Should adding Kesselring affect what the Sharks do with the No. 2 pick?
SAN JOSE – Defenseman Michael Kesselring should again get the opportunity to be in the lineup every night now that he's on a San Jose Sharks team that still has several holes to fill on its blueline.
But does Kesselring's addition affect what general manager Mike Grier and the Sharks do with the second overall selection during the first round of the NHL draft next Friday?
If the Sharks are true to their word, then chances are it won't.
The Sharks have reasons to be excited about Kesselring, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound right-shot defenseman capable of providing offense and playing a bigger role than he did with the Buffalo Sabres this past season, when he averaged 13:24 minutes per game.
In 82 regular-season games with Utah in 2024-25, Kesselring had 29 points and averaged close to 18 minutes per night. Among all NHL defensemen, the South Carolina native, per NHL Edge stats, ranked in the 75th percentile in max skating speed (22.29 mph) and in the 97th percentile with 112 speed bursts between 20-22 mph. He also ranked in the 80th percentile in average shot speed (71.26 mph).
Kesselring also played well for the United States under Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky at the 2025 IIHF World Championship, helping the Americans capture their first gold medal in 92 years. There's some familiarity there, both from his and the Sharks' perspective.
Still, given that he rarely cracked the Sabres' lineup late in the regular season and during the playoffs, Kesselring appears to have a ceiling, and it might be too much to expect him to become the kind of top-pair guy the Sharks desperately need.
With that in mind, the blueline-starved Sharks, even after the trade, likely haven't closed off the idea of drafting a defenseman at No. 2.
Although nothing is for certain, indications are the Toronto Maple Leafs will draft winger Gavin McKenna at No. 1. If that happens, and the Sharks legitimately feel that defenseman Chase Reid, Keaton Verhoeff, or Carson Carels projects to be a better NHL player than winger Ivar Stenberg, then they'll likely go in that direction.
If Stenberg is head and shoulders the top player on their list when it's time for the second pick, then, per the Sharks' philosophy, he'll be in San Jose. Drafting Stenberg might then give the Sharks the flexibility to move another forward for defensive help.
"I think we’ve been pretty consistent on this. We are best player available," Sharks president Jonathan Becher said to ABC7 Bay Area earlier this month. "Best player available — everyone has their opinion on it, so we’ll hear different opinions as well. Is it also possible that we may end up doing a draft-day trade?
"I mean, (Grier's) been clear. His telephone number is (known) by all the other GMs. If somebody knocks our socks off, then we've got to pay attention and listen, but otherwise we’ll do best player."
The Sharks likely gained some insight into Reid, Verhoeff, and Carels at the draft combine in Buffalo earlier this month, enough to help them sort out their draft list.
Given what the Sharks already knew about the three defensemen and what they learned in Buffalo, is there a clear distinction between them? Would the Sharks feel comfortable exchanging first-round picks with the Chicago Blackhawks, who own the No. 4 selection, or the New York Rangers, who have the No. 5 pick, while adding an asset for the trouble?
Does the defenseman that's available at the fourth or fifth spot project to be just as good as the one that's available at No. 2?
Chances are, the Sharks will have a good idea of how things will play out.
Two years ago, the Sharks traded the 14th and 42nd overall selections in the 2024 draft to the Sabres for the 11th overall pick. The Sharks figured they had to be inside the top 12 to get one of the defensemen they wanted, and after four blueliners were already snapped up, they drafted Dickinson at No. 11. Zeev Buium, the last of the top six, went 12th overall to the Minnesota Wild.
Whatever happens this month or in early July, the Sharks need to improve defensively, and changes are coming with Mario Ferraro, Vincent Desharnais, Nick Leddy, and John Klingberg set to become unrestricted free agents.
The Sharks might be able to add a legit top-pairing defenseman via trade or free agency.
Both the Tampa Bay Lightning's Darren Raddysh, who just completed a 70-point season, and the Vegas Golden Knights' Rasmus Andersson, who had 47 points, are pending UFAs and could be available on July 1. So could other defensemen such as Anaheim's Jacob Trouba or Colorado's Brett Kulak.
Plus, trade talks that began earlier this year can be revisited.
Asked after the trade deadline in March about his interest in the Rangers' Braden Schneider or the New Jersey Devils' Simon Nemec, Grier said, "We were in on some stuff. We weren’t able to get some of the guys we were interested in and made some offers on, but that’s often the case this time of year. Prices are high.
"Like I’ve always said, it’s an eye on the future as well as balancing that out between the future and the here and now. So I had to decide how far you’re willing to go and what type of assets you’re willing to give up, and if it makes sense. At the moment, it just didn’t work out with some of the teams when we went back and forth and exchanged some ideas."
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This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 2:12 PM.