Three Sharks storylines to watch ahead of 2025 NHL trade deadline originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Editor’s note: Sheng Peng is a regular contributor to NBC Sports California’s Sharks coverage. You can read more of his coverage on San Jose Hockey Now, listen to him on the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast, and follow him on X at @Sheng_Peng.
OTTAWA — The Sharks still could have an exciting 2025 NHL trade deadline.
Sure, their obvious top trade chips are long gone — Mackenzie Blackwood went to the Colorado Avalanche for Nikolai Kovalenko and a second-round pick in December, and Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci went to the Dallas Stars for a first and a conditional fourth a few weeks ago — but there’s still plenty of intrigue.
San Jose Hockey Now reached out to a few league sources to get a sense of the trade values of pending UFAs Luke Kunin, Nico Sturm and Jan Rutta. What about goalies Vitek Vanecek and Alexandar Georgiev?
Mario Ferraro, as usual, is a figure of some interest. And could the Sharks be in on any of the top trade targets?
Bowen Byram, K’Andre Miller or Noah Dobson?
For San Jose to take the next step in its rebuild, it needs to improve its defense a lot.
Preferably, the Sharks can do so with a young blueliner who can grow with the likes of Macklin Celebrini and company.
Byram is 23, Miller and Dobson are 25, and all are pending RFAs.
Byram seems more likely to move, just because the Sabres already have so much invested in their blueline between No. 1 picks Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power.
“[Byram would] be great for the Sharks,” one NHL scout, not with San Jose, opined.
Another scout sees him as a little too offensive-leaning right now: “He has the tools, just comes down to if he actually wants to defend and compete. Hard to be top-pair guy being too one-dimensional.”
For what it’s worth, a league executive believes that Byram has the character to compete to be a lot better defensively one day.
Of course, it can take young defensemen a while to come into their own, so Byram seems like a sensible target for the Sharks: He’s already a bona fide top-four blueliner who can conceivably grow into a top-pairing guy in the right situation.
The question is, what does Buffalo want for Byram?
The Sabres, 13 years and counting out of the playoffs, probably don’t want to continue their seemingly forever rebuild.
Right now, the Sharks’ best trade assets trend toward the younger side, from the Dallas Stars’ 2025 first-round pick to top…