The San Jose Sharks already spent heavily this summer to announce they’re done easing into the next phase. Jacob Trouba, Darnell Nurse, Michael Kesselring and Mason Marchment all arrived on deals worth tens of millions of dollars, and Marchment made the mindset plain when he said, “For me, reaching the postseason is the bare minimum for us,” Marchment recently told NHL.com. “If we’re not thinking in those terms, then we’re not thinking the right way.”
Now the Sharks have a far bigger question in front of them: do they keep building patiently, or do they swing for Connor Hellebuyck?
Hellebuyck made that possibility real on Thursday, going public with a trade request from Winnipeg after spending his entire 11-year NHL career with the Jets. He has won three Vezina Trophies, captured the Hart Trophy in 2024-25 and helped the United States win Olympic gold in Milan in February.
In a statement, he said, “My position has not changed, and I believe moving on is the best path forward for me and my family,” Hellebuyck, Team USA’s Olympic gold-medal-winning goalie, said in a statement. “(I) hope a resolution can be reached soon.”
The fit is obvious on paper. Hellebuyck would instantly raise the ceiling in San Jose, pushing the Sharks from playoff hopefuls into the kind of team that has to measure itself against Vegas, Edmonton, Colorado, Minnesota and Dallas.
That kind of move would also mean the Sharks are no longer talking about a slow build. They’d be in full win-now mode.
That’s where the risk comes in.
A trade for a goalie of Hellebuyck’s stature would almost certainly require a steep price, with second-year goalie Yaroslav Askarov and other young pieces and high draft picks likely in play. That would be a major departure from the way Mike Grier has handled the rebuild so far. The Sharks general manager has spent years accumulating prospects and has repeatedly said he doesn’t want to burn young assets on short-term fixes.
Still, Grier has left the door open for this kind of move. In July, when asked about the Sharks’ interest in Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski, he said, “if players like him become available, I think we’re getting to the point now where we’ve made a lot of picks, we have a lot of prospects and young players that if we can really make our team better and add a real all-star caliber-type player, we’ll definitely be looking into it.”
Hellebuyck would come with some things that make the deal easier to justify. He’s signed for five more years at an $8.5 million cap hit, which gives any team cost certainty.
The Sharks, according to PuckPedia, have $3.3 million in cap space for this upcoming season and might need to put Logan Couture on season-ending long-term injured reserve to make the numbers work. Couture carries an $8 million cap hit this season and is not expected to play again because of a chronic groin-area injury.
But the age curve is part of the debate too. Hellebuyck turns 34 next May, and he has logged 333 games, including regular season and playoffs, since the start of the 2021-22 season.
The recent numbers pull in both directions. At the Olympics, he was dominant, posting a .956 save percentage in five games and making 41 saves in the Americans’ 2-1 overtime win over Canada in the gold medal game.
But last season with Winnipeg, he finished with a .895 save percentage, the lowest of his NHL career, while going 23-23-11 in 57 games. Among goalies who played at least 40 games, he ranked 16th in goals saved above expected per 60 minutes, per moneypuck.com.
The playoff record is harder to ignore. Over the Jets’ last three postseason appearances, Hellebuyck is 8-15 with a .870 save percentage. The Sharks would have to decide how much of that was on him and how much was on Winnipeg’s defense and structure.
Askarov would likely be the centerpiece of any package going back the other way. He had an uneven first full NHL season and ranked 27th on MoneyPuck’s goals saved above expected list, but he’s only 24 and still looks like a goalie with plenty of runway ahead of him.
If he stayed in San Jose, the Sharks could see him as the backbone of multiple playoff pushes. If he went to Winnipeg, he’d probably give the Jets the kind of young goalie return they’d want.
If Hellebuyck landed in San Jose, Askarov would likely be headed out, and Alex Nedeljkovic would handle the rest, with Hellebuyck projected to start around 50-55 games.
The Sharks should be a competitive team this season either way, thanks to their mix of young talent and respected veterans. What changes is the level of ambition. Hellebuyck would be the clearest signal yet that Grier is willing to trade some of the future for a real shot at the present.
After all the moves already made, that may be the biggest call he’s had to make.
In Other News...
Will Smith And Macklin Celebrini Gave Sharks Fans A Fun Preview
Before the Giants took the field, Sharks prospects Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini spent part of batting practice giving Bay Area fans something extra to talk about. The two young players took cuts before a San Francisco home game and handled themselves like natural entertainers, with Smith drawing on his well-known baseball background and both players reacting with the kind of excitement that made the scene feel bigger than a routine pregame warmup.
For San Jose, it was the sort of cross-sport cameo that plays well with a fan base eager to see what the next wave might look like. Social media helped turn the moment into a mini event, and the reactions from Smith and Celebrini only added to the buzz around two players already carrying plenty of attention. The swing session left just enough unresolved curiosity to make people wonder how far each of them can keep taking these little moments. [Read more 🡒]
Sharks Face A Risky Connor Hellebuyck Debate They Can't Ignore
Connor Hellebuyck is the sort of goaltender who can change a franchises timeline, and that is exactly why he has become such a complicated fit for the Sharks to consider. Winnipegs veteran has built an elite regular-season reputation and carries the kind of profile that would instantly raise San Joses ceiling, but any conversation around him has to account for his age and the long-term commitment that would come with adding him to the roster.
The harder part for the Sharks is what such a move would mean for their own crease and their broader rebuilding plan. Yaroslav Askarov is still viewed as a key piece of the future, so the price of chasing Hellebuyck would not be limited to cap space or contract terms. It comes down to whether San Jose believes it is close enough to contend for a Stanley Cup to justify making a bold swing now, even if the payoff is anything but certain. [Read more 🡒]
Sharks Quietly Made A Behind The Scenes Move Fans Should Notice
The Sharks have spent plenty of time building out the roster, but some of the most important work this summer came far away from the spotlight. San Jose promoted Eric Pinsky to assistant video coach and Josh Woodard to equipment manager, a pair of moves that keep familiar faces in the organization after both had been with the Barracuda. The club also added amateur scouts Cameron Burt and Tyler Holske, along with new head physical therapist Scott Greenberg, strengthening the support system around the NHL club.
There was also a quieter addition that says something about where the league is headed. San Jose brought in Nathan Airey as an emergency backup goalie, a role that will become mandatory for NHL teams on a full-time traveling basis starting in the 2026-27 season. It is the kind of behind-the-scenes move fans rarely notice until it matters, but it fits into a broader effort to make sure the Sharks are covered in every corner, from the bench to the training room to the crease. [Read more 🡒]