‘No Hard Feelings’: Sharks’ Kesselring Ready To Face Former Team

Michael Kesselring got the fresh start he wanted with the San Jose Sharks after a bumpy, injury-filled year with the Buffalo Sabres.

After the 26-year-old’s rights were traded to the Sharks in June, he quickly signed a three-year extension. He’s been on the top defensive pair with Darnell Nurse all season, but that’ll change when he faces his former team on Tuesday. Sam Dickinson will partner with Kesselring on defense.

Head coach Ryan Warsofsky hasn’t been shy about deploying the blue liner. Kesselring is playing a career-high 19:05 a night for the Sharks and has been solid. Although he’s not known for offense, Kesselring has two assists in 12 games this season, both pretty plays.

Although the San Jose Sharks defenseman is happy with his new start, thinking about his time with the Sabres has weighed on him. Kesselring was honest when asked about what his mentality is going into tonight’s game.

“It’s tough. I’ve tried not to think about it, honestly. I did it last year. I was healthy when we played Utah, so I got a little taste of that. It’s fun. It’s hard to be hard to play against sometimes. All your buddies, but yeah, no friends out there tonight,” Kesselring said.

“I saw a few of them last night, and we talked about the year and everything. There’s no hard feelings. I love the guys there. It’s a great group of guys.”

Kesselring told reporters he had dinner with his former roommate, Josh Doan, along with a few other teammates. Doan and Kesselring were traded together from the Utah Mammoth to the Sabres.

“I’m really close with Josh [Doan]. We’ve lived together for years, and it’s gonna be weird going against him,” Kesselring said. “I know he’s gonna be looking to try to strip me, and I gotta know when he’s on the ice.”

“He is honestly like one of my brothers in hockey. It’ll be fun to play against him, and he’s done so well there. It’s been fun to watch him explode onto the scene last year. A unique player, skilled, smart, but he plays hard, plays the right way.”

The San Jose Sharks d-man will see more of his former teammates before tonight’s game, as he plans to grab a pregame coffee with some of them. Despite injuries getting in the way of a successful season for Kesselring in 25-26, the locker room’s closeness was apparent. Before 2026, the Sabres hadn’t made the playoffs since 2011.

“I’d love to play really well tonight and showcase what I didn’t really showcase last year,” Kesselring said. “But I’m kind of moved on. I love it here, and it’s been great here so far. No hard feelings, and maybe it worked out the way it was supposed to work out with me being here now. I’d love to do well, but at the end of the day, it’s more of what I do with my career than just this one game tonight.”

Warsofsky told reporters that he isn’t worried about Kesselring trying to force things on the ice tonight, even with the extra motivation.

“Anytime you go against your former team, I know he’s excited. Individuals get excited when they play their old teams and the history with them. For us, it’s just another game. We’ve got to be ready to go,” Warsofsky explained.

Kesselring and the San Jose Sharks are looking to build on a somewhat successful six-game road trip that went 3-2-1. Team Teal begins a three-game homestand.