San Jose's biggest need? An offensive defenseman

The Sharks have barely gotten any offense out of their defensemen the last few years

For a long time, San Jose was the place for free-wheeling offensive defensemen.

Erik Karlsson put together one of the best offensive seasons for a defenseman in NHL history when he recorded 101 points for the Sharks in 2022-23, the most since Brian Leetch in 1991-92. When Karlsson was acquired by the Sharks back in 2018, he created a high-octane 1-2 punch of offensive defensemen with the free-spirited Brent Burns.

That dynamic didn’t pan out like the Sharks hoped, as they only made the playoffs one time in four seasons together. That one year (2018-19), though, was incredible, even if Karlsson wasn’t healthy for all of it. Those two spearheaded a Sharks offense that finished the year tied for second in the league in goals. Burns led both the Sharks and all NHL defensemen in points with 83, and Karlsson was a weapon when healthy with 45 points in 53 games.

Between 2014-15, when Burns was moved back from forward to defense full-time, and 2021-22, after which Burns was traded to Carolina, Burns led all NHL defensemen in points, and Karlsson was fifth, though Karlsson had more points per game.

Before Burns and Karlsson, there was Dan Boyle. Boyle had a much more well-rounded game than Burns and Karlsson, but he still had plenty of offensive production. During his tenure in San Jose, only Duncan Keith and Shea Weber had more points than Boyle. Burns, Karlsson and Boyle have accounted for 13 of the 15 highest-scoring seasons by defensemen in franchise history.

But Boyle retired a decade ago, Burns was dealt in the summer of 2022 and Karlsson followed suit a year later. In the years since, the Sharks have struggled immensely to find offense from its blueline.

In the three seasons since Karlsson’s departure, the Sharks’ leader in points by a defenseman is Mario Ferraro, who has just 61 points in 238 games. Dmitry Orlov’s 37 points this past season are the most by a San Jose blueliner in that span. As the Sharks look to get out of their rebuild and finally return to the playoffs for the first time since 2019, improving the defense’s offensive capabilities should be near the top of the to-do list.

Four teams haven’t had a defenseman hit the 40-point mark in that span: San Jose, Chicago, St. Louis and, oddly enough, Florida. Yes, the Panthers managed to win back-to-back Stanley Cups without a defenseman scoring 40 points, though Aaron Ekblad had a real shot at doing it in 2024-25 before failing a drug test. The Panthers made up for it by having a bunch of well-rounded defensemen who could move the puck and a forward corps that could more than make up for any offensive shortcomings from the defensemen.

The Sharks aren’t quite in a class of their own when it comes to a lack of offense from their defensemen, but they’re not that far off. San Jose’s defensemen have combined for 385 points, trailing only Chicago (371). Those two teams are the only ones to not even break 400. This is counting Arizona and Utah as the same team — technically, they’re separate franchises, but nothing on the roster actually changed — but it’s worth noting that Utah’s production alone in two years (347) isn’t that far off from what San Jose has done in three.

When the Sharks dealt Karlsson to Pittsburgh in the summer of 2023, it certainly wasn’t because they were trying to be competitive. Still, years of trying to complement their two star offensive defensemen with more defensive-minded blueliners meant that, once Burns and Karlsson were gone, there wasn’t anyone that could pick up the slack. I watched this team play in Nashville in October of 2023 and have a vivid memory of watching Kyle Burroughs quarterback the power play.

Things were so dire that the Sharks traded for Calen Addison, who’s been in the AHL the last two seasons since leaving San Jose, just to have someone with a pulse offensively quarterback the power play. Addison was by far and away the team leader in power play minutes among defensemen, but he also finished the year with just 12 points in 60 games and wasn’t brought back after the season.

Arguably, the best season by a Sharks defenseman since Karlsson’s departure came from Jake Walman, whom the Sharks acquired from Detroit for free while bafflingly taking on a second-round pick (which the Sharks used to select Leo Sahlin Wallenius). In addition to being the only Sharks defenseman to score more than half a point per game in that span, Walman played like a top pairing defenseman and was essentially San Jose’s only defenseman who could move the puck.

Walman’s tenure in San Jose was short-lived, as he was dealt at the 2025 trade deadline for a first-round pick in this year’s draft. San Jose filled in the hole he left behind the following year with John Klingberg, another offensive-minded defenseman who wouldn’t really cost the Sharks anything to acquire. Klingberg didn’t fare as well as Walman, especially on the power play.

Once upon a time, Klingberg was one of the NHL’s best power-play quarterbacks. In addition to some incredible on-ice impacts with the man advantage, he also had the eighth-most power-play points among defensemen between the 2015-16 and 2021-22 seasons.

However, those days are long over. The Sharks actually fared better with Orlov than Klingberg when up a man. With Orlov, the Sharks scored 9.86 goals per 60 minutes on 8.18 expected, per Natural Stat Trick. With Klingberg, the goals went all the way down to 3.95 on eight expected, and the Sharks gave up significantly more shorthanded chances and shorthanded goals. The Sharks failing to finish when Klingberg was on the ice isn’t necessarily his fault, though perhaps it can be argued that the Sharks moved the puck better with Orlov running the unit in a way that would be difficult for public expected goals models to pick up on. The two defensemen’s numbers with Macklin Celebrini while up a man show a similar divide, so it’s not just a deployment problem.

Orlov is still under contract for another season, while Klingberg likely won’t be back with his contract up. San Jose does have a couple of options in the pipeline in Luca Cagnoni and Eric Pohlkamp. Cagnoni has been one of the AHL’s highest-scoring defensemen the last two seasons, while Pohlkamp had the most points by a defenseman in the NCAA last year.

But it feels a little unlikely that a third of the Sharks’ defense will be two players who are both under 23 and less than 6 feet tall. Plus, the Sharks probably shouldn’t bet on two rookies accounting for all of their offense from the blueline. Even if San Jose selects Chase Reid with the second overall pick, they’re still going to need more immediate help.

NHL-ready options are hard to find, but it wouldn’t be all that surprising if the Sharks find a way to acquire Morgan Rielly. San Jose has enough gritty, defensive-minded defensemen to make up for some of his many defensive shortcomings, his $7.5 million salary through 2030 isn’t too painful and the Sharks have plenty of cap space, as they’re currently well below the cap floor.

With Celebrini, Will Smith, Michael Misa, Igor Chernyshov, William Eklund and Collin Graf (and maybe Ivar Stenberg?), San Jose has a treasure trove of young, talented forwards who can put the puck in the back of the net. Now, the Sharks just need to find a way to give them more support from the blueline.