Sharks sign veteran defenseman, two others

Klingberg looked capable of the nightly role, even despite a bilateral hip surgery limiting him to just 44 games over the last two seasons combined. He’s scored 13 points in those appearances, though handled a clear-cut top-pair role pre-injury and a third-pair role after returning. A lofty price tag in San Jose could push him up the team’s depth chart on a very shallow right-shot side. He should fill a second-pairing role alongside Henry Thrun, Shakir Mukhamadullin or Sam Dickinson. All three youngsters have the mobility to help cushion Klingberg as he looks to transition from an injury to a battered role with San Jose.

Boosting the offense will be Kurashev and Gaudette, who each filled minor roles on their NHL squads this season, though through very different paths. Gaudette is coming off of his first full season in the NHL since the 2021-22 campaign, when he played 50 games for the Ottawa Senators. He scored just 12 points that season, prompting an assignment to the minor leagues that took two seasons of strong scoring to work out of. In what was the first full AHL season of his career, Gaudette managed 51 points in 65 games during the 2022-23 campaign, split between the Toronto Marlies and Springfield Thunderbirds. He returned for Springfield last season and exploded for 44 goals and 71 points in 67 games. That was good enough to earn a call-up back to the Senators that he took full advantage of, with 19 goals and 26 points in 81 games.

Meanwhile, Kurashev took a hard fall from grace last year after managing a career-season in 2023-24. He recorded 54 points in 75 games in a top-line role with the Chicago Blackhawks that year, but tumbled all the way down to just 14 points, split evenly, in 51 games this season. The steep drop in scoring coincided with concerns about Kurashev’s two-way game, and calls for his assignment to the minor-leagues. The 25-year-old winger has shown flashes of scoring upside throughout his career, with 130 points in 317 games. He’ll look to rediscover his flash of scoring as he joins a similarly skilled-and-speedy Sharks lineup.