On Thursday, I released a piece analyzing Ryan Shea, one of the two NHL defencemen that the Edmonton Oilers added on Free Agency Day.

The other defender is Shakir Mukhamadullin, acquired from the San Jose Sharks in a trade that sent Darnell Nurse the other way, who also signed a two-year contract extension with the team yesterday morning. This article will focus on Mukhamadullin and what he may bring to Edmonton.

Mukhamadullin, a 24-year-old left-shot defenceman from Ufa, Russia, was drafted 20th overall in the 2020 NHL Draft. In February of 2023, he was traded to the San Jose Sharks in a blockbuster deal involving Timo Meier, and played his first NHL game in the 2023-24 season. In 2024‑25, he split time between the NHL and AHL, playing 30 games with the Sharks and 21 with the San Jose Barracuda. His first full NHL season came in 2025‑26, during which he missed some time with back injuries but still appeared in 50 games.

There was legitimate concern about Edmonton’s left‑shot defensive depth heading into July 1. Mattias Ekholm, the club’s top LHD, turns 37 next season, and the organization’s prospect pool on the left side is relatively thin. As such, acquiring a younger LHD with first-round pedigree in exchange for Nurse was a sensible move by management. 

But, the big question is, what type of impact can Shakir Mukhamadullin make with the Oilers? For this article, I dove deep into Mukhamadullin’s underlying numbers, ranging from microstats to advanced WAR model outputs, while also watching a few of his games myself in the second half of 2025-26, shift by shift. Here is an in-depth analysis of this player, outlining what I believe are his major strengths and weaknesses.

*All microstats via AllThreeZones, all on-ice stats via EvolvingHockey unless stated otherwise

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What physical tools does Shakir Mukhamadullin bring to the Oilers?

The first thing that stands out with Mukhamadullin is his physical toolset. 

This is a tall, 6-foot-4 defenceman with a big frame and a wide reach. He clearly adds size to Edmonton’s defensive core, joining Mattias Ekholm and Connor Murphy in that regard.

Furthermore, Mukhamadullin is a smooth, mobile skater with decent speed, using this attribute to his advantage with zone exits. Per AllThreeZones, Mukhamadullin ranks in the 66th percentile in carried zone exits per 60; put differently, he ranks superior to 66 percent of NHL defencemen when it comes to carrying the puck with control out of his defensive zone.

One more notable aspect of Mukhamadullin is his shot. He averaged 0.39 5-on-5 goals per hour in 2025-26, which ranked 23rd among all NHL defencemen. He also ranked 34th in goals per game among defencemen in the AHL back in 2023-24. This seems to be a decent strength of his. 

Some fans may recall that Mukhamadullin scored the game-winning goal in San Jose’s 5-4 victory against Edmonton this season in February.

All-in-all, there are a lot of tools here for a very effective player.

What do the analytics say about Shakir Mukhamadullin’s defensive impact?

I often like to use the components that make up EvolvingHockey’s WAR model for player analysis, specifically their EVD (even-strength defence value) and SHD (short-handed defence value) metrics to evaluate defensive play. In simpler terms, EvolvingHockey uses a regression model to isolate a player’s on-ice defensive results from contextual factors such as teammate quality, competition level, zone starts, and more. The goal is to estimate how much a player contributes to suppressing dangerous scoring chances against. It is certainly not perfect, but these are stats that I personally find great value in. You can read the full writeup and process behind their model right here.

Here is how EvolvingHockey........

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