The NHL’s training camp rosters have been released, and the San Jose Sharks have one of the most intriguing in the entire league. 63 players earned spots in camp, ranging from established veterans to prospects still multiple seasons away from playing at the highest level. While every player at the camp will be going through their own journeys and bringing their own stories to the ice, a few stand out as especially exciting due to their context, whether within the Sharks or otherwise. Here are five players who deserve particular attention over the span of camp.
Filip Bystedt
As general manager Mike Grier’s first-ever draft pick, forward Filip Bystedt holds a special place in the Sharks organization. In his time since he was selected in 2022, he’s shown solid progress in his career, playing his first full season with the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League in 2024-25 and posting 31 points in 50 games.
Filip Bystedt, San Jose Sharks (Photo credit: LA Kings)
At 21 years old, Bystedt hasn’t aged out of being a prospect, but he desperately needs to keep moving forward. He’s three years removed from being drafted and one of just four players from the first round of his draft class yet to play in an NHL game. During their rebuild, the Sharks have been able to take their time with him, but they can’t afford to wait on him forever. Given how many great forwards the Sharks have added to their prospect pipeline since drafting him, this is the season for Bystedt to prove he has a place in the NHL. Training camp is a great place for him to start heading towards that goal.
Jeff Skinner
Several of the veterans the Sharks added this offseason are reclamation projects. Among the forwards, Jeff Skinner is the perfect example of this. Following a stretch in which he scored at least 24 goals in seven straight non-shortened seasons, he had an adequate-but-inconsistent 2024-25 with the Edmonton Oilers. Now he hopes the Sharks can help return his career to its previous form.
A turnaround in San Jose isn’t outside the realm of possibility. Even though the Sharks haven’t been very good over the last few seasons, they’ve provided a boost to the careers of several veterans, including Mikael Granlund, Tyler Toffoli and Jake Walman. The weakness of their roster has given the veterans lots of ice time and plenty of room to play to their style in a way they might not get on other teams. Skinner can look to them as examples on which to base his play this season, and training camp is where he begins proving he can get back on track.
Haoxi Wang
Among the Sharks’ defensemen at camp, Haoxi Wang may be the most interesting. As the 33rd overall pick at this year’s draft, he is the highest-drafted Chinese-born player in NHL history, and started playing hockey at a much later age than the average player drafted that high. He is one of the most raw, undeveloped prospects in the Sharks’ entire prospect pool, and training camp is a great opportunity to get a better sense of exactly how he stacks up against more experienced players in an NHL context.
Related: Sharks’ 2025-26 Has to Be a Prove-It Season
Wang held his own at the Rookie Faceoff, most notably getting into a fight with Kaleb Lawrence of the Los Angeles Kings. But he still has a long adjustment period ahead of him as he gets used to the pace of professional hockey. Of course, a large portion of that will take place at the junior level rather than the NHL, but training camp will give him a better sense of his specific strengths and shortcomings at this point in his career.
Nick Leddy
No one on the Sharks’ training camp roster has a bigger chip on his shoulder than defenseman Nick Leddy. After appearing in just 31 games for the St. Louis Blues last season, they waived him early in the 2025 free agency period, a move that had been gestating in St. Louis for a long time. He was quickly claimed by the Sharks, but they did so at least partially due to their efforts to reach the salary cap floor. The league currently views him as something of a castoff, and now he wants to prove that wrong.
Leddy has spent much of his career earning a reputation as a solid defender, using his skating ability to stay in front of others while also proving capable of strong puckhandling and passing. He’s played over 1,000 NHL games and won a Stanley Cup. Now at age 34, he’s taking on a new challenge: showing he still has some good years left in him. Training camp won’t be the determinant of whether or not he can do that, but it’s a place for him to generate positive momentum for the rest of the season.
Joshua Ravensbergen
Given his status as a newly-drafted goalie on a team with a much more developed, highly anticipated goalie prospect, Joshua Ravensbergen is years away from reaching the NHL, but he’s still got a spot at camp this year. As such, it will be fascinating to see how he holds up in net against far more experienced skaters.
He is in a similar place to Wang: he’ll get a chance to find his biggest strengths and places to improve. By being around NHL goalies and goalie coaches, he should be able to learn a lot about the professional game and his own standing as a netminder. It’s a rare chance for such a young goalie, and he needs to take full advantage.
Sharks Can Use Training Camp to Their Benefit
The Sharks will use training camp for a lot of purposes. They’ll play around with different lineups and line combinations and learn which players work well together. They’ll work to get established players up to pace and fully into game shape. But they’ll also be evaluating players to determine where they stand within the organization — which level they should be playing at, how much playing time they should get there and plenty more. All these players come into camp with something to prove, and it can serve as a data point for the rest of their careers.
