Sabres trade Michael Kesselring to Sharks, swap first-round picks
The Buffalo Sabres have traded defenseman Michael Kesselring to the San Jose Sharks in a deal involving multiple draft picks, the club announced Wednesday afternoon.
The trade sees the Sabres receive the No. 20 overall pick in the upcoming 2026 NHL Draft in exchange for Kesselring and the No. 27 pick — meaning, in essence, that Kesselring is the price for Buffalo to move up seven spots in the first round.
Kesselring, 26, appeared in just 34 games with the Sabres during the 2025-26 regular season, missing significant time both due to injury and as a healthy scratch. He skated in one game with the club in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, logging just 4:25 of ice time in Buffalo’s series-clinching Game 6 win over the Boston Bruins in the first round.
We have acquired a first-round pick (20th overall) in the 2026 NHL Draft from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Michael Kesselring and a first-round pick. Details → bufsabres.co/4ov4r5G
The Sabres originally acquired Kesselring from the Utah Mammoth during the 2025 offseason as part of the blockbuster JJ Peterka-for-Josh Doan trade. While most onlookers initially viewed Kesselring as the bigger piece heading to Buffalo in the deal, he was almost immediately overshadowed by Doan, who exploded for 25 goals and 52 points in 82 games with the Sabres in 2025-26.
Meanwhile, Kesselring recorded just two assists across his 35 total games in a Buffalo sweater, eventually falling out of favor with Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff and being pushed further down the depth chart after the club acquired Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn ahead of the trade deadline.
Originally a sixth-round pick (No. 164 overall) of the Edmonton Oilers in the 2018 NHL Draft, the 6’5″ Kesselring never played for his draft club before being traded to the Arizona Coyotes in 2023. He spent parts of two seasons in the desert and moved with his teammates to Utah for the 2024-25 season before being dealt to Buffalo; he is now a restricted free agent with arbitration rights.
A product of Florence, South Carolina, Kesselring played for Team USA at the 2024 and 2025 IIHF World Championships, playing with current Sharks forward Will Smith and establishing a strong relationship with Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky. He now joins a rather thin Sharks blue line with only four players signed for next season: Dmitry Orlov, Sam Dickinson, Mattias Havelid, and Luca Cagnoni.