Projecting Sharks’ Power Play Quarterback for 2026-27 – Hockey Writers – San Jose Sharks

The 2025-26 season marked a dramatic step forward in the rebuilding of the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks jumped to 52 points in the standings, which made them last in the NHL in 2024-25, and missed the playoffs by only four points this past season. Defense was their glaring weakness that kept the postseason out of reach, but their mediocre power play didn’t do them any favors either.

If the Sharks want to end their playoff drought this season, their power play needs to be better than dead in the middle, finishing 16th in the NHL. The power play clicked at 21.2%, carried primarily by Macklin Celebrini putting the puck in the net himself and setting up his teammates for the best scoring opportunities. A proper power play quarterback is what holds their unit back.

San Jose’s power play QBs in 2025-26 were John Klingberg, who struggled mightily in what could be his final season in the NHL, and Dmitry Orlov, a Sharks veteran but not someone who should get minutes on a playoff-level team.

The Sharks are a young team on the rise, and with the room they currently have, they will have to provide a key power play to a young linebacker. The question is, who takes it? Training camp will be a factor in determining who will take the opportunity. So, who are the candidates to get the most power play minutes? There are three players who can run at the chance.

Sam Dickinson

The first player to take a serious look at is Sam Dickinson. The 11th overall pick from the 2024 Draft had a lot of hype for his game due to his offensive production. In his 18-year-old season with the London Knights, Dickinson set the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) on fire, recording 91 points in 55 games with 29 goals.

He was a flashy machine, but he didn’t play well in his first season with the Sharks, totaling 14 points in 72 games. His lone goal was against the Detroit Red Wings in early November.

According to Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now, Dickinson said in his exit interview, “It’s hard to say that I’m not happy and proud of how this first season went. [to] he’s been a show guy and a guy who can play every night in his first year.

Getting that in that second half of the year was a huge confidence booster to know that the coaches trusted me to be on the line every night, and as the season went on, to get a bigger role, get more minutes, get some more high-pressure situations as well. It’s really good for my confidence and the kind of thing I’ll look to take now and keep with me in the summer.”

Head coach Ryan Warsofsky has drawn ire from fans for various program decisions throughout the season, including not using Dickinson on the power play who needed a boost on the blue line. Despite being wrong about the decision, the coaches’ approach to using Dickinson was correct.

It wasn’t expected to start last season, so the best thing for Dickinson’s development was to devote a full season to his defensive game and deal with as much pain as possible. That approach will bear fruit this season.

Dickinson will have a new set of challenges as he gets more responsibility offensively, and he’ll make mistakes as a 20-year-old defenseman is prone to, but he’ll also show rapid and noticeable growth as he gets more reps in man-up. Celebrini should be able to carry the unit long enough for Dickinson to settle in, and the second defenseman can show off the offensive talent that has made him such a promising prospect.

Michael kesselring

Michael Kesselring is coming off a season he’d like to forget with the Buffalo Sabres, where his injured quad hamstring hampered his swing for much of the season, and he seemed out of step with their culture. Now in San Jose, a change of scenery could be the best thing in his career.

The Sharks’ deal with Kesselring is more than just a chance. He remains friends with star forward Will Smith, with whom he skated in the summer, and loved playing for Warsofsky when he and the USA won gold at the 2025 World Championships. This sounds like a smart risk for the Sharks, betting on a gifted player entering the season healthy and fit.

Kesselring was interviewed on NHL Tonight with Jamison Coyle and Mike Rupp shortly after being traded to the Sharks where he said, “San Jose was one of the places I was hanging around,” and “I felt like [Warsofsky] he sees a lot of potential in me and that’s all I want from my coach, to think that I can continue to grow and be a top four D.”

The sample size general manager Mike Grier is gambling on is Kesselring’s 2024-25 season for the Utah Mammoths. Kesselring played in all 82 games, recording 29 points and playing some minutes on the second power play unit with just under 70 minutes of ice time. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound right-shot defenseman has shown that he can move the puck, jump into plays and cover space in his own position.

The reason for the belief that Kesselring can match up well on the power play is his combination of quick skating with his size, his ability to run and his deadly shooting. In his breakout season in Utah, he made headlines for recording what was then the hardest shot in the entire NHL in 2024-25 with a 103.8 MPH one-timer off the pipe in a game against the Colorado Avalanche.

Using that kind of explosiveness from a position with top talent like Celebrini, Smith, and possibly rookie Ivar Stenberg to clean up rebounds that just don’t go in the net, and the talented young passers the Sharks have could make Kesselring’s one-time player difficult to deal with. If Kesselring comes to shooting camp, he could be a huge plus on the power play.

Lsaid Cagnoni

The next player who could end up running for the Sharks in a big role on the power play is a player who will have to be special on the power play to make the team: Luca Cagnoni.

The Sharks made a splash plugging holes on their blue line after the offseason by adding Kesselring, Jacob Trouba and Darnell Nurse. With Dickinson and Orlov already on the roster, that leaves another spot for a starting defenseman. Cagnoni’s ability to play power in the American Hockey League (AHL) will be how he cracks the roster starting in 2026-27.

While the power play quarterback for the San Jose Barracuda, Cagnoni recorded 52 and 43 points over the past two seasons. Statistically, he took a small step back, but with talented players like Collin Graf and Igor Chernyshov promoted to the Sharks and AHL MVP Andrew Poturalski gone, there was less talent around him, making the minor scoring cuts understandable.

Cagnoni excelled as the Barracuda quarterback, leading San Jose’s AHL-best power play in 2024-25 and second in 2025-26 with 23 power play points. Cagnoni excels offensively not because of any superior physical attributes, as he is only 5-9 and 180 pounds, but he knows when to hit the net, keeps plays alive in the offensive zone and has a tricky shot that fools goaltenders.

It might seem crazy that someone with so little NHL experience could run the power play for a playoff hopeful, but Cagnoni’s experience managing a top unit in the AHL over the past two seasons could be what pushes him over the edge to make the team as a third-team defenseman.

This, of course, is all speculation at this point. Sharks prospect Eric Pohlkamp will be competing with Cagnoni for the last spot on the blue line, and their back-to-back performances will force him to either play for the Sharks or play for the Barracuda.

The guess right now is that Cagnoni will because Pohlkamp is still fresh out of the NCAA, is still dealing with hand and foot injuries and may need a season in the AHL to acclimate to the pro game. Still, keep an eye on Dickinson and Kesselring.