The San Jose Sharks, as expected, have issued qualifying offers to pending restricted free agents Collin Graf and Shakir Mukhamadullin, but are parting ways with forward Philipp Kurashev after one year.
The 26-year-old Kurashev, who signed a one-year, $1.2 million deal with San Jose last July 1 as an unrestricted free agent, will again become a UFA after not receiving a qualifying offer from the Sharks.
The Sharks also did not extend qualifying offers to defenseman Noah Beck and goalie Gabriel Carriere.
Monday was the deadline to issue qualifying offers to pending RFAs or lose their negotiating rights. The Sharks recently locked up two other pending RFAs, signing center Zack Ostapchuk to a four-year contract and defenseman Michael Kesselring to a three-year deal.
Kurashev had a solid start to this past season with 15 points in his first 30 games before he sustained an upper-body injury in a Dec. 13 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He missed the next 19 games before returning on Jan. 31 to face the Calgary Flames and had a goal and four assists over his next eight games.
But starting on March 7, Kurashev only played in four of the Sharks’ final 22 games, including 13 straight healthy scratches from March 24 to April 15 while the team was trying to stay in the mix for a playoff spot. Kurashev finished the season with 20 points in 43 games.
The Sharks’ decision to sit Kurashev partly coincided with the return of winger Igor Chernyshov, who missed four games with a head injury he sustained in a March 14 game against the Montreal Canadiens. Chernyshov played in 12 of the Sharks’ final 14 games, collecting eight points.
Before coming to San Jose, Kurashev had 130 points in 317 games with the Chicago Blackhawks, who drafted him in 2018. His best season in Chicago came in 2023-24, when he was linemates with Connor Bedard and had 54 points in 75 games, averaging 19:01 in ice time.
The Sharks and Mukhamadullin’s camp were slated to meet sometime this week.
The 24-year-old Mukhamadullin, on a one-year, $1 million contract, had 12 points in 50 games this past season, averaging 15:27 per game. He has 22 points in 83 career games and has arbitration rights.
Graf, with his entry-level deal now expired, is due a significant raise after coming off a breakout year in which he set new career highs in points (46), games played (81), and average ice time (16:27).
Graf was third on the Sharks with 21 goals as he spent a good chunk of this past season on the team’s top line with Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith and also became one of the team’s leading penalty killers.
The Sharks have several other pending unrestricted free agents in forwards Ryan Reaves and Pavol Regenda and defensemen Mario Ferraro, Vincent Desharnais, John Klingberg, and Nick Leddy.