Which San Jose Sharks Have The MOST To Gain This Season? | Mukhamadullin Ready To Cash In?

Which San Jose Sharks Have The MOST To Gain This Season? | Mukhamadullin Ready To Cash In?

Shakir Moan is the shark with the most to gain from this season. Who else joins him on that list? Your Locked On Sharks, your daily podcast on the San Jose Sharks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, welcome to Locked on Sharks, the premier hockey podcast covering your favorite team in the Bay Area. My name is JD Young, caretaker at the Reef, also the co-host of Locked On NHL. I want to thank you for making Lockown Sharks your first listen. Proudly part of the Lockdown Network. We cover your team every day. And if you want to be an everyday, all you have to do just follow along over you get podcasts. And of course, you can watch on YouTube as well. And today we’re going to be looking at three players who I think have the most to gain from a successful 2526 season. Uh we’re going to be looking at Shakir Mukadullan, Philip Kersev, and Alex Adelkovich and why I think these players could set themselves up to have a really nice off season next year. Uh so before we get to all that, I do want to let you guys know that today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NHL atmononey.com for 50% off your first year. All right. Uh so as we continue to kind of get ready for the upcoming 2526 season, I thought now is a good time to to look at players who particularly, you know, guys who might be part of medium to long-term solutions for the San Jose Sharks. uh and why a successful 2526 season uh would be very beneficiary for them especially when it comes to uh long-term or big time contracts and we know the Sharks are a team that is uh you know very clean books and especially when you look at the defensive group right now right where there is uh one player currently under contract for the 2627 season on the blue line that is Dmitri Orlav and while expect maybe Sam Dickinson and some of these other guys to be on the team next year uh and including Shakir Mukuma Madullan. Um it would be nice for for a guy like Mukuma Madulan to really kind of cement himself uh going forward. So let’s start by kind of just as a quick reminder of what Mukuman did last season. Uh so uh Shakir Muka Madullan uh in 30 games last year uh with the Sharks had two goals, seven assists with 30 shots on goal. Played about 18 minutes a night. Uh when he was on the ice, the Sharks took 4801 or 48.01% of the shot attempts. Um which was pretty uh I think it was sixth best among Sharks players. um goals for when he was on the ice. They scored 39.39% of the goals and both those numbers are at five on five. Mod 6’4, 200 uh pounds. He’s 23 uh turns 24 at the uh be middle of January and again he signed a one-year deal this off season at $1 million. So, Luke McDowan has a chance to really set him up for a himself up for a very nice payday next or some either during the season or sometime uh during next year’s offseason. He is an RFA, so no matter what, like the Sharks are going to control his rights. But, uh, looking at how, you know, Micro has been with his, uh, so far with his contracts, he’s been very like short-term, short-term, short-term, you know, the biggest contract he’s given out is a four-year deal to Tyler to Foley, who was a UFA at the time. Even a guy like William Ecklan who um you know it seems like both parties wanted that kind of shorter term but he even he got a three-year deal at $5.3 million. Now, I don’t expect Mukbad to sign like a six or seven or eight year deal, which is still uh available, but I do, you know, expect him to kind of look towards getting some sort of stability and not continually signing these kind of one-year deals as as the Sharks look to continue to kind of take that next step. So, um I think for Mukuma Madullan, like the the kind of the big factors for him to have a positive season, uh this year and work towards a a big-time contract. Uh the first thing first is is you got to stay healthy, right? Um and some of this is not his own, you know, not of his doing, right? The the injury that ended his season last year definitely not of his doing. Uh Frank Toronto. Um but, you know, a guy who has kind of struggled with injuries, right? the last two seasons unable to finish the whether in the AHL or the NHL unable to finish his seasons because of injuries. Even coming into this year’s uh dealt with a groin injury uh during before training camp it pretty much knocked him out the first month of the season. Had to start with the Barracuda this year before making the jump up to the NHL. Um I think Mukuman showed why he’s going to be a you know a really solid piece for you going forward. Um, so that’s the number one thing is just to try to stay healthy for Muk Mulan. And if he can stay healthy and he’s playing, you know, 70 to 75 games, I think you’re going to count that as a major win for for him, right? And a guy who’s 6’4, but, you know, I think still a little bit kind of lanky. Um, and hopefully I know he’s rehabbing that shoulder, but hopefully he’s able to continue to try to add some more muscle and add a little bit more weight because 6’4, 200 lb, and we’ve seen it like he’s he’s just a little bit of a lanky kid, which is fine. Um, but I think for the rigers, especially playing defense, uh, being that size, um, would be nice to have a little bit more just a little more meat, I guess, on on the on the blue line there. Um, I think number one, yes, staying healthy. I think that’s the biggest that’s the biggest hurdle for Mukuman. Number two is, um, the consistency, and we saw last year even his 30 his 30 games where, you know, he came kind of out of the gate with the Sharks. it looked really well and then kind of had a little bit of a dip but before his injury um I thought was playing some of his best hockey in the NHL and maybe that was that just that kind of like light bulb moment where he was things were starting to kind of click and slow down for him. So I think for Muk Madulan being that kind of 20 minute a night guy playing on the second most likely on the second unit or the second line um you know we’ll see who his defensive pairs how they kind of shake out but just being that a little bit more consistency expecting him to to play big time penalty kill minutes and um you know and hopefully start to see a little bit more of that offensive pop. Um, Muk Madon is a guy who I think when he tries to, as weird as it sounds, when he tries to think, he is actually kind of at his worst. Um, and I think for him, he’s just a guy who just needs to kind of go, right, and just just go and um, and we started to see more and more of that as the season wore on and as he kind of got more and more comfortable with the NHL. And again, this is a guy who’s played, you know, 35 NHL games, whatever it is, like he does not have a ton of NHL experience, but I think this is a big year for him to kind of step into that role and take on a bigger mantle. And we saw, especially with his time with the Barracuda, where, you know, before last year, he was kind of given a much more offensive role with the Barracuda. Um last year with the additions that they made with Luka Canyone and um Jimmy Schultton, some of the other players like Mukadon played a little bit more of a defensive role and kind of more of that shutdown player. Now, I think for this season, trying to have a combination of the two of right, being that legit two-way defenseman who I I think Mukdan is going to be definitely known for his his defensive skills, but being able to chip in a little bit more offensively, being able to kind of uh start the transition and and jump into the transition more. I think that’s when we’re going to see Muk Madan at his best. So, uh, if he again everything goes well, he stays healthy this season, uh, we see some more of that kind of production from him that we’ve seen flashes of, I think Muka Madulan could be a guy who, you know, looks at a potentially fouryear, four million, you know, 4 million AAV type of contract going forward who again turns 24 this year that runs him through his age 28 season and then maybe uh, by then he’s looking for, you know, a longer contract. contract or you’ve kind of helped fill out the blue line around him around some of your other pieces there. But um I think this is a a massive massive year for Mukuman to really put things together. And I I think he’s I’m I’m excited to see how he uh approached this summer and what we see from Muk Mulong because he’s he’s given all the runway uh this this year to to win a big time time job uh and put himself in a position to earn him a big-time contract. And uh so hopefully we’ll see that he he’s able to take advantage of it because it’s right in front of him there. So uh we’re going to look at Phil Kersev uh a new addition to the San Jose Sharks who RFA uh but could be a guy who returns to form and really kind of solidifies himself as a nice middle six piece for the San Jose Sharks for a while. So uh we’ll get to that here in just one second. You just realized your business need to hire someone like yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. When it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job post seen on other sites. Indeed sponsor jobs put your post at the top of the page and help you reach the right candidates faster. If you have ever been in the spot where you need to hire like yesterday, the pressure’s on and every day without the right person is a setback. That’s exactly when Indeed sponsor jobs come in handy. They make sure your post is seen by the right candidates right now. Now you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 sponsor job credit. Just go to indeed.com/lockedon right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. All right, before we continue, do of course want to thank you for making Locked on Sharks your first listen. Uh if you haven’t yet, perfect time to subscribe. Uh one, couple big time guests coming up here soon. So, uh I’m not going to say anything more, but some big time guests coming up over the next couple weeks. Uh and two, this season’s going to be right around the corner. So, you going want to make sure that you’re uh make getting ready for what’s going to be a really fun 25 26 season for the San Jose Sharks. So make sure you follow along wherever you get podcast and of course you can watch on YouTube as well. All right. Uh Philip Kerschev uh is a player who I think is in a great position to return to form uh with the San Jose Sharks and again maybe earn himself a big-time contract either here or elsewhere but still. Uh so as a reminder uh Philip Kersev last season with the Chicago Blackhawks um he played 51 games only had seven goals, seven assists for 50 and with 54 shots on goal playing 1343 average time on ice. Um of course he for 43.18% goals for 29.17%. Uh he turns 26 right as the season starts uh 6 foot 190 pounds and he’s signed a one-year deal at $1.2 $2 million this off seasonason with the San Jose Sharks. Um why I think Kurv is a guy who really could um have a nice season this year is because we’ve seen him not that long ago put up much more higher production uh while playing in a elevated role. If you go back to the uh 23-24 season where he played 75 games with the Blackhawks, um he had 18 goals, 36 assists for 54 points in 75 games. Um playing about 19 minutes a night. Um that year he was played a lot with some kid named Connor Bard who was a rookie that year. U but Kersev really thrived while playing bigger minutes as you would expect. Um, and I think for Kurichev, uh, a guy who has an opportunity to win more minutes this uh, of this season, um, this could be a chance to kind of return to form for him. Um, you look at the Sharks top six and you have some guys locked into positions, right? We know Celrini number one se, right? Uh, we know Tyler Tofo is going to be there. We know William’s going to be there. Uh, we know Will Smith’s gonna be there. That leaves four, right? Four out of a potential top six. You have a feeling Jeff Skinner is probably gonna be there. So, we’ll say five. Um, and then that leaves Godet, Michael Misa, um, Kurichev, like there’s there’s plenty of other guys kind of fighting for that six spot in the top six. Alex Wenberg. Um, you know, like there there’s Colin Graph just right there. There there’s plenty of guys here. Kurichev, though, I think is a player who could very easily win a top six spot. And I know there’s going to be people like, we’ll just put Michael Misa. Assuming Michael Misa is on the Will Smith plan of of path to success, right? Where Will Smith started the season playing third line minutes last year. uh very kind of protected and sheltered. And then kind of the halfway point, we saw the training wheels come off and he played uh was playing a lot more minutes, right? And was playing kind of top six minutes that the second half of the season. So assuming Michael Misa, who I do think is going to play with the Sharks this year, assuming he’s going to Misa’s on that path, um I think we see more sheltered Misa as he gets used to the NHL before they kind of let him go. So, um, so we’ll say like realistically it’s probably Godette, Wenberg, um, and, uh, Kurichev realistically kind of fighting and we’ll say Colin Graph as well, like those four guys kind of fighting for that last U spot in the top six there, which is a much better position than we were last year where especially with as those guys kind of trickled down to that third line where it was pulling a lot of fourth liners to go play on on the third line for San Jose. But I do think for Kurichev, a guy who right if he’s playing with a more dynamic center, whether it be Michael Cullbriny or whether it be Will Smith, and I know we have questions about Will Smith at center long term, but um both these players are dynamic players, right? And I think Kersev could be one of those guys who’s in a position to succeed because of that, because of uh his ability, I think, to play off these guys, play with these guys, uh help create offense, and then also just be a guy who can really take advantage of u you know, some potentially open looks for you. So I I I do think for Kershv the big thing will be to you have to kind of come into camp. Uh and you got to start strong, right? And really cement yourself as one of those top six players because again, right, you feel like you got five out of the six guys really locked down um between again, Ekkan to Foley, u Smith, and Skinner who most likely like those are your top top six players there. Trying to find that last one there. I think Kurichev is going to be the guy who can really cement himself. Now the big question right is say if Kurichev goes out and and he repeats um kind of what we saw from him uh in that 23 24 season where you know maybe he’s like 15 goals, 35 uh points that or 35 assists. Uh so you know trying to do math on that might that’s like 50 goals in a season or 50 points in a season. Um, that’d be a huge boost to the Sharks offense, which one needs more offense, but two could put him like then you might have the potential Kevla Bank type syndrome, right? Where um Le Bank, again, we all know Blimp Bank put up like 56 points. um got his like one-year deal where the Sharks were kind of messing around to try to like stay under the cap and then end up getting a long-term deal which of course we all know worked out horribly for the Sharks, right? And um as they kind of wrote like he was never the same guy again, dealt with injuries uh and clearly we can see Kevin Leank thrived playing next to some guy named Joe Thornton. The problem with with Kersev here is he could be in that same type of situation where yes playing with either Will Smith or whomever playing top six minutes but as the Sharks young guys graduate right uh Musty Shernes uh Cam Lun etc etc KersV is going to get pushed back down the lineup here and maybe this isn’t a guy you want to fully invest in long term like that um but somebody else might. So I do think for Kersha if he’s a player who like if it’s not with the San Jose, he could be a guy who really boosts his stock this season uh because playing top six minutes on what’s probably going to be a bad team still again. But um if he can be a guy who kind of flirts with that like 45 50 points this year, he could really set himself up for a nice payday next off season. Again, whether that’s with San Jose or not is a question that I think will be determined by someone not on the roster right now. uh whether again it’s Musty or Sherneshave or you know one of these young players who’s ready to be a full-time NHLer next year and kind of pushes him down the lineup. But I do think though for Kersev and and his career uh coming into camp like ready to go um could really set him up to have a really nice season for San Jose and then probably earn a big pay big-time paycheck uh this off season and maybe he gets traded um as a potential uh trade deadline type of candidate for somebody who wants to add um add a little bit more scoring in the middle six. So, uh, we’re going to finish up by looking at the goalender, Alexander Nadulkovich, and why I think he, unlike some of these other guys, unlike Kersev, um, maybe he can find himself a home uh, here in San Jose. So, uh, we’ll get to that here in just one second. 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They make it super easy to do that uh all in one place. So don’t let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use code lockdown NHL atmon.com for in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com. Use code locked on NHL. All right, before we finish up, do of course want to thank you for making Locked On Sharks your first listen. For your second listen, when you’re done with this episode, go check out uh the Locked On NHL podcast. There’s no offseason. We’re bringing you the daily leaguewide stories that matter the most with local coverage you love from Locked On. find Locked on Angel on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast. All right, finally, Alexander Nadelkovich. Uh, a player who I think really could find a home here in San Jose. Uh we know Nadulkovich is a a player who’s um maybe after a a stellar rookie season uh with the Carolina Hurricanes where he was a finalist for the Calder. Kind of bounced around the last couple years, right? He was traded quickly traded to Detroit, spent some time in Detroit, spent the last two years in in with Pittsburgh and you know has not been able to kind of solidify himself as a kind of that one uh for the you know his respective team in San Jose. He might have that opportunity. So, uh, Nadelkovich last season, um, he had 35 games with the Penguins, had a 3.12 goals against average with 894 save percentage, allowed 112 goals on 111 expected goals, so is minus one goal saved above expected with an 801 high danger save percentage. Um, 6′ 23 lbs. He’s 29 years old, has one year left on his deal at $2.5 million. Um, and I think for Nadulkovich, a a player who um is also a UFA at the end of the season, could be a guy who makes San Jose his home. Um, we know Mike Greer, not only was he, you know, going out to try to find a backup, a clear backup for um or like kind of a partner for Yaros of Ascrov. He wanted to make sure like he thought the two guys would would get along really well, right? Especially when you have a younger player like Ascarov who’s going to be going through his ups and downs as a full-time NHL player this year. Having a guy like Nadulkovich who’s gone through those ups and downs as a younger player, has bounced around the last couple seasons, has played with a bunch of different guys on a bunch of different teams in a bunch of different situations, right? He’s played on winning teams like Carolina. He’s played on teams fighting for playoff spots like Detroit. And he’s played on bad teams like the Penguins. So, he’s kind of a guy who’s been there and done that for a lot of different teams. I think having a guy like that in in the room and a guy for Ascarov to kind of lean on and you you would and yes, Nakovich is a competitor and he wants to play games, etc., etc., But I think we know the clear-cut like this is Ascarov’s crease now and in long term. And Adelovich’s job is to kind of be a good it’s kind of that like backup quarterback thing, right? Uh the backup quarterback, he’s especially when you have like a clearcut setter starter, his job is to make the starter job is is like kind of be his friend uh make his life as easy as possible, help him out and get him ready to go. Nookovic of course is going to play you know 35 to 40 games this year anyway. Um but like this whole season is at least from the goalender perspective is to kind of get get Ascrov ready to be that like 55 game starter long term um for for San Jose. And I think for Nadulkovich, if he plays well, and we clearly saw him play u pretty well behind a a bad Penguins team last year, and if he can play up to that same type of standard, right, maybe not the sexiest goals against and save percentage uh from him, but you know, some of the analytics are are pretty good. again, despite having a horrendous defense in front of him, he could be a guy where I could see Mike Greer being like, “This is working out great, right?” Um, we want you to stay here. We want you to help Ascarov to continue to be the best Ascar version of Ascrov that we think he can be. And if if Nadulkovich play one, plays well. That’s the most important thing. Like, you have to play well. Um, if you’re a great locker room guy, but you’re not doing anything on the ice, like the Sharks will be able to find another one. But I think for Nadelovich, right, is a getting a coming in and really setting yourself up to um be kind of that really strong 1B and we’ve seen him again play really well. Yes, I know Carolina is a much better team and that was a weird season with in the 202021 season, but um he’s played pretty strong hockey behind some pretty poor teams and we assume the Sharks are going to continually start to uh get better and better here. I think Nadulkovich, there’s no reason to believe that Nadulvage can’t put up similar if not maybe slightly better numbers than what we saw uh last year behind the what we saw last year in Pittsburgh. So, um, but yes, if he plays well, um, and he’s kind of a great locker room guy and then really helps Ask Grov to kind of fully unlock what we think Asgrov is going to be, uh, I don’t see why Mike Greer wouldn’t want to kind of mess around. And I I don’t think Nadulkovich or any goalie like unless you know they’re the guy like we’re not going to see like a Martin Jones like sixyear type of deal. But you know could you see the Nadulkovich getting kind of a twoyear or three years at like two and a half million. It’s kind of similar deal but just be like we like what you’re doing. We like what kind of where your direction is. And he’s he’s 29 like he turns 30 uh the middle of the season here. like, you know, he’s as a goalie, he’s kind of still I I don’t want to say prime, but like he’s there’s still plenty of tread left on his tire and I don’t expect his game to to kind of fall apart here. So, um I think for him is just right, be a good locker room guy, play really well and just help Ascrov. And I wouldn’t see why he and especially if he gets along and likes it here, I wouldn’t see why like you can kind of solve your goalending for the next couple years between Ascarov uh who’s probably, you know, is going to be hopefully commanding a bigger contract here uh sometime really soon. Then kind of that steady veteran who if you need him to come in and play some games and and help out like he can do that as well. So, I think these three guys here all with good seasons all can set themselves up to have big time uh kind of big- time commitments heading their way. Uh whether it’s from San Jose hopefully with guys like Muk Madul and Adulovic or if it’s elsewhere maybe with Philip Kersev uh kind of use this as a uh a bounceback rebound area. I think all three of these guys could be uh could be looking that way. So, um that’s going to be it for me today. We’ll be back later this week again. We got a big time interview coming up. Uh, Wednesday night is when the interview drops. So, uh, make sure you’re following along wherever you get podcasts and of course you can watch on YouTube as well. Follow the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Lockown Sharks. Follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky Fryhole. Uh, until later. Bye, friends.

Which San Jose Sharks players have the most to gain in the 2025-26 season? Three key names stand out: defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin, forward Philipp Kurashev, and goaltender Alexander Nedeljkovic.

Mukhamadullin, a 23-year-old blueliner on a one-year deal, aims to prove he deserves a long-term spot on the Sharks’ backend. Can he build on his 9-point campaign and secure a multi-year contract?

Kurashev, 26, looks to bounce back from a down year and recapture his 50-point form. With young centers like Celebrini and Smith emerging, where does Kurashev fit in San Jose’s top-six plans?

Nedeljkovic seeks stability between the pipes at age 29. Could he become Yaroslav Askarov’s mentor and earn an extension as the Sharks’ reliable 1B goalie option?

Tune in for an in-depth look at these three Sharks fighting to cement their NHL futures in teal.

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