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The San Jose Sharks had the worst record in the NHL last season. That earned them the second overall pick, which brought Michael Misa to town after a dominant junior career. San Jose did make some free-agent signings, bringing in Dmitry Orlov and John Klingberg on the blue line. But the Sharks should make another trade this offseason, helping either the Dallas Stars or Florida Panthers escape from salary cap issues.
After the Sharks picked defenseman Nick Leddy up off waivers, they reached the salary cap floor. So, by rule of the NHL, they do not have to make any more moves this offseason. Considering they are saving space for the William Eklund extension they already signed, they certainly won't be using all $23.8 million of it. But they should be open for business to add depth pieces in trades this summer.
Both the Panthers and the Stars are over the salary cap, according to PuckPedia. Teams are allowed to go over the cap by 10% in the offseason as they make final roster adjustments. While they won't face any penalty yet, they do need to figure it out before the season begins. They both should be looking down their roster for trade pieces that will fix the problem.
The Panthers are $2.95 million over the cap and have two forwards making exactly $3 million. One of those is Evan Rodrigues, who was a key part of both of their Stanley Cup runs. But because Eetu Luostarainen is younger and a center, Rodrigues is likely to be moved. The Sharks could part with one of their many draft picks to snag Rodrigues and improve their depth. Rodrigues has already been paid his signing bonus, meaning the Sharks would only owe him $775,000 this season.
The Sharks should be looking for depth to support Macklin Celebrini
The Stars are $1.79 million over the cap, according to PuckPedia. They do not have the obvious trade candidate like the Panthers do with Rodrigues, but the Sharks can still strike. They already added Klingberg, Orlov, and Leddy to their defense, so they should not go after Matt Dumba or Ilya Lyubushkin.
The forward that the Sharks should go after is Sam Steel, who makes $2.1 million for the next two seasons. Steel is a bottom-six forward who has 142 points and 130 penalty minutes in 412 career games. While he is not an elite goal scorer, he can be a solid piece to improve San Jose's bottom six.
The Sharks did sign Adam Guadette, who made an impact for the Ottawa Senators in the playoffs last year. But players like Carl Grundstrom and Barclay Goodrow could be replaced to make San Jose a better team. None of these moves is going to make them Stanley Cup contenders, but they need to win more games in 2025-26.
The Sharks have a bright future, with Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, William Eklund, Michael Misa, and more. But they won't get anywhere spinning their wheels on a 60-point team for another season. Mike Grier needs to make moves so that the Sharks get out of the basement and give Celebrini big stages to shine on.
These are not super attractive trade pickups for the Sharks to end their offseason. If they can get a restricted free agent like Gabe Vilardi, Bowen Byram, or Marco Rossi, that could change the tenor of their season. But the far more likely situation is they bail out a contender to improve their bottom six.
The Sharks have the extra draft picks and certainly have the extra cap space to make a trade with either the Panthers or the Stars. They could even do both if they were willing to make two deals this summer.
