It sounds like the San Jose Sharks did a lot of window shopping, but they certainly didn’t do any buying at the Trade Deadline.
Their only moves on Friday were trading Timothy Liljegren to the Washington Capitals for a fourth-round pick and re-signing pending UFA Alex Nedeljkovic to a two-year contract.
On Wednesday, they did re-sign pending UFA Kiefer Sherwood to a five-year contract. Sherwood, acquired on Jan. 19 for essentially a pair of second-round picks, ended up being their biggest purchase this season.
And that’s not a bad thing, really.
In GM Mike Grier’s post-Deadline availability, he sent a clear signal that the San Jose Sharks were turning the page from their rebuild, but with an accurate sense of where the franchise really is in their competitive cycle.
He’s also keeping his gunpowder dry, saving his best trade assets for a big swing this off-season.
Here’s what we learned during his chat with the media.
Cautious Buyers?
The San Jose Sharks were looking to buy this Trade Deadline. That’s a big deal, that’s the first time that you could say that since 2019, the last time that they made the playoffs.
Clearly, acquiring 30-year-old Sherwood for a couple second-rounders is an example of a more aggressive mentality than we’ve grown accustomed to. Usually, Team Teal is out of the playoff picture by Thanksgiving, if not earlier.
That said, San Jose knows that they’re not one player away from a Stanley Cup.
“We were in on a few things throughout the week, but I wasn’t really in the rental market,” Grier said. “We were more into poking around and involved in things with players who had some term.”
Grier revealed that at least the Edmonton Oilers’ 2026 first-round pick, acquired last year for Jake Walman, was in play.