NHL Trade Grades for Kiefer Sherwood to the San Jose Sharks

Trade season is officially here.

Kiefer Sherwood was not the biggest name in the marketplace, but he was low-hanging fruit, a pending free agent who scores goals and throws hits. It's an archetype that is catnip to teams looking to make a deep playoff run.

The San Jose Sharks were not the obvious landing spot. A young team in the playoff mix but certainly not a lock to make the postseason, let alone contend.

What does it say about where the Sharks are as an organization that they beat out the pack to add proactively ahead of the March 6 trade deadline? Is he the right fit to help them transition out of the rebuild phase?

Let's look at what Sherwood can do in San Jose and grade the deal for both the Canucks and Sharks.

San Jose Sharks

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Not many people imagined the Sharks would be in a position to posture as buyers this season, but we're a little over halfway through the 2025-26 season, and they are surprisingly tied with the Seattle Kraken for the seventh-best points percentage (.543) in the Western Conference.

Kiefer Sherwood is a true late bloomer. The winger was in the AHL as recently as the 2022-2023 season and, when signing in Vancouver in 2024, the then-29-year-old had just 58 career NHL points. He broke out with 19 goals in 78 games last season and improved to 17 goals through just 44 games this season.

Furthermore, Sherwood's 210 hits this season rank second in the entire NHL. Goal scoring and energy through physical play are going to grab the attention of most competitive teams this time of year.

The Sharks have many reasons to hope their team gets over the hump and finishes the campaign in a playoff spot. The organization has not competed in playoff hockey since 2019. It's important that key young players like Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and William Eklund play competitive hockey down the stretch.

The problem is that a lot of this looks unsustainable. On Sherwood's part, his success is not a total fluke; his tenacity and hard-on-pucks attitude does lend to his being a capable offensive driver and his quick release and willingness to drive the net will lead to goal-scoring. However, he was shooting at a ridiculous rate to start the season and regression is already setting in. He has just one goal in his last 10 games.

The Sharks, for their part, are among the league's worst by expected goals, and many of the wins they've banked have come in overtime and the shootout; their 13 regulation wins actually put them on par with teams like the New York Rangers, who are actively blowing it up.

In his truest form, Sherwood is a third-liner on a contender. And in their truest form, the Sharks are a fairly poor team, unexpectedly in the mix because teams like Winnipeg and Vancouver fell apart.

The Sharks have spent enough time rebuilding that two second-round picks aren't a massive blow to their collection of assets, and you can't blame them for trying to build on the success of players like Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and Yaroslav Askarov.

Sherwood is a top-nine winger, and the Sharks need help on the wings badly, but this looks like a paper tiger paying an inflated price for a player whose success this season will prove somewhat ephemeral.

Grade: C+

Vancouver Canucks

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If the Vancouver Canucks wish to turn things around as an organization, they'll need to start accepting some basic lessons in team management. For instance, move on from players when they're at the peak of their value.

Despite their best efforts to sabotage themselves, the Canucks were unable to re-sign Sherwood to a contract extension. It's for the best. This is not a team that is going to turn things around quickly, and, to that end, a 30-year-old third-liner having a career year is unlikely to justify the contract he will settle for.

To their credit, they moved on from him quickly, risking neither injury nor continued regression that might dampen enthusiasm among inquiring teams. Two second-round picks are a healthy package for a rental of Sherwood's caliber. Canucks fans will miss the high-octane style Sherwood delighted them with over the last two seasons, but there's no question that the picks and preserved cap space will serve the organization's long-term interests much better.

Grade: A