25 Under 25 Posts
8. Igor Chernyshov<\/a>
9.\u00a0Quentin Musty<\/a>
10.\u00a0Luca Cagnoni<\/a>
11.\u00a0Collin Graf<\/a>
12.\u00a0Filip Bystedt<\/a>
13.\u00a0Joshua Ravensbergen<\/a>
14.\u00a0Kasper Halttunen<\/a>
15.\u00a0Eric Pohlkamp<\/a>
16.\u00a0Cam Lund<\/a>
17.\u00a0Ethan Cardwell<\/a>
18.\u00a0Haoxi Wang<\/a>
19.\u00a0Leo Sahlin Wallenius<\/a>
20.\u00a0Jack Thompson<\/a>
21.\u00a0Cole McKinney<\/a>
22.\u00a0Zack Ostapchuk<\/a>
23.\u00a0Mattias Havelid<\/a>
24.\u00a0Egor Afanasyev<\/a>
25.\u00a0Carson Wetsch<\/a>
Honorable Mentions:\u00a0Joey Muldowney, Jake Furlong, Brandon Svoboda, Nate Misskey, Gabriel Carriere<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shakir Mukhamadullin is a big, smooth-skating defenseman who has quickly become one of the more intriguing pieces in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-154592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}