San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) General Manager Mike Grier announced today that the club has re-signed forward Collin Graf to a three-year contract worth $4.25 million AAV.
“Collin was a big part of our team’s improvement this past season, being an effective penalty killer for us and his versatility in the lineup was extremely valuable,” said Grier. “His hard working attitude and work ethic is a big reason why his game took another stride last year, and he continues to be an important person in our young group of players. We’re happy we are able to keep him a Shark for the next several seasons.”
Graf, 23, recorded 46 points (21 goals, 25 assists) in 81 games, along with a plus-6 rating. He set career bests in nearly every offensive category this year, and reached the 20-goal threshold for the first time in his career. Among undrafted NHL players, Graf ranked tied for fourth in points, tied for fifth in goals, and tied for sixth in assists. Among those Top-10 point getters who were undrafted, Graf is the youngest of the group. By the end of the season, he finished third on the team in goals, sixth in points and seventh in assists. He factored in all three of the Sharks shorthanded goals this year, registered a six-game point streak from Dec. 13-27 (five goals, three assists), which also included a four-game goal scoring streak from Dec. 18-27 (five goals). Over the course of the campaign, he registered eight multi-point games, and earned a career-high three-point game on Mar. 14 against the Montreal Canadiens.
Graf was a part of the young group of players aged 23-or-younger on the Sharks who set team records for goals and points within the age group and led the NHL in all U-23 scoring categories, including percentage of each stat from players 23 or younger. In total, 206 of 249 goals scored by San Jose over the course of the season featured at least one player 23 years of age or younger. Graf’s overtime winner on Nov. 11 at MIN was just the ninth time since the introduction of 3-on-3 overtime in 2015-16 that all players on the ice for the winning team when the decisive goal was scored were 23 or younger, with Graf joined by Macklin Celebrini, Sam Dickinson and Yaroslav Askarov.
Over the course of his NHL career, all with the Sharks, he has appeared in 121 games, scoring 59 points (26 goals, 33 assists).
Prior to his professional career, he led Quinnipiac University in scoring with 49 points and 22 goals, and was second on the club with 27 assists in the 2023-24 season en route to being named to the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Top 10 finalists list for the second year in a row. Named ECAC Player of the Year after the 2023-24 season, Graf registered 12 multi-point games on the season and tallied an assist in Quinnipiac’s NCAA Quarterfinal contest, an overtime loss against top-ranked Boston College.
Graf helped the Bobcats win the NCAA national championship in the 2022-23 season as a sophomore, scoring a third-period, game-tying goal with 2:47 remaining in regulation to force the contest to a decisive overtime. Graf led the team in all scoring categories with 21 goals, 38 assists and 59 points, with his assist total tying for the NCAA lead and tied the program record in the process for most points in a season. He was a HCA co-National Player of the Month in November, a two-time ECAC Forward of the Month in December and March, was tabbed for the ECAC First All-Conference Team, earned a spot on the NCAA Tournament All-Tournament Team, was an AHCA First Team All-American and was a Hobey Baker Memorial Award Top 10 finalist.
He finished his collegiate career with 130 points (54 goals, 76 assists) in 112 games.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound Lincoln, Massachusetts native was originally signed by San Jose as a free agent on Apr. 4, 2024.
Sharks re-sign forward Collin Graf to a three-year contract
