{"id":289993,"date":"2026-04-28T17:41:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/289993\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T17:41:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:41:22","slug":"3-urgent-questions-san-jose-sharks-must-answer-in-2026-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/289993\/","title":{"rendered":"3 urgent questions San Jose Sharks must answer in 2026 offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Jose Sharks (39-35-8)<\/a> showed major progress towards a Stanley Cup Contender this season. After years of deep, arduous rebuilds, they were in the hunt for a wild-card spot in the Western Conference this season. Sure, they fell short, but the arrow is pointing up on them making the Stanley Cup Playoff in the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n

More: P.K. Subban picks Ducks as \u2018the better team\u2019 over Oilers before Game 5<\/a><\/p>\n

Macklin Celebrini<\/a>, who they drafted No. 1 overall in 2024, set the franchise record for points in a season<\/a> (115). Guys like Will Smith and William Eklund became top-line fixtures, while center Alex Wennberg came out of nowhere to score 55 points. They also signed Collin Graf as an undrafted free agent, and Graf surprised them with 21 goals and 25 assists through 81 games.<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks manager Mike Grier is checking all the boxes of a rebuild, but he\u2019ll need to do a little more this offseason to get over the hump in the Pacific Division. <\/p>\n

How do the San Jose Sharks upgrade their defense?<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Apr 16, 2026; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; San Jose Sharks goalie Alex Nedeljkovic (33) is congratulated by his team mates on his win against the Winnipeg Jets at the end of the third period at Canada Life Centre. Mandatory Credit: Terrence Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Sharks have the forward talent to compete with the best teams in the Western Conference. However, their defensive structure is weak. <\/p>\n

Their top point-producers on defense were Dmitry Orlov (37 points) and John Klingberg (27 points). That\u2019s not enough to become a Stanley Cup contender. Some may point to them building their defensive core from within, with youngsters Sam Dickinson (14) and Shakir Mukhamadullin (12) playing meaningful minutes.<\/p>\n

More: Travis Konecny under fire after \u2018dirty\u2019 play targeting Sidney Crosby <\/a><\/p>\n

Still, the Sharks should get a veteran to stabilize their defensive core. They could try a trade for Dougie Hamilton (New Jersey Devils) or try and get Darryn Raddysh (Tampa Bay Lightning) from free agency, but at least one significant investment in the D-core should set the San Jose Sharks straight. Even an addition like John Carlson or Jacob Trouba (Anaheim Ducks) would work.<\/p>\n

How do they fix their goaltending?<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Apr 16, 2026; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; San Jose Sharks goalie Alex Nedeljkovic (33) makes a save on a shot by Winnipeg Jets forward Kyle Connor (81) during the third period at Canada Life Centre. Mandatory Credit: Terrence Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The defense might\u2019ve exacerbated the issue, but the San Jose Sharks had major problems in net this season as well. In a year full of lackluster goaltending, the Sharks duo ranked no. 30 in goals against (290).<\/p>\n

Alex Nedeljkovic was a hot mess in the net, with a 2.87 goals against average and a .896 save percentage. Yaroslav Askarov, however, was expected to be the goaltender of the future for San Jose.<\/p>\n

More: Matthew defends brother Brady Tkachuk as Senators get swept by Hurricanes<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sharks acquired Askarov from the Nashville Predators for a 2025 first-round pick. So far, the return on investment hasn\u2019t been there. Askarov has a .886 SV% with the Sharks, including a .883 SV% and 3.63 GAA this past season.<\/p>\n

The hope is that San Jose will get a quality veteran to pair with Askarov and unlock his potential. However, time might be running out for Askarov as well. This might be a make-or-break year coming up for the 23-year-old goaltender.<\/p>\n

What do the remaining RFA extensions look like?<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Jan 27, 2026; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks defenseman Tom Willander (5) battles with San Jose Sharks forward Collin Graf (51) in the first period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The San Jose Sharks have worked out most of their free agent decisions. They signed pending UFAs Alex Wennberg (three-year, $18 million) and Kiefer Sherwood (five-year, $28.75 million) to long-term deals, and they already figured out a major RFA decision with William Eklund (three-year, $16.8 million).<\/p>\n

Still, they have two RFA extensions to decide on. The first one should be to Collin Graf, an undrafted pick-up in 2024 who came out of nowhere to have a 20-goal, 20-assist season. As a result, he\u2019s earned himself a major payday.<\/p>\n

More: 3 burning questions Seattle Kraken must answer in 2026 offseason<\/a><\/p>\n

A good comparable contract could come from a division rival. Los Angeles Kings winger Alex Laferriere put up as much production as Graf did this past season, with 21 goals and 23 assists through 82 games. The Kings signed him to a three-year, $12.3 million deal that runs through 2028. I bet Graf gets a similar deal.<\/p>\n

The second one is Shakir Mukhamadullin. The 24-year-old defenseman has been subpar in NHL action with San Jose. Through the past two seasons (80 games), he\u2019s had just 21 points with a plus\/minus of minus-10. <\/p>\n

More: 3 burning questions Winnipeg Jets must answer in 2026 offseason<\/a><\/p>\n

At 24 years old, it\u2019s tough to gauge how much potential he still has left. His skating still hasn\u2019t come along yet, and at this point, I don\u2019t think the Sharks will retain him, especially with Hobey Baker Award finalist Eric Pohlkamp breaking through. They might sign a quick RFA contract, just like last season, and dangle him for a veteran defenseman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Jose Sharks (39-35-8) showed major progress towards a Stanley Cup Contender this season. After years of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1035,404,1605,88,90,89,98,123696],"class_list":{"0":"post-289993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-macklin-celebrini","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-pacific-division","11":"tag-san-jose","12":"tag-san-jose-headlines","13":"tag-san-jose-news","14":"tag-san-jose-sharks","15":"tag-stanley-cup-playoff"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}