Look at last season's San Jose Sharks from the front and they look like a playoff team. Look from the back and the problem is obvious.
The Sharks scored about 250 goals in 2025-26, middle of the pack. They also allowed about 290, one of the three highest totals in the NHL. That gap is most of the reason an 86-point team finished four points short of the postseason for a seventh straight year.
General manager Mike Grier spent the offseason attacking it.
Four new faces on the blue line
The additions, in the order they arrived:
Michael Kesselring, acquired from Buffalo in June along with the No. 27 pick, then signed for three years at $4.5 million a season.
Keaton Verhoeff, the No. 9 overall pick, obtained by trading William Eklund to Ottawa. He is returning to the University of North Dakota, so he is a future piece, not a fix.
Darnell Nurse, traded from Edmonton on July 1. San Jose takes on his full $9.25 million cap hit for four more seasons. He brings 798 NHL games, and Grier described him as a mobile veteran used to top-pair minutes against elite opponents.
Jacob Trouba, 32, signed as a free agent for four years at $8.25 million a year. He won the NHL's Messier Leadership Award in 2023-24.
Add Dmitry Orlov, 20-year-old Sam Dickinson and Nolan Allan, and the Sharks enter the season with a defense that is older, heavier and far more expensive than the one that let so many pucks through last year. San Jose Hockey Now projects Nurse with Kesselring and Dickinson with Trouba.
The part money can't fix
Defensemen reduce chances. Goalies stop the ones that get through. Yaroslav Askarov, the 24-year-old the Sharks are building around in net, went 21-20-4 last season with a 3.63 goals-against average and an .883 save percentage. Daily Faceoff estimated he allowed nearly six more goals than expected.
