The San Jose Sharks are well and truly ahead of schedule in their rebuild.
Macklin Celebrini's sophomore season is giving the Sharks significant return on their initial investment, which saw San Jose pick Celebrini first overall in 2024. In addition, the team is firmly in positon to contend for a Western Conference playoff spot throughout the 2025-26 season's second half, a position the team hasn't been in for the past several seasons.
With the Sharks entering Thursday in possession of one of the Western Conference's two wild card spots, it seems that San Jose doesn't want to let go of their positioning any time soon.
And a massive move could be just around the corner.
The first signs of this potential move could be seen in a recently-completed trade, which saw the San Jose Sharks ship defencemen Ryan Ellis and Jack Furlong, in addition to a 2028 fourth-round draft pick, to the Chicago Blackhawks. In exchange, San Jose is receiving goaltender Laurent Brossoit, defenceman Nolan Allan, and a 2028 seventh-round selection.
A quick glance at Chicago's PuckPedia page shows that San Jose just freed up well over $7 million in cap space. That gives the Sharks some room to operate on the trade front; while they will be almost $1.7 million over the cap this offseason, they will have about $7.5 million to work with in the leadup to the deadline.
With regard to San Jose's return, the Sharks will be receiving a veteran netminder in the form of Laurent Brossoit. Through 140 career starts, Laurent Brossoit has a record of 64-46-13; the last two years he played, which saw him post respective records of 7-0-3 and 15-5-2, were arguably some of his best. Brossoit has also posted a 2.64 career goals against average and a net save percentage of .911.
While it remains to be seen if Laurent Brossoit will get playing time with the Sharks, the move does give San Jose a veteran netminder that is capable of putting strong performances together.
With the pre-Olympic trade freeze approaching and the trade deadline quickly following that pause, it would not be surprising if the Sharks use the freed-up cap space to pursue a big move ahead of the home stretch. Despite the Sharks' success, its young core is inexperienced and hasn't played big late-season games yet. Acquiring a veteran like Nazem Kadri, who recently signaled his interest in a trade and whose playoff experience includes helping the Colorado Avalanche to its first Stanley Cup in two decades, could help give the likes of Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith a necessary learning opportunity as the Sharks continue to work their way back to contention.
The Sharks may not be the most popular pick to make the Western Conference playoffs; however, the Laurent Brossoit trade gives them an important foothold not just on the trade market, but also in an increasingly-intense playoff race.