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The San Jose Sharks just finished their 2024-25 campaign as the worst team in the National Hockey League. Still, at 20-50-12, it was an improvement over their 2023-24 campaign. They have not made the playoffs since 2019, but they do have a young core ready to move towards making the playoffs again. The Sharks need to be strategic this offseason. If not, they could continue to sit in the NHL basement. We look at the nightmare scenario for the Sharks in this 2025 NHL Free Agency period.
San Jose has consistently struggled since making it to the conference finals in the 2019 season. They have not finished above .500 since then, and have just one season over 30 wins. Regardless, they have a great young core. This is led by Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and William Eklund.
The Sharks are also in a solid position. They have two first-round and two second-round picks in each of the next two NHL drafts. They are also projected to have over $50 million in cap space according to Cap Wages. This is assuming that Logan Couture officially retires. San Jose also has just seven free agents, with only two of them being unrestricted. Still, without the proper planning, this offseason could be a disaster.
The Sharks fail to extend young stars
San Jose has five pending restricted free agents on their NHL roster. Georgi Romanov was the backup goaltender this year, while Jack Thompson played minimal minutes on the blue line. Overall, the current crop of restricted free agents were not major contributors this past season.
Still, the Sharks have a future restricted free agent that they need to lock up now. That is William Eklund. He was the seventh overall pick in the 2021 NHL draft and will turn 23 at the start of this season. He was great this past year, scoring 17 goals and adding 41 assists. His assists total led the Sharks this year, while his total points were second on the team, only behind Celebrini. Further, he was a contributor on the powerplay. He scored six goals and added 10 assists on the power play this past season.
Eklund ended the season playing on the second line, but could move up next year, replacing Tyler Toffoli and joining Celebrini and Smith, making a dynamic young top line. Further, he has shown improvement. His 17 goals were the most of his young career, while his 41 assists were also a career high.
Eklund also had career highs in percentage of points he was involved in when a goal was scored on the ice, expected goal total, scoring chances created, and high-danger scoring chances created. Further, he improved on the defensive end of the ice, having a minus-seven rating this year, as compared to the minus-45 rating of 2023-24. He is projected to cost between $3.7 and $7.2 million per year. If the Sharks want to keep future costs down, they need to sign him now before the cost goes up.
San Jose cannot lure a big free agent
The Sharks need to make a splash in free agency and have plenty of cap space to do so. They brought in a high-quality veteran last season, signing Tyler Toffoli to a four-year contract worth $6 million per year. They also brought in Alexander Wennberg last year, and both players played top-two-line minutes for the Sharks this past season.
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Now, the Sharks need to do this again. First, they have just $42.1 million in contracts currently spent, and will need to spend money to get to the salary cap floor. Second, with such a young core, they need to bring in veteran leadership.
The places where this is most prevalent is at the blue line. They currently have five defenders under contract for next season, with Thompson as a restricted free agent. Further, only Marc-Edouard Vlasic is over the age of 30. He played just 27 games and averaged just 14:37 of ice time per game. The Sharks traded away Jake Walman and Cody Ceci this past season and have not found a replacement.
The Sharks have the draft capital and cap space to go after a player like Evan Bouchard. He would give a boost to the top defensive pairing, but also give a major boost to both the penalty kill and the powerplay. At just 25 years old, he would be part of a young core that could develop the Sharks into contenders. Further, he would bring with him playoff experience for when they get there. Bouchard is expected to cost over $10 million per year, but the Sharks have more than enough cap space to handle that. Still, the Sharks may not be the most attractive destination, and failing to bring in an impact player this offseason would be a failure.
The Sharks do not bring in a veteran goaltender
San Jose has informed Alexandar Georgiev that he will not be returning to the team next season. Further, Romanov is a restricted free agent this offseason. Romanov played in just eight games and was not good. He went 0-6-0 with a 3.89 goals-against average and a .877 save percentage.
Yaroslav Askarov is the future in goal for the Sharks. He is under contract for the next two seasons and is just 22 years old. Still, his career to this point does not suggest he is ready to be the everyday goaltender. He has a .899 career save percentage with a 3.01 goals-against average.
The Sharks have the salary cap space to bring in another goaltender. Anton Forsberg would be a perfect fit for San Jose. Forsberg has been a primary goaltender in his career, starting 44 games for the Senators in the 2021-22 season. Further, he was solid that year, having a .917 save percentage. He would be an upgrade over Georgiev and a placeholder until Askarov is ready. There are other options, but the Sharks cannot run with just Askarov and an AHL-level backup going into next season.
This will be a big offseason for the Sharks as they look to improve and get back to the playoffs. The postseason is probably still out of reach in 2025-26, but the Sharks need to take care of their young core while adding veterans on defense and between the pipes. Failure to do so would be a nightmare for San Jose.
