SAN JOSE – The Sharks were active on the first day of unrestricted free agency on Tuesday, but as expected, stayed thrifty as they tried to take a modest step forward as a franchise after being at the bottom of the NHL standings for the last two years.
The Sharks signed forward William Eklund to a three-year, $16.8 million contract extension, brought in three unrestricted free agents on short-term deals, and acquired a goalie they believe can help shore up a problematic position.
The Sharks added veteran free agent forwards Adam Gaudette and Philipp Kurashev and defenseman John Klingberg, and also acquired goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic from the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 2028 third-round selection.
Whether the acquisitions can help pull the Sharks out of the NHL’s basement is unclear. But general manager Mike Grier said the additions, plus some internal growth from the younger players, can at least help make San Jose a more competitive team.
“We’re going to take a step forward,” Grier said. “I know there are times where we want to speed this thing up, but I think naturally we’ll take a step forward.”
Tuesday was the first day that the Sharks could sign Eklund, 22, to a contract extension, and the two sides didn’t waste much time.
The Sharks could have signed Eklund to a long-term deal, possibly for eight years, and made him the team’s highest-paid forward. However, both the team and the player were more comfortable with a bridge deal, putting off what could be a major payday for Eklund until after the NHL’s salary cap exceeds $110 million.
The cap will be $95.5 million this season and is projected to increase to $113.5 million in 2027-28.
Grier and Eklund’s camp met in Texas at the IIHF U18 World Championships after the Sharks’ season ended and laid the groundwork for the contract, which was wrapped up over a few recent phone calls.
This past year, in his second full NHL season, Eklund was the Sharks’ second-leading scorer, setting a career high with 58 points and becoming a more integral part of the team’s lineup. The deal will make him the second-highest-paid forward in 2026-27, with Tyler Toffoli’s contract, which runs through the 2027-28 season, carrying a $6 million AAV.
“I think for both parties, we wanted to see an extension here,” Eklund said Tuesday. “We wanted to finish it before next year, and I think it worked out pretty well. We both want to keep his thing going forward and keep getting better, so I think it worked out pretty well for both parties.”
Gaudette, who will be entering his eighth NHL season, signed a two-year, $4 million contract. Kurashev is coming to San Jose on a one-year, $1.2 million deal, and Klingberg was inked for one year at $4 million.
Gaudette, 28, figures to be a fourth-line forward for the Sharks while Kurashev could fit into a middle-six role, especially if he’s able to recapture the form he showed two years ago when he had 54 points in 75 games for the Blackhawks.
Last season, Kurashev had 14 points in 51 games and was not given a qualifying offer by Chicago as a pending restricted free agent and became a UFA. Kurashev, drafted by Chicago in 2018, spent five seasons with the Blackhawks and had 130 points in 317 games.
Klingberg, 32, fills a need for the Sharks as an offensive-minded right-shot defenseman.
Now entering his 12th NHL season, Klingberg, from 2014 to 2022, was eighth in scoring among all NHL defensemen with 374 points in 552 games.
Klingberg’s production, however, began to decline, and in December 2023, while with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he underwent resurfacing surgery on both hips.
After a long recovery, Klingberg signed a one-year deal with the Oilers in January and had four points in 11 regular-season games with Edmonton, which advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for a second straight year. In the Oilers’ Cup run, Klingberg had four points in 19 games and played an average of 19:08 per night.
Now, the plan is for him to help quarterback the Sharks’ power play, which ranked 26th out of 32 teams last season.
“He’s moving better and better,” Grier said of Klingberg’s health. “The playmaking has always been there. Even if you look at Patrick Kane, his first year back from that similar surgery, he did OK. Then this past year, he was even better, and had a really solid year.
“So we think that the potential is there with (Klingberg) with another summer of rehab, strengthening, and conditioning.”
Nedeljkovic is entering the final year of a two-year, $5 million contract. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent when the contract expires.
The Sharks were hoping to add a goalie who could compete with rookie Yaroslav Askarov for playing time. Last season, the 29-year-old Nedeljkovic played in 38 games with the Penguins and had a 14-15-5 record and a .894 save percentage.
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There were a handful of goalies on the UFA market, including Ilya Samsonov, Alex Lyon, Anton Forsberg, and Dan Vladar.
But the Sharks elected to trade for the 6-foot-3 Nedeljkovic, who, in 179 NHL games with Carolina, Detroit, and Pittsburgh, has a 74-60-27 record and a .903 save percentage with nine career shutouts.
“For us, it was important, really, to have someone who can push (Askarov) and also compete with, and he has a strong work ethic,” Grier said of Nedeljkovic, who already knows Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky. “He’s going to be someone that (Askarov) can learn from, but also compete with.”
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