San Jose Sharks
Sharks Acquire Kesselring, Swap 1st-Round Picks With Sabres
The San Jose Sharks have added a defenseman.
The Sharks have acquired defenseman Michael Kesselring from the Buffalo Sabres, also swapping the No. 20 pick in the 2026 Draft with the Sabres for Buffalo’s No. 27 pick.
Kesselring, 26, had a tough season with the Sabres, notching two assists in 34 games. He was a regular healthy scratch.
But the 6-foot-5 right-hander had a breakout campaign with the Utah Mammoth in 2024-25, notching seven goals and 29 points, averaging 17:41 a night. He was also used on the second-unit power play.
Kesselring was traded, along with Josh Doan, to the Sabres for JJ Peterka last summer. Kesselring was expected to take on a regular role in Buffalo, but now, he’ll look to revive his career with the San Jose Sharks.
The RFA should have plenty of opportunity in teal: Right now, the San Jose Sharks have just two defensemen signed, Dmitry Orlov and Sam Dickinson, and now, a pair of RFAs in Kesselring and Shakir Mukhamadullin.
According to Puckpedia’s Perri Pick Value Calculator, the difference between the No. 20 and 27 selections is roughly a mid-second round pick.
I like the move. I think Kesselring can be a good second pair D if he gets back to where he was with Utah. The price to Buffalo is reasonable and given his down year it shouldn’t be expensive to get him signed.
Yeah this is really interesting. I guess this gives us an idea what level Grier is going to be looking at.
I actually think the price was pretty minimal, and I’m assuming that Grier has a pretty big tier of guys he was looking at with pick 20, and most of those guys will still be there at pick 27, so if that is true, it’s almost a free Kesselring.
We had been talking about a rehab project possibly with a guy like Schneider and now we can do that with Kesselring. And oh boy gotta love the size. I’m sure the team sees something they can work with
Yeah this was a giveaway. Surprised it was so minimal.
I wouldn’t say it was a giveaway, but am pleased with the price paid 100%. Move back 7-slots to where most people thought that Edmonton pick would be at for a solid 2nd pair D-Man? Good piece of business, for sure.
Seven spots in a weak draft. That’s pretty minimal to me.
A little pricier than I thought, but this is a great deal. At 27, the Sharks will probably still have their choice of a player in the same tier on their list as they would have at 20. Number of overall picks in the draft stay the same. Nicely done, Mike. Still has that late first to flip for another defenseman if he wants to.
Right? The drop from 20-27 is the equivalent of pick #50 in value (I go off the old Sound of Hockey chart), which isn’t small potatoes; I’d hoped that the bargaining position advantage would send a little less Buffalo’s way. I’m less confident that any of the second tier of prospects will still be available; which to me makes it more likely the pick is traded.
Still brisk business, and this plus the Winchesters landing Laila Edwards makes for a good day of SJ hockey.
There are very good players every year available at pick 50, but the chances you actually get one aren’t that high, the math bears that out. I think Kesselring is already a better asset than whoever they might have gotten with that pick.
Take the example of McKinney last year. We even like the kid. But he’s far far far from a sure thing still.
I’ll accept that 2nds may be overvalued relative to what they turn into, but that was just to show the value I place on moving those spots; my greater more specific concern is that I think a lot of interesting B-level prospects will be gone within the range we dropped, especially in this somewhat peculiar draft. Like barring some teams reaching and a guy falling, I think whoever’s available at 27 will be much more of a risk.
Like I said, I don’t mind, I just think it makes the pick more likely to be traded.
I could totally see it going like you said. But if they do keep the pick, I think dropping back was digestible because Grier saw a lot of guys he was fine with. Seems like about 14-35 in this draft are all pretty similar when I look at it, and maybe the team feels the same, or at least any drop was something they felt was worth bringing this kid in for. But let’s pretend the trade was for Buffalo’s 27 and 50… I would rather have Kesselring than 50, and Grier has even more info than we do since… Read more »
I predicted the 20th would just be gone for a player outright. They got back a later 1st and a player for it. Hopefully it goes out in a deal for a better D.
Gotta stop collecting the Pokemon cards at some point and just play the damn game….
Exactly.
I think you guys are way overvaluing these picks. You look at picks past the top ten in recent years and it’s a mix of blind luck and player development who makes it as a player. Chances are very good neither 20 nor 27 will be a NHL regular. Even if you go by the idea that the difference in value is a second round pick…most second round picks never dress for a single NHL game. Kesselring is at least proven able to play now at this level…and shoots right. A second round pick for that is not at all… Read more »
Not really surprising. Every teams fans overvalue their own picks and prospects. As you stated, MK is a RD. The hardest spot to fill. The fact he’s big, skates well, already has a 30 point season and has upside still is a pretty good gamble for a negligible drop in the late first of a below average draft.
Dudes still a young big RD with potential. They rarely come cheap. This was a relative steal.
Pricier? Ok…
Demers called it
A+ trade in my opinion
Seems like a fair deal and I’m optimistic.
So who’s the next defender for us to speculate about??? I read a write up on Tyler Tucker from the Blues so he’s my new guy.
Link for that? He could be my guy too if you’ll share. Wait that sounded weird. I’m good with that.
This will also likely ratchet up the pressure on teams behind the Sharks in the draft who may now have some FOMO on Stenberg since the Sharks addressed one RHD slot on their blue line. The Sharks pony up for Anderson or Trouba in free agency and all the sudden Stenberg seems more of a lock UNLESS Rangers or Hawks wanna move up…
None of these deals would preclude the Sharks taking D at 2OA.
It isn’t possible to pony up for Andersson or Trouba until July 1 (if they are even available and don’t re-sign with their current teams), which is after the draft.
Agreed, I just meant the Sharks may be focused on addressing the RHD slot via free agency after draft or by trade during draft. Unless they do either, then Reid should be the pick. However if they have already chosen the path of addressing another RHD need through FA/trade, then Stenberg seems more likely. All I am pointing out is that NYR and/or CHI might be getting a little more nervous with this trade.
Agree we’ve no idea what Grier is focused on. He certainly has a much better idea than we do how realistic it is to sign Radysh, trade for Nemec, etc. We don’t know even know how interested he is in any of these things.
Sounds like the Vegas experiment didn’t go as well as planned for Anderson and he’s likely hitting the market.
I think drafting a potential number one D is more about long-term future need. KAny free agent signing or trade now, including Kesselring, is addressing a short-term need and won’t address that need for a #1 D.
So you’re really talking about two different agendas. Picking a D with 2OA would be for addressing the future. Any likely trades or signings are probably about just fielding a competent D group for the near term.
Shot blocker.
Can play on power play. Will get tons of opportunity w our D situation.
Only 26
NHL experience.
Does he have a mean streak?
Great Move Mike G
He’s NOT known for his mean streak. You will want The Sharks to use the 27th pick on Maksim Sokolovskii. The same size and bad intent as his fellow London Knight legend Nikita Zadorov. I might prefer Xavier Villeneuve if available. Different strokes, as they say.
That’s about 100 lbs of Dman difference between those two guys. Another possibility would be moving down to #5, adding pick 1.26 from the Rangers (and maybe more, possibly even Schneider still), then taking 1.26 and 1.27 and moving back up to get Gustafsson or another higher end D prospect. Or perhaps that gets us Hronek.
One could be (a taller) Lane Hutson, the other maxes out at (a taller) Douglas Murray.
26 and 27 aren’t getting you back into the top 10.
I would be happy getting Gustafsson at 14 or so. It was awhile ago, but the Bystedt trade involved the Sharks getting less. Different year, but still
I like Gustafsson. I doubt he gets to 14 but you never know. Even then, I think the odds of trading up for him became extremely unlikely in moving from 20 to 27 – if it was something Grier really wanted to do, I don’t think he moves down from 20. The Bystedt trade is fair, but it requires a team that is more interested in quantity than quality – I don’t think any of the teams picking in Gustafsson’s likely range are, organizationally, in a place where that is the kind of trade they are interested in making right… Read more »
Hope they add one more RD with higher impact. Hopefully it wasn’t this guy or Reilly and they can still be in on him. I would hope for my than something like Kesselring, Trouba and Deharnais.
“My than something” -> “more than something” perhaps?
If so, I think Grier is aiming higher than that. Hope so anyways. I think the reason Desharnais isn’t signed already is he’s looking for term beyond 2 years and I think Grier is right to look at more options. Kesselring might be instead of Desharnais, and if Grier lands his big fish, he could be fighting for 3rd pairing minutes, which feels pretty ideal to me.
I’ve known about this move for 10 minutes now and I’m liking it more and more by the minute.
Just need Raddysh to finalize Demers vision. Maybe a tough contract to swallow down the line, but seems like the range for the next 3 years is 50-70 points, and 30-40 in his final two potentially. Would be good if we can cap dump him via trade in his final two years if necessary.
Orlov-Raddysh
Dickinson-Kesserling
Mukmahdullin-xxx
Pretty solid. Huge upgrade without giving up any material assets.
Everyone forgets Warso won Gold with Kesselring so they know each other well. Kesselring will stand up for his team mates. He keeps the crease clear. Makes the correct pass to clear the zone. Has a 100 mph slapper. Essentially, Grier Drafted a NHL Ready Kesselring at #20 and still get to swing for his guy at 27. That swing will likely be Maskim Sokolovskii. With Kesselring on board, a reach for Sokolovskii is less of a risk. Sokolovskii could be the kind of backside Sheriff Chara was. He might not have the offensive upside, but he will crush folks… Read more »
Good point on Warso knowing Kesserling. Hope Sokolovskii is still there at 27 – lots of hype around him now, so I think being there at 27 is a bit of a coin flip. But 20 might have been a bit of a reach, so it could work out really well this way.
Solid move by GMMG. Filled a big hole w/o giving up much.
No notes.
yup
two mock drafts, The Athletic on youtube and th one in this link by Tony Ferrari both had a similarity. After pick 20, the number of d-man picked dropped off a cliff.
Off the last dozen picks in these drafts, one draft had just 2 d-men picked and the other had just 1.
Almost certain that GMMG is going to go after d-men — and its possible that the guy he might have wanted at 20 will be there at 27. Especially if he’s looking mostly at d-men
I guess this means we’re not getting Byrum
From what I have heard/read, Buffalo hasn’t had any intention of letting him go, at least not since the new regime took over.