The San Jose Sharks have come to terms with free agent defender Dmitry Orlov on a 2 year, $13M contract the club announced Thursday.
The deal will carry an AAV of $6.5M per season, and will help shore up a blue line which was amongst the league’s thinnest in 2024-25. The 33 year old posted 28 points (6G, 22A) with Carolina last season, and figures to see top pairing minutes on the West Coast this year.
Originally drafted 55th overall by the Washington Capitals back in 2009, Orlov has amassed 76 goals and 327 points across 867 career games split between the Capitals, Boston Bruins, and Hurricanes. The 5’11”, 214lbs Russian was a key contributor to the Capitals 2018 Stanley Cup victory, appearing in 24 postseason contests for the team.
San Jose has been busy reshaping their roster as they look to take the next step forward in their rebuild efforts in 2025-26. In addition to Orlov, the club added forward Shane Bowers from New Jersey in exchange for Thomas Bordeleau. They then traded for goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic from Pittsburgh in exchange for a 2028 3rd round pick.
The Sharks front office also signed defenceman John Klingberg to a 1 year, $4M contract to help solidify their back end, and drafted highly touted prospect Michael Misa 2nd overall to improve their offence. Misa figures to slot in on the club’s 2nd line either at centre, or along the wing if San Jose prefers to keep Will Smith up the middle.
The Sharks have averaged just 2.37 goals per game over the last 2 years, which is dead last in the NHL, so generating additional offence, while minimizing the number of pucks in their own net will be paramount if the franchise wants to begin climbing back up the standings.
With 22 players signed for next season, the Sharks still have roughly $26M in cap space remaining, giving GM Mike Grier the flexibility to continue to add impact players via free agency or trade this summer.
Photo: Canada Hky. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.