SAN JOSE — The Sharks on Wednesday took what they hope is the first step toward addressing their beleaguered blue line, acquiring right-shot defenseman Michael Kesselring and the 27th overall selection in next week’s NHL Draft from the Buffalo Sabres for the 20th overall pick that originally belonged to the Edmonton Oilers.

“Michael has a big frame with solid two-way ability,” Sharks general manager Mike Grier said in a statement. “He is a responsible player in the defensive zone with a well-rounded offensive game, and will be a good upgrade for us patrolling the blueline. We’re happy to have him a part of the organization.”

The Sharks had to address their blueline since they have only two defensemen under contract for next season, Dmitry Orlov and Sam Dickinson. A third defenseman, Shakir Mukhamadullin, is a pending restricted free agent and remains under team control. He, Dickinson and Orlov are left-shot defensemen.

Other defensemen who played for the Sharks this past season, Mario Ferraro, Vincent Desharnais, Nick Leddy, and John Klingberg, are all pending unrestricted free agents, and it appears they’ll all likely get a chance to test free agency, when it begins on July 1.

Kesselring, 26,  is a pending RFA with arbitration rights, as he’s coming off a two-year, $2.8 million contract he signed with the Utah Mammoth in 2024.

The first-round pick the Sharks sent to Buffalo was acquired from the Oilers in March 2025 as part of the deal that sent defenseman Jake Walman to Edmonton. Grier had previously said he was open to moving the pick for immediate help, and Wednesday’s deal still gives the Sharks eight picks in next week’s draft, including two in the first round, and some flexibility with what they want to do with the second overall selection they won during the draft lottery in May.

After Kesselring and forward Josh Doan were acquired by the Sabres from the Mammoth last June, Kesselring sustained a knee injury during training camp, causing him to miss the first nine games of the regular season. He then suffered a high ankle sprain, which shelved him for two months before he returned for a Dec. 18 game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Kesselring then played 23 of the next 33 games, averaging 13:35 in ice time as a bottom-pair defenseman for Sabres coach Lindy Ruff.

But Kesselring’s role was further diminished when Buffalo acquired defensemen Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn from the Winnipeg Jets at the trade deadline in March. Often a healthy scratch, Kesselring played in only two of the Sabres’ final 16 regular-season games and in just one of their 13 playoff games as they advanced to the second round.

At that time, it appeared that Kesselring’s time in the Sabres’ organization was nearing an end, although Ruff declared last month that the team still thought he was capable of contributing at the NHL level.

“We believe in him still,” Ruff said of Kesselring, who was a sixth-round pick by the Oilers in 2018.

Nevertheless, the Sharks hope to get the version of Kesselring who played with the Mammoth in 2024-25. In 82 games with Utah that season, Kesselring had 29 points and averaged 17:41 in ice time per game. From 2023 to 2025 with Utah and the Arizona Coyotes, Kesselring had a combined 50 points in 147 games and was credited with 196 hits and 126 blocked shots.

Still, Grier has work to do, especially considering the Sharks’ goal is to make the playoffs next season.

If the Sharks do not sign any of their pending UFA defensemen, they’ll need to fill out the right side of the defense corps. Adding more size might be on the to-do list, but so is bringing in a puck mover, if any become available.

While Orlov played almost exclusively as a top-pair defenseman this past season, Dickinson, Mukhamadullin, and Kesselring still have to prove they can handle those kinds of minutes.

Defensemen prospects such as Luca Cagnoni and Eric Pohlkamp could get a shot to play in the NHL next season, but neither is a top-four guy right now, and the Sharks will still look to address holes via trade and free agency. The Sharks could also still use their No. 2 overall selection on a defenseman, but it’s unclear whether any of the top blueliners available — Chase Reid, Keaton Verhoeff or Carson Carels — could handle the difficult task of playing in the NHL right away as 18-year-olds.

In June 2024, the Sharks acquired Walman and a 2024 second-round pick from the Detroit Red Wings for future considerations. The Sharks then used that pick on Swedish-born defenseman Leo Sahlin Wallenius, who could be ticketed to play with the Barracuda next season, and traded Walman in March 2025 to the Oilers for a conditional first-round pick that was used in the Kesselring deal.

So, from that first trade with Detroit for nothing, the Sharks ended up with Sahlin Wallenius, Kesselring, and the 27th overall pick this year.