The San Jose Sharks have added a former first-rounder to the training camp roster. The Sharks have signed 25-year-old Oliver Wahlstrom to a Professional Tryout (PTO). Wahlstrom was a bit of a journeyman last season. He played for the New York Islanders, the team that drafted him 11th overall in 2018. Partway through the 2024-25 season, Wahlstrom was placed on waivers and claimed off of waivers by his hometown Boston Bruins. He played for the Bruins but Boston decided not to offer the winger a qualifying offer in July and Wahlstrom hit free agency. So far, no one has offered him a contract, so he’s signed a professional tryout with the Sharks.
The news was first broken by David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. Pagnotta said that Wahlstrom has a deal in place with an AHL team if his PTO with the Sharks does not pan out, but he did not say which AHL team Wahlstrom is potentially signed with.
Hearing the San Jose Sharks have signed free agent Oliver Wahlstrom to a PTO.
— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) September 16, 2025
Potential impact Wahlstrom could have with the Sharks
Wahlstrom wasn’t extremely impactful for either the Islanders or the Bruins last season. Looking at his regularized-adjusted plus-minus chart from Evolving-Hockey, you can see that he had limited ice time with both teams and while he wasn’t a complete liability, he also wasn’t a huge asset.
Wahlstrom had 4 points in 27 games with the Islanders and 2 points in 16 games with the Bruins. He averaged about 10 minutes per game with each team. With players like Collin Graf, Adam Gaudette and Philipp Kurashev all battling it out for those bottom six roster spots, along with players like Ethan Cardwell, Igor Chernyshov, Quentin Musty and Kasper Halttunen hoping to make the jump, it’s hard to see Wahlstrom beating those players out when he’s averaging .15 points per game.
He would need to have an explosive camp to even make his way into a conversation about a contract let alone a roster spot, especially with the Sharks so close to the contract limit.
Highlight
Whether the kid makes the team or not is yet to be seen, but it’s hard not root for someone who gave the crowd this highlight before the age of ten. He was nine years old when he got to take the ice at TD Garden during intermission and participate in the shootout.
9-year-old Oliver Wahlstrom did this at TD Garden, home of the Boston Bruins…
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 14, 2024
Today, 24-year-old Oliver Wahlstrom was claimed on waivers by the Boston Bruins 🤯 pic.twitter.com/LEU8f5Ecwb
