The San Jose Sharks added Nick Leddy to the roster on July 3 when the team claimed the defenseman off waivers. The St. Louis Blues needed to clear cap space, so the Blues waived the defenseman rather than buy him out. Sharks General Manager Mike Grier needed to add to the Sharks’ blueline, and Leddy was an easy addition given that he could play on the right side and he wasn’t going to cost the team anything in terms of prospects or draft picks. After an off-the-record discussion with the veteran, Leddy joined the Sharks in time for training camp, and he was on the roster in time for opening night. Never once did he complain about his situation or how things went down with the Blues.
Leddy’s 2025-26 production
The Sharks had high hopes that Leddy would be able to produce for the team. He was on the roster for opening night and played the first handful of games for San Jose. But injuries soon knocked him out of the lineup, and then he was passed on the depth chart.
Leddy was, at times, moved down to the AHL to make room because there were simply too many defensemen on the roster. Twice, he was moved to the Barracuda and then back up to the big club. By the end of the season, Leddy had played just 32 games for the Sharks.
| Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | +/- | Shooting % | TOI/Game |
| 32 | 1 | 6 | 7 | -9 | 6.3% | 17:52 |
While this past season was a similar performance to what Leddy had produced in his previous season with the Blues, it was a far cry from how he had played in his prime, when he was a stalwart in the lineup, logging 21-22 minutes per night.
Guiding a young Shark into the NHL
Leddy’s season with the Sharks was not ideal. It’s not fair to kick a guy when he’s down because he could have chosen not to report to San Jose. He could have chosen to retire or thrown a fit. He could have protested and not reported to the Barracuda the two times he was waived. Instead, he did what was asked of him, and he never openly complained. Leddy was not a distraction to the season.
So, this article will focus on the good that he did and that was his work with defenseman Sam Dickinson. Leddy and Dickinson played 283 minutes at even-strength together this season. Leddy’s veteran presence tended to cover up the rookie’s mistakes. The duo had 2.97 goals for per 60 minutes of play and allowed just 2.54 goals against per 60 minutes. That’s in contrast to their expected goals for percent, which was at just 45.6%, according to Evolving-Hockey. Leddy’s ability to stay back and recover when Dickinson overplayed his position allowed the young defenseman to better learn in the NHL without suffering the consequences of his actions.
While Vincent Desharnais played a similar role alongside Dickinson, the duo did not generate a positive goals differential the way the Leddy-Dickinson duo did.
Leddy highlight
And since we’re only saying nice things about Leddy, we’ll wrap things up with his first and likely only goal as a San Jose Shark.
NICK LEDDY'S FIRST GOAL IN TEAL
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) April 5, 2026
WE HAVE BROKEN THE SEAL, COMEBACK STARTS NOW 😤 pic.twitter.com/nHhIjAtwKy
It happened on April 4 against the Nashville Predators.
Leddy’s future with the Sharks
Leddy is in the final year of a four-year deal that paid him $4 million per season. While Leddy’s willingness to move to San Jose is much appreciated, it’s pretty clear that the Sharks and the defenseman will part ways in July.
Editor’s Note: Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out the player reviews for the San Jose Sharks. We realize there were a lot of guys rotating into and out of the lineup and some of the key depth players were traded. As a result, Fear the Fin plans to focus on the players who are 1) still with the Sharks and 2) played 20 or more games for San Jose this season.
