{"id":394218,"date":"2026-07-11T01:44:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T01:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/394218\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T01:44:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T01:44:55","slug":"san-jose-sharks-earn-praise-from-the-athletic-for-another-offseason-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/394218\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks Earn Praise from The Athletic for Another Offseason Move"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Jose Sharks<\/a> have received mixed reviews from analysts for their offseason moves, earning praise for a stellar 2026 NHL Draft class and skepticism for the additions in NHL free agency. There is one other addition that\u2019s earned some kudos.<\/p>\n

Harman Dayal of The Athletic<\/a> called the Sharks\u2019 extension with Michael Kesselring one of the nine best contracts signed during the offseason so far.<\/p>\n

Related:\u00a0SJ Sharks Receive Modest Grades for NHL Free Agency Moves<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBoth the acquisition cost (trading pick No. 20 in exchange for pick No. 27 and Kesselring) and the contract were very team-friendly\u2026There\u2019s still a lot of intriguing upside here. Kesselring is 6-foot-5, skates like the wind and has legitimate offensive talent. Most importantly, he flashed top-four potential with Utah in the 2024-25 season. With John Marino and Sean Durzi injured on the right side, Kesselring took on a much bigger role and largely excelled in it. Kesselring averaged 19:04 of ice time through the first 48 games of the 2024-25 campaign. He was winning those matchups, with Utah controlling about 52 percent of high-danger chances and outscoring opponents 31-18 during his five-on-five shifts. He scored 25 five-on-five points in 2024-25, tied for 25th-most among all NHL defensemen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harman Dayal on the Michael Kesselring contract extension with the San Jose Sharks<\/p>\n

Coming into the summer, it was no secret that San Jose\u2019s blueline needed to be upgraded. Sharks general manager Mike Grier had a myriad of options available to him in free agency, the NHL Draft and via trade. He used all three.<\/p>\n

Kesselring, who turned 26 years old in January, was added first. San Jose traded the 20th overall pick to the Buffalo Sabres<\/a> in exchange for the 6-foot-5 defenseman and the 27th overall pick. Three weeks later, he landed a multi-year extension.<\/p>\n

Related:\u00a0Sharks Earn Stellar 2026 NHL Draft Grades<\/a><\/p>\n

Kesselring\u2019s three-year deal worth $4.5 million per season is below the going rate for players with his upside. It\u2019s also a better value, as Dayal highlighted, than what it cost the New York Islanders to re-sign Tony DeAngelo ($4.5 million AAV, two years).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also not as if Kesselring hasn\u2019t proven himself at the NHL level. During the 2024-25 campaign with the Utah Mammoth<\/a> he put up 29 points in 82 games. The offensive potential is clearly there, and he at least offers size San Jose needed on its blueline.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s also keep in mind that Kesselring\u2019s disappointing results in Buffalo this past season were largely caused by injuries. He had a high-ankle sprain that he later re-injured and he wasn\u2019t the same player because of it, losing ice time on a Buffalo team that was already stacked at defensemen. He\u2019ll have a better opportunity in San Jose and, if he can stay healthy, the contract could be a huge bargain for the Sharks.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"avatar\"<\/p>\n

\t\tMatt Johnson is Senior Editor of NFL and College Football for Sportsnaut. His work, including weekly NFL and college … More about Matt Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Jose Sharks have received mixed reviews from analysts for their offseason moves, earning praise for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89,98],"class_list":["post-394218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394218","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=394218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}