San Jose Barracuda
Dell Loves Being Back in San Jose, Enjoys Being a Mentor

Aaron Dell loves being back in San Jose for a third time.
“It’s great to be back here with the family and everything now, it’s awesome,” the Barracuda netminder, recalled in mid-December, said. “My older boy is old enough to kind of appreciate it now, so it’s awesome to get him out here too.”
Jaxon Dell was born in Dec. 2021. Dell and wife Nicolette have another boy, Logan, born May 2024.
In recent years, Dell has taken on more of a mentorship role, passing on the knowledge he’s accumulated over a long career, “I’ve seen some things over the years, so if I can pass some stuff on to some guys, that’s awesome.”
The 35-year-old has been playing professional hockey since 2012 and has suited up for 12 different teams in the NHL, AHL, ECHL, and the Central Hockey League.
Most of that time has been spent in the San Jose Sharks organization. From 2016 to 2020, Dell played for the Sharks, coming back again in the 2022-23 season. This past summer, Dell re-signed with organization, inking a deal with the San Jose Barracuda.
Dell, however, started the season with San Jose Sharks’ ECHL affiliate Wichita Thunder, which was a challenge, at least personally.
“It was tough. It was mostly hard on my wife. She’s at home with two kids and stuff like that, so she had to deal with that.”
Dell credited Nicolette, a former San Francisco 49ers cheerleader, for her continued support of his career: “It’s tough with the time change and stuff, trying to FaceTime and get some time with them as much as I can. It was tough being away.”
In Wichita, Dell worked closely with Barracuda prospect Gabriel Carriere – the 24-year-old has a sparkling .929 Save % through 19 games.
“With Gabe, just [told him] how the pro life is, with the travel, especially down there,” Dell said. “It’s a tough game sometimes, and you have to really just stick with it and try and get the best out of yourself every day, even when it doesn’t feel great.”
Now with the Barracuda, Dell has been working beside Sharks prospect Georgi Romanov.
Dell said the Russian has made some big saves in key moments – especially ones that might be overlooked by non-goalies – during the time he’s been able to watch him play.
Dell has a 0-2-1 record with a .902 Save % in San Jose and is 6-6-1 with a .914 in Wichita.
Carriere, currently with the Cuda during the ECHL All-Star break, spoke highly of Dell.
“He’s awesome. He’s been through so much in his career, and so he’s a great guy to pull habits from and just see how he goes on a day-to-day basis,” Carriere said. “On a personal level, he’s just so easy to talk to and so personable, and definitely makes it fun to go to the rink every day.”
For example?
“We would go out early for practices and get a few drills that [San Jose Sharks director of goaltending Evgeni Nabokov] gave us just for a few teaching points to focus on that day,” Carriere said. “A lot of habits that can help you just have a long and good career.”
Family willing, Dell hopes to keep playing after this season.
“Could have gone a whole different way if [my wife] wasn’t supporting it anymore. So yeah, I’m really happy that she’s still supporting me on that. And yeah, hopefully a couple more years.”
He just loves the game.
“You kind of have to,” Dell smiled. “It’s a long, grueling season. You really have to like the game to be able to go through it for a bunch of years.”
“He loves hockey,” Barracuda coach John McCarthy said. “Wants to play, and we’re happy to have him.”