San Jose's price didn't move as much as the roster did
Sharks Stanley Cup odds hold steady despite signing Macklin Celebrini and adding Darnell Nurse. The futures market lags behind these roster changes.
San Jose made two moves this offseason that don’t fit the same story, and that is exactly why the Sharks are worth a second look on the futures board.
The Celebrini extension changes the roster’s ceiling
Macklin Celebrini signed a five-year extension worth $94 million, an $18.8 million average that made him the NHL’s highest-paid player at the time of signing. He is coming off a 115-point season with 45 goals. Locking a player of that caliber into a long-term deal before he turns 20 is the kind of move rebuilding teams make when they believe the rebuild is closer to over than the standings suggest.
The Nurse trade added a real cap hit for spare parts
San Jose also acquired Darnell Nurse from Edmonton, absorbing his full $9.25 million cap hit with no retention, in exchange for Shakir Mukhamadullin and Zachary Sharp’s rights. That is a real veteran defenseman added to the roster for players who were not part of San Jose’s immediate plans. It is a below-market cost for a player of Nurse’s pedigree, and it tells you the Sharks were prioritizing NHL-ready help over further asset accumulation.
The offsetting piece: Eklund left
The same stretch of transactions saw Ottawa flip a pick from the Brady Tkachuk trade to San Jose for William Eklund, meaning the Sharks gave up a young forward already producing in the league to complete that move. Add a franchise centerpiece on a market-setting extension, subtract a promising young winger, add a legitimate top-four defenseman for spare parts: that is not a simple upgrade or downgrade, and futures prices that haven’t separated those three moves are behind the roster as it actually stands today.
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