San Jose Sharks’ first round draft pick finalizes plans for upcoming season

As anticipated, San Jose Sharks defense prospect Keaton Verhoeff will be returning to the University of North Dakota for at least one more year.

North Dakota’s head coach, Dane Jackson, said Verhoeff told him that he would be coming back to the school for his sophomore season, with the idea of signing with the Sharks next year.

“Keaton has told us he is playing at UND this upcoming season,” Jackson wrote in an email to this news organization.

The Sharks took Verhoeff ninth overall at last month’s NHL draft in Buffalo, N.Y. Listed at 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, Verhoeff already has the physical stature of a professional, but said at the Sharks’ development camp recently that there are aspects of his game he needs to refine.

“Obviously, (skating is) a big thing that I want to work on,” Verhoeff said. “To be out there doing some skating drills and working on my feet, working on my edges, it’s huge.”

With North Dakota in 2025-26, Verhoeff, an Edmonton-area native, led all NCHC freshman defensemen with 20 points in 36 games.

Verhoeff, 18, was the fifth defenseman selected in the draft, and one of three players the Sharks took in the first round, following forward Ivar Stenberg at No. 2 and before defenseman Ryan Lin at No. 21.

While Stenberg signed an entry-level contract with the Sharks this month and is expected to be on the team’s roster this fall, and Lin headed to the University of Denver, and there were some questions about Verhoeff’s immediate future.

When the Sharks wrapped up development camp in San Jose earlier this month, it remained unclear as to whether Verhoeff would turn pro or return for another season of college hockey. The Sharks said they would speak with Verhoeff, his family, and his representative before coming to a decision.

“I say this a lot, we don’t want players just to play in the NHL, we want them to have success, and if that means waiting one more year and playing another year in college, then we’ll wait a year,” said Todd Marchant, the Sharks’ director of player development, on July 2.

“If it means playing right now, then that’s what will happen. Mike (Grier) is a very patient general manager, and we’ll make the best decision for each player.”

With or without Verhoeff, it appears the Sharks, as of now, will have one or two roster spots available at the start of the season for younger defensemen.

Under contract are the recently acquired Jacob Trouba, Darnell Nurse, and Michael Kesselring, plus holdovers Dmitry Orlov and Sam Dickinson. Challenging for roster spots will be Luca Cagnoni, Nolan Allan, Eric Pohlkamp, Libor Hajek, and potentially recent second-round draft picks Leo Sahlin Wallenius and Mattias Havelid.

Cagnoni, Allan, and Havelid all played mainly with the Barracuda last season. Pohlkamp won a national title at Denver and was a Hobey Baker Award finalist, and Hajek has been a professional for eight seasons.

Verhoeff is not only expected to be a big part of North Dakota’s blue line this upcoming season but will likely once again play at the World Junior Championships, possibly captaining the Canadian team with the tournament taking place in Edmonton.

“He’s got a great personality,” Grier said of Verhoeff at development camp. “On the ice, he’s been pretty smooth. His puck movement, and how clean he is on the retrieval work, and things like that, have been great. His shot stands out, too. He was scoring at a pretty good clip for a D-man in the drills.

“So he looks good. We’re excited to have him. He’s a young pup, and it’s a tough league to be a young defenseman in. A part of the reason to get (Kesselring, Nurse and Trouba) in here was so we didn’t feel like we had to rush these guys and give them too much too soon.”

Lin, a Vancouver-area native, might also make the Canadian World Junior team, and the Sharks could also release Stenberg to play for Sweden.