{"id":3359,"date":"2026-06-30T06:37:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T06:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3359"},"modified":"2026-06-30T06:37:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T06:37:37","slug":"sharks-kesselring-says-he-learned-a-tough-lesson-with-buffalo-sabres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3359","title":{"rendered":"Sharks’ Kesselring says he learned a ‘tough lesson’ with Buffalo Sabres"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SAN JOSE \u2014 New San Jose Sharks defenseman Michael Kesselring joked that he\u2019ll now be able to wear flip-flops to the practice rink instead of what he typically wore during his one year in snowy Western New York with the Buffalo Sabers.<\/p>\n

Read more College of Adaptive Arts celebrates 39 graduates with disabilities in Saratoga<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course, more exciting for Kesselring will be the increased opportunity he could receive with the Sharks, as he\u2019ll likely be expected to play a larger role than he did during his injury-plagued season with the Sabres.<\/p>\n

With the ink now dry on the three-year, $13.5 million contract he signed with the Sharks over the weekend, the 26-year-old Kesselring, acquired via trade two weeks ago, said he\u2019s eager for a fresh start with a San Jose team that\u2019s eying a playoff spot next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a hungry guy,\u201d Kesselring said Monday. \u201cI\u2019m a sixth-rounder; I kind of worked my way into the league. I feel like I\u2019ve really earned everything I\u2019ve gotten, and now I feel like I\u2019m going to get a big opportunity to prove what I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kesselring sustained a litany of lower-body injuries last season with the Sabres, especially early on when he played in just nine of the team\u2019s first 32 games.<\/p>\n

After he was acquired by the Sabres from the Utah Mammoth, Kesselring revealed Monday that during last year\u2019s training camp, he suffered a partially torn quad tendon around his right knee, causing him to miss the first nine games of the regular season. Admitting he returned too soon, Kesselring was then felled by a high ankle sprain, which cost him another month.<\/p>\n

With more than two months left before the start of training camp, Kesselring says he\u2019s now nearing 100% health.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was trying to play catch-up all year with my knee injury,\u201d Kesselring said. \u201cBasically, anytime I bent my right leg, I got knee pain. It\u2019s still something I\u2019m dealing with right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Still, from mid-December until early March, Kesselring played more regularly, though he said he was still less than fully healthy.<\/p>\n

But after the March 6 trade deadline, when the Sabres acquired defenseman Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn from the Winnipeg Jets, Kesselring was mostly a spectator, as he played in just five of the final 20 regular-season games and in just one of Buffalo\u2019s 13 playoff games.<\/p>\n

He finished the season with just two assists in 35 games, playoffs and regular season combined.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tough, to be honest,\u201d Kesselring said. \u201cI felt like I kind of played hurt and not myself all year, and then right before the trade deadline, I thought I was starting to play better, a little bit more consistent, and I felt like they had their mind made up for that year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s nothing against (the Sabres), I should have played better, I should have handled the situation better. I have to own up to it, and I didn\u2019t handle everything the best, and that\u2019s a tough lesson I had to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kesselring said he\u2019s often been skating this offseason with Sharks forward Will Smith and sometimes with winger Collin Graf.<\/p>\n

Read more SF Giants\u2019 Adames out of Monday\u2019s lineup with back ailment<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of the lessons I had to learn, and (there\u2019s) no one to blame but myself for that,\u201d Kesselring said of his quad injury. \u201cBeing able to manage how my body\u2019s feeling and knowing when I can really push and when I have to lay off it a little bit is something I\u2019m trying to be very aware of this summer, just getting that explosiveness back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I tore it, and I was trying to play, I could barely jump. I couldn\u2019t even run off the ice. Now I\u2019m training, I\u2019m sprinting, I\u2019m jumping with little to no pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kesselring is eager to return to the form he showed in Utah, when he played all 82 games and posted a career-high 29 points while averaging close to 18 minutes per night.<\/p>\n

He could be in the right place. The Sharks\u2019 defense corps combined for just 141 points this past season, a total that ranked 21st in the NHL. Kesselring is an exceptional skater who can join the rush and create odd-man situations and could also get some power-play time this season.<\/p>\n

But if they want to make the playoffs, the Sharks will need to cut down on the goals against. Last season, they allowed 190 goals during 5-on-5 play, tied for the fifth-highest total in the NHL.<\/p>\n

While it appears the goalie tandem of Yaroslav Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic will be back, the Sharks\u2019 defense corps could be overhauled, with four of their blueliners \u2013 Mario Ferraro, Vincent Desharnais, John Klingberg, and Nick Leddy \u2013 able to become unrestricted free agents on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

With the Mammoth, in over 1,300 minutes during 5-on-5 play, Kesserling, per Natural Stat Trick, had an expected goals-for percentage of 53.99. He was on the ice for 250 high-danger chances for and 191 against.<\/p>\n

With the 6-foot-5, 215-pound Kesselring locked up, can he also help the Sharks fix their biggest problem of allowing too many goals?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m playing at my highest level, I can deny the blue lines really well,\u201d Kesselring said.\u00a0 \u201cLast year, the big problem was my skating kind of took a hit with the two lower-body injuries, and I\u2019ve had all summer to get that pop back in my step.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, when I did play with the high ankle injury, it was tough to be physical all the time. In battles, it would tweak, when I\u2019d hit guys, it would tweak. So I\u2019m looking forward to building that side of my game as well, being able to close plays and finish guys. So when I come on the ice, other forwards are like, \u2018Damn, I gotta play against this guy again?\u201d<\/p>\n

KURASHEV CUT LOOSE<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Sharks, as expected, issued qualifying offers to pending restricted free agents Collin Graf and Shakir Mukhamadullin, but parted ways with forward Philipp Kurashev after one year.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old Kurashev, who signed a one-year, $1.2 million deal with San Jose last July 1 as an unrestricted free agent, will again become a UFA after not receiving a qualifying offer from the Sharks. The Sharks also did not extend qualifying offers to minor leaguers Noah Beck, a defenseman, and Gabriel Carriere, a goalie.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Rainbow\u2019 exhibit nears final days at Los Gatos gallery<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Sharks defenseman Michael Kesselring excited about the opportunity he has in San Jose<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nSharks’ Kesselring says he learned a ‘tough lesson’ with Buffalo Sabres - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3359\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sharks’ Kesselring says he learned a ‘tough lesson’ with Buffalo Sabres - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New Sharks defenseman Michael Kesselring excited about the opportunity he has in San Jose\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3359\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-30T06:37:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3359#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3359\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Sharks’ Kesselring says he learned a ‘tough lesson’ with Buffalo Sabres\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-30T06:37:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3359\"},\"wordCount\":1092,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3359#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/1ccbc6fccc458f430ccd417741b04fea.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3359#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3359\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3359\",\"name\":\"Sharks’ Kesselring says he learned a ‘tough lesson’ with Buffalo Sabres - 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