- Zack Ostapchuk signed a four-year deal worth $9.4 million with the Sharks, a $2.35 million cap hit
- The 23-year-old forward would have been a restricted free agent on July 1
- Read below for the full breakdown on San Jose locking up its big bottom-six center
San Jose locked up one of its young forwards before free agency opens. Zack Ostapchuk signed a four-year contract worth $9.4 million on Saturday, a deal that carries a $2.35 million cap hit.
Ostapchuk could have become a restricted free agent on July 1. Instead he stays in teal through 2030.
The Sharks posted Ostapchuk’s reaction to the new deal:
The 6-foot-4 center came to San Jose from Ottawa at the 2025 trade deadline. He arrived with Noah Gregor and a second-round pick that turned into Cole McKinney, while Fabian Zetterlund and Tristen Robins went the other way to the Senators.
Ottawa drafted Ostapchuk 39th overall back in 2021. He put up seven points (four goals, three assists) in 59 games this past season and finished third on the team with 140 hits.
He also won 51.6 percent of his faceoffs and worked as a regular on the penalty kill. That is the cheap, defensively sound bottom-six center role the Sharks wanted to keep in place while the rebuild continues.
The signing caps a busy weekend for general manager Mike Grier. San Jose re-signed defenseman Michael Kesselring to a three-year extension and walked away from the draft with three first-round picks.
San Jose is building its forward group around Macklin Celebrini and William Eklund. Keeping a big center like Ostapchuk cheap fits that plan, and at $2.35 million a year through 2030 the Sharks control him without worrying about an offer sheet.
