Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office.  Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful.  Those who don’t often see struggles and front office changes.

As we do each year, PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2026-27 season, though in a slightly different format than before.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia.  We’re currently covering the Pacific Division, next up are the Sharks.

Upper Limit: $104MM
Current Cap Charge: $100,664,305
Cap Space: $3,335,695
Potential Bonuses: $14.03MM (less than half likely to be reached)
Dead Cap: $12,842,221 (breakdown below)

Retention Charges: $2.8875MM (Erik Karlsson $1.5MM, Tomas Hertl $1.3875MM)
Buyout Charges: $2,833,334 (Martin Jones $1,666,667, Marc-Edouard Vlasic $1,166,667)
2025-26 Bonus Carryover Charge: $813,694
2026-27 Bonus Cushion Charge: Approximately $6.307MM

*-Teams who have more than 7.5% of the Upper Limit ($7.8MM) in potential bonuses have a cushion charge of the difference between their bonuses and the 7.5% amount.

Expiring Contracts (RFA): G Yaroslav Askarov ($2MM), D Luca Cagnoni ($920K + $30K in GP bonuses), F Macklin Celebrini ($975K + $1MM in ‘A’ bonuses, $2.5MM in ‘B’ bonuses – already extended), F Will Smith ($950K + $1MM in ‘A’ bonuses, $2.2MM in ‘B’ bonuses)

Celebrini already has his record-setting deal which we’ll get to later on but the bonuses are notable.  He’s a lock to max out on his ‘A’ bonuses while he’s one of the rare entry-level players who could hit the B ones as well; he did last year.  That’s a big chunk to potentially factor in depending on how their other bonuses play out and roster moves GM Mike Grier might make in-season.

Smith is going to be a big-ticket contract, whether it’s signed in-season or next summer.  There’s a direct comparable in Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli, who signed a six-year pact worth $13.75MM per season.  At this point, that might be the starting point for negotiations while a breakout year could push it even higher from there.

Cagnoni is hoping to lock down a full-time roster spot this season which would allow him to hit his small bonus as well.  With a pretty limited track overall, he’s a safe bet for a bridge deal.  If he’s a full-timer this year, he could more than double this.  If he’s more of a depth option, he might land more around the $1.5MM mark on a one-year pact.

Askarov is going to be an interesting case.  He didn’t have a great first season with them but expectations are that he’ll be much better.  Will he better enough to warrant a long-term pact that probably pushes into the $8MM range or higher?  Will both sides want a short-term deal that allows for more evaluation time?  That might fall in the $5MM territory.  Or, is there something in between that works?  And how much will their other expiring deals like Smith affect what San Jose wants to do here?  There are a lot of questions to ponder in Askarov’s case.

Expiring Contracts (UFA): F Logan Couture ($8MM), F Adam Gaudette ($2MM), F Barclay Goodrow ($3,641,667), D Dmitry Orlov ($6.5MM)

Couture hasn’t played since early 2024 and isn’t expected to this season.  He’ll be LTIR-eligible if the Sharks need more in-season flexibility.  Goodrow’s second stint with the Sharks hasn’t been as successful as the first.  He profiles as a PTO candidate next summer or someone who signs a low-cost one-year deal.  Gaudette had another solid showing goal-wise last season with 17 despite effectively playing fourth-line minutes.  If he repeats that, he could approach $3MM but his limited effectiveness overall will cap his market more than other 15-20-goal scorers.

Orlov was brought in to stabilize their back end last summer and did exactly that while having a career year offensively for good measure.  The repeatability of that at 35 with a deeper group around him this year is questionable, however.  Still, as the market grows, it’s plausible that Orlov could snag another two-year pact around this price point, even with his minutes dropping off as they’re likely to do this season.

Projected Upper Limit: $113.5MM
Current Cap Charge: $83,022,917 (17 players signed)
Cap Space: $30,477,083
Potential Bonuses: $7.5MM (around $3MM could be reached)
Dead Cap: $1.3875MM (Hertl retention)

That cap space number looks nice but half of that could go to Smith alone.  Add in a notable raise for Askarov and the possibility of bringing back Orlov and most of that money is gone.  Next summer won’t be anywhere near as splashy as this one was.

Expiring Contracts (RFA): F Igor Chernyshov ($945,417), D Sam Dickinson ($953,750 + $1MM in ‘A’ bonuses), F Michael Misa ($986,250 + $1MM in ‘A’ bonuses, $2.25MM in ‘B’ bonuses)

Misa is a bit of a wild card.  His rookie season wasn’t overly strong, though he was near half a point per game in limited action.  If he quickly secures a top-six role with a big uptick production-wise, he could get into that Fantilli (and soon-to-be-Smith) territory on his next contract.  Otherwise, a short-term bridge might make more sense but even that could approach double digits based on the big increases to the cap.  Bonus-wise, he’s unlikely to hit the B ones but some of the A ones could be in play.  Cherynshov impressed in limited action last season, securing some time on the top line, even.  If he stays on that trajectory over the next two years, a double-digit AAV isn’t out of the question for him either.  Depending on their other deals, they may not be able to sign everyone long-term and we know Grier is willing to bridge young wingers as he did with William Eklund (before trading him this summer).

Dickinson had a quiet rookie season but he was clearly being sheltered to help him adjust.  It stands to reason that the training wheels will come off more now, so to speak, as he’s viewed as a key offensive cog of the future.  If he shows that side over the next two seasons as expected, the $7MM+ five-year deals handed out to a handful of blueliners this summer become reasonable benchmarks to build a contract off of.  Meanwhile, Zeev Buium’s $9MM+ price tag would be a reasonable comparable to build off of on a max-term pact.  A bridge deal would be theoretically possible but given his expected importance, he’s the type of player they will want to lock up as long as possible.

Expiring Contracts (UFA): G Eric Comrie ($1.15MM), F Ty Dellandrea ($1.625MM), G Alex Nedeljkovic ($3MM), F Tyler Toffoli ($6MM)

Toffoli found his playing time harder to come by last season, resulting in a drop in production.  Even so, he’s still a capable second-line winger, even if his minutes are a little below that mark.  He’ll be 36 when this deal is up so it’ll be a shorter-term agreement next time around.  If his ice time ticks down again, he could be settling for something a little cheaper.  Otherwise, he should stay around this price range.  Dellandrea has been quiet in his first two years with the Sharks and is more of a depth player when everyone is healthy.  He does bring some physicality and penalty killing acumen, however, and can hold his own down the middle.  That gives him a high enough floor that he should be able to at least marginally beat this price even if his overall usage remains limited.

Nedeljkovic is a serviceable backup goalie who can handle a bit of a bigger workload when needed.  Barring the goalie market getting a lot more expensive over the next couple of years, his price tag should stay somewhat close to where it is on his next deal, especially if Askarov performs to expectations.  Comrie gets a mention here being that he’s on a seven-figure deal.  He can come off the cap fully when he’s in the minors and if third-string status is his long-term role moving forward, this is about where his money will land.

Projected Upper Limit: $127.5MM
Current Cap Charge: $68.3625MM (10 players signed)
Cap Space: $59.1375MM
Potential Bonuses: $3.25MM (around $1MM likely to be reached)
Dead Cap: $1.3875MM (Hertl retention)

While we were initially using $123MM as the forecast for earlier pieces in this series, we’ll work off the new league-provided projection moving forward.

For the second straight summer, the increase to the cap should be more than eaten up simply by re-signing their core RFAs.  If they don’t re-sign Toffoli and promote from within instead, that could buy them enough wiggle room to sign at least two of the three to long-term pacts, lowering the need for bridge deals.

Expiring Contracts (RFA): F Collin Graf ($4.675MM), F Ivar Stenberg ($1.075MM + $1MM in ‘A’ bonuses, $2.25MM in ‘B’ bonuses)

With only one full NHL season under his belt, it was understandable that Grier wanted to do a bridge deal with Graf, even though that one full season was a strong one.  A top-six forward in 2025-26, if he remains in that role and pushes more toward the 30-goal mark, he could plausibly be looking to double this with arbitration rights.  Stenberg, the number two pick in the draft, looms as another potential big-ticket deal.  It’s hard to forecast things before he has even played a game but if he lives up to expectations, he’s going to probably land around Smith’s cap percentage with a higher AAV thanks to the higher cap.  Bonus-wise, it seems unlikely he’ll get to the hard-to-achieve B ones but hitting at least some of his A ones is reasonable in all three seasons of this deal.

Expiring Contracts (UFA): D Michael Kesselring ($4.5MM), F Alexander Wennberg ($6MM)

Wennberg was brought in as a stabilizing veteran originally and liked the situation enough to sign on longer-term.  As the younger core becomes more established, his playing time is likely to drop.  Accordingly, it wouldn’t be shocking if he was traded by the time the deal was up to a team that could still use him as a second liner, while giving Grier a bit of breathing room cap-wise.  Wennberg will be heading into his age-35 year at this time and given the demand for centers, getting a raise and a multi-year pact seems realistic.

Kesselring was acquired from Buffalo this summer after a disappointing year with the Sabres.  He showed some promising flashes previously in Utah and they’ll be counting on him to raise the floor of the third pairing at a minimum.  If he can secure a top-four role by the time this deal expires, he could command several million more per year as a big, right-shot defender who will still be in his 20s.

Forecasted Upper Limit: $138.3375MM (8.5% increase)
Current Cap Charge: $52.5375MM (6 players signed)
Cap Space: $85.8MM
Potential Bonuses: None
Dead Cap: $1.3875MM (Hertl retention-final year)

Originally, we were using $133.5MM as the forecasted rate here.  But with the higher 2028-29 forecast, we’ll adjust this one upward as well for the remainder of the series.

Even with another projected double-digit increase money-wise on the cap, once again, RFA contracts will probably gobble that up.  Wennberg not returning or being gone by then could open up a little wiggle room but not enough for a core addition.

Expiring Contracts (RFA): None

Expiring Contracts (UFA): D Darnell Nurse ($9.35MM), F Zach Ostapchuk ($2.35MM), D Jacob Trouba ($8.5MM)

Ostapchuk is a physical fourth-line center and we saw the market for those players jump up a lot this summer.  This deal is right in line with those and if he can become a bit more productive offensively, adding another million or so to his current rate could be doable.

Nurse comes over from a trade with Edmonton where he failed to live up to the lofty price tag on the contract.  He probably won’t do so in San Jose either, but he will still give that group a boost.  He’ll be 35 when this deal expires and should ideally be more of a fourth option at that time.  A multi-year pact could still be doable but it will come in a couple million lower than this.  Trouba’s market was robust this summer, helping him earn a deal bigger than most expected.  He’ll be 36 when it ends and again, he’s ideally lower on the depth chart at that time.  A two-year pact could be an option but, like Nurse, it will come in lower than this contract.

For that season, there will be a new CBA in place so trying to forecast the cap and cap space basically becomes a guessing game.  Accordingly, we’ll go back to the old Deep Dive format for players signed beyond the 2030-31 campaign.

F Macklin Celebrini ($18.8MM from 2027-28 through 2031-32)
F Mason Marchment ($6.75MM through 2030-31)
F Kiefer Sherwood ($5.75MM through 2030-31)

Celebrini signed the richest deal in NHL history in terms of AAV, at least for a few weeks.  Already an elite number one center, he has ample room to further boost his stock and then potentially hit the open market at 26 where he could very well set another league record AAV-wise.  If he doesn’t take the maximum term at that time, it’s plausible to think he could do it again on the next contract after that.

Marchment was another summer signing, giving San Jose a physical piece in their middle six.  Given how things went in Seattle last season (before his trade to Columbus), this deal has some risk to it.  But if he plays like he did with the Blue Jackets, they’ll do rather well here.  Signed through his age-36 year, how he holds up physically will largely dictate if he can get another multi-year pact or go year-to-year at that time with the potential for incentives.  Sherwood is a nice story, being that he was a fringe player just a few years ago.  But he can score at a decent clip and play with tons of physicality, helping to earn this deal.  He’s also signed through his age-36 season and like Marchment, it might be durability more than productivity that dictates his next contract.

The good news for the Sharks is that the increases to the cap should be enough to cover new contracts for their young core players.  That’s a very good sign.  The bad news is that it might take until the end of the decade to have any sort of meaningful wiggle room on the cap to add to the core, a direct byproduct of this summer’s shopping spree.  What they have now is what they’re going to have for a while, unless other core veterans are getting moved out early.

Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect.