2024 NHL Draft: WE DID IT, CELEBRINI IS OURS!!!

[Great Makohead Shork]

I'd argue it would be in our best interest for some off cycle team like the predators, or a tire fire like the senators or wild, to win it. Then (preds) they've gotta deal with trying to time Celebrini's RFA peak with spending hard to the cap, before making room for his new contract, all while juggling a host of 2nd liners and aging core pieces... or sens, they'll have a lot of pieces but a lot of history f***ing it all up. High degree of difficulty. Handing celebrini to the ducks, hawks, or buffalo is giving them a real chance at a future dynasty, so long as THEY don't f*** it up.

We don't really have a chance at a future dynasty UNLESS we get him, or failing that, are bad enough in 2025-26 to keep drafting high and get a different franchise cornerstone or 2-3 more very high level players. I still don't think it's good if the Hawks get him, plus, f*** the hawks.

Yeah I think the Ducks would be the worst case-scenario. Celebrini would give them that last superstar piece to solidify their middle and move Zegs to wing. Personally, the Hawks were the last team I wanted to win last year, same with this one. I was just musing if it would be more benificial to us if they were out of next year's lotto like the Sens.

If I remember correctly, when the Yotes forfieted their pick in 2021 that 11th OA slot was dead, increasing the rest of the lotto teams odds to win. Just a thought.

We won't but this only happens if the Sharks end up as the worst in the league. If Chicago ends up worst and wins the lottery, it doesn't count against them which would be the most likely scenario.

True. Even with Bedard out, I think it'll be a dogfight for the bottomest bottom of the basement. Today's win of the Flames was a good start.

 

[Juxtaposer]

I’ll be mad when the Hawks win the lottery, but I would go ballistic if the Ducks won it.

If you draft top-10 five years in a row (Zegras, Drysdale, McTavish, Mintyukov, Carlsson) and almost all of them perform better than their draft position but you’re still in the basement with the likes of us, you don’t deserve to win the lottery.

 

[stator]

I’ll be mad when the Hawks win the lottery, but I would go ballistic if the Ducks won it.

If you draft top-10 five years in a row (Zegras, Drysdale, McTavish, Mintyukov, Carlsson) and almost all of them perform better than their draft position but you’re still in the basement with the likes of us, you don’t deserve to win the lottery.

Neither Sharks or Ducks had the 1st pick of the draft, but tankago has more than it's far share.

 

[Juxtaposer]

Neither Sharks or Ducks had the 1st pick of the draft, but tankago has more than it's far share.

Chicago is less deserving, sure, but Anaheim is abominably bad for how many high draft picks they’ve both had and nailed. The only sub-par pick of the bunch was Drysdale and he’s still a solid player in a useful position. If you have Zegras, Drysdale, McTavish, Mintyukov, and Carlsson and you still can’t build a respectable team around them to get out of the literal basement, you don’t deserve to win the lottery. That’s an absurd amount of young talent. Like, this is blatant tanking. You still have Fowler, Gibson, Henrique, Terry, etc. and you’re still this bad.

I consider Smith to be the Zegras of the Sharks’ rebuild. If the Sharks are still in the basement in 2028, I would consider the rebuild to be an abject failure. Five years without a sniff at the playoffs is Buffalo, Detroit territory.

 

[StanleyCup2035]

Chicago is less deserving, sure, but Anaheim is abominably bad for how many high draft picks they’ve both had and nailed. The only sub-par pick of the bunch was Drysdale and he’s still a solid player in a useful position. If you have Zegras, Drysdale, McTavish, Mintyukov, and Carlsson and you still can’t build a respectable team around them to get out of the literal basement, you don’t deserve to win the lottery. That’s an absurd amount of young talent. Like, this is blatant tanking. You still have Fowler, Gibson, Henrique, Terry, etc. and you’re still this bad.

I consider Smith to be the Zegras of the Sharks’ rebuild. If the Sharks are still in the basement in 2028, I would consider the rebuild to be an abject failure. Five years without a sniff at the playoffs is Buffalo, Detroit territory.

Agreed. I pray we get one of Celebrini or Hagens to be our 1c of the future to accelerate our rebuild

 

[StanleyCup2035]

Do people think our draft board if we don’t get Celebrini is Eiserman-Lindstrom-Levshunov?

Eiserman will excel next to Smith or Hagens as centers. Lindstrom has a huge frame, goal scoring ability, AA like Grier, big upside. Levshunov might be best D, but I defer to experts here on that.

 

[fasterthanlight]

This threads posts today are at a great level of angst; one game at a time, every two points matter

Damn haha what did they do with Seth Jones, Taylor Hall, Tyler Johnson, Athanasiou, Beauvillier, and Foligno? They just poof'd

Don't forget perry

 

[coooldude]

Do people think our draft board if we don’t get Celebrini is Eiserman-Lindstrom-Levshunov?

Eiserman will excel next to Smith or Hagens as centers. Lindstrom has a huge frame, goal scoring ability, AA like Grier, big upside. Levshunov might be best D, but I defer to experts here on that.

I was thinking about this today but also trying to pace myself because we aren't even at the halfway mark until tomorrow's game and then there's the god damn lottery anyway.

But gun to my head, I'm guessing that Grier's board given team needs and his biases actually looks like:
Celebrini
Lindstrom
The D-men, in this completely-loose-and-will-def-change order: Dickinson, Levshunov, Silayev, Buium, possibly Yakemchuk but he's controversial. I don't think we have clarity over who is truly best right now, it seems like a big mess.
The next tier of forwards, including: Eiserman, Catton, Brandsegg-Nygard, and a host of others

I am guessing (this might also be my personal bias) that if we don't pick top 2, he'd prioritize a top D over Eiserman.

 

[DG93]

Chicago is less deserving, sure, but Anaheim is abominably bad for how many high draft picks they’ve both had and nailed. The only sub-par pick of the bunch was Drysdale and he’s still a solid player in a useful position. If you have Zegras, Drysdale, McTavish, Mintyukov, and Carlsson and you still can’t build a respectable team around them to get out of the literal basement, you don’t deserve to win the lottery. That’s an absurd amount of young talent. Like, this is blatant tanking. You still have Fowler, Gibson, Henrique, Terry, etc. and you’re still this bad.

I consider Smith to be the Zegras of the Sharks’ rebuild. If the Sharks are still in the basement in 2028, I would consider the rebuild to be an abject failure. Five years without a sniff at the playoffs is Buffalo, Detroit territory.

I think the Zegras-Smith analogy is solid, and it seems like Eklund could our McTavish + some supporting pieces in Musty, Bystedt, and Mukh to match Terry, Drysdale, etc. Now we need to go get our Carlsson and Mintyukov (hopefully that's Celebrini and 2025 1st round pick). If that happens, maybe playoffs in 2026-2027 is a possibility.

 

[tiburon12]

Smith as Zegras comparable makes me sad. I think Zegras stinks

 

[DG93]

It's awesome how the Sharks have built such a big cushion with half the season still left...14+ points (Columbus being 14, the rest are 17+...SJ isn't gonna overcome that) behind all but 3 teams. Ottawa has 5 games in hand and is 7 points up, so I figure they'll be 11 points up once those games even out. Anaheim and Chicago, ugh...5-6 point cushion ain't that much and they suuuuuuuuuuck

 

[sharski]

the bottom 3 teams at the end of the regular season should face off in a triple threat match with winner getting the #1 pick

Some teams would even raise a banner for winning it

 

[DG93]

the bottom 3 teams at the end of the regular season should face off in a triple threat match with winner getting the #1 pick

Some teams would even raise a banner for winning it

If we won Bedard, I would raise a banner too lol

 

[one2gamble]

If we won Bedard, I would raise a banner too lol

hes got kind of a soft jaw though

 

[Juxtaposer]

I think the Zegras-Smith analogy is solid, and it seems like Eklund could our McTavish + some supporting pieces in Musty, Bystedt, and Mukh to match Terry, Drysdale, etc. Now we need to go get our Carlsson and Mintyukov (hopefully that's Celebrini and 2025 1st round pick). If that happens, maybe playoffs in 2026-2027 is a possibility.

The Sharks lose every single one of those comparisons, which is why I didn’t make them. McTavish is superior to Eklund and none of the other guys you mentioned have done anything in the NHL.

I would consider Eklund to be the Troy Terry of our rebuild, albeit a little closer in age to the rest of the future core. Bystedt is Isaac Lundestrom if we’re lucky. Mukhamadullin would be fortunate to be 75% of Drysdale and hasn’t proven anything in the NHL, he could be a flat out bust. Ditto Musty. I like all those guys but none of them is a “core” prospect the way the five guys I listed for Anaheim are.

The guys the Ducks drafted were top-10, sure things. Even if we draft top-10 in 2025 and 2026, expecting to turn around and make the playoffs in 2027 would be crazy.

The craziest thing is that Anaheim can actually be directly blamed for the state of the Sharks’ rebuild right now. I’m still convinced that we were targeting Mintyukov at 11th in 2022 and that if Anaheim hadn’t picked him, we wouldn’t have traded down. And it’s been well-documented that if the Ducks had just taken Fantilli like they were supposed to, we’d have Carlsson.

In conclusion, f*** the Ducks.

 

[Gecklund]

The Sharks lose every single one of those comparisons, which is why I didn’t make them. McTavish is superior to Eklund and none of the other guys you mentioned have done anything in the NHL.

I would consider Eklund to be the Troy Terry of our rebuild, albeit a little closer in age to the rest of the future core. Bystedt is Isaac Lundestrom if we’re lucky. Mukhamadullin would be fortunate to be 75% of Drysdale and hasn’t proven anything in the NHL, he could be a flat out bust. Ditto Musty. I like all those guys but none of them is a “core” prospect the way the five guys I listed for Anaheim are.

The guys the Ducks drafted were top-10, sure things. Even if we draft top-10 in 2025 and 2026, expecting to turn around and make the playoffs in 2027 would be crazy.

The craziest thing is that Anaheim can actually be directly blamed for the state of the Sharks’ rebuild right now. I’m still convinced that we were targeting Mintyukov at 11th in 2022 and that if Anaheim hadn’t picked him, we wouldn’t have traded down. And it’s been well-documented that if the Ducks had just taken Fantilli like they were supposed to, we’d have Carlsson.

In conclusion, f*** the Ducks.

I think it was Sheng at the time said our list was some combo of Savoie, Kasper, Korchinski, and Mintyukov for 11. I blame Joe Will because he didn’t trade Hertl. I don’t think it’s that far fetched to say without Hertl we lose 5 points each year the last couple years. We were out of last by 2 points last year and out of 7th by 4 points the year before. We easily could have had one of those 4 and Fantilli if it weren’t for Joe Will.

 

[fasterthanlight]

all-time joe will interview. we're not buyers or sellers. we're listeners. (featuring funny comment from @Kcoyote3 )

 

[coooldude]

I think it was Sheng at the time said our list was some combo of Savoie, Kasper, Korchinski, and Mintyukov for 11. I blame Joe Will because he didn’t trade Hertl. I don’t think it’s that far fetched to say without Hertl we lose 5 points each year the last couple years. We were out of last by 2 points last year and out of 7th by 4 points the year before. We easily could have had one of those 4 and Fantilli if it weren’t for Joe Will.

And ultimately, that falls on Hasso and DW. DW should have either stepped away fully, or Hasso should have moved on. We waffled for 2 years and Joe Will was a neutered DW proxy at best. We should be 2 more years into the rebuild. I think we all agree on that.

At least Hasso seems to have his head on straight now, and Grier isn't a trainwreck yet (jury will be out for 2-3 more years on whether he's successfully navigating the rebuild... easy to spot a loser quickly, hard to spot a winner without time).

I agree with Jux that there's no chance we're pushing for playoffs in 2027. This is a 2028 playoff fringe team at earliest. We just had too bare a cupboard and we didn't get lucky last year or with previous draft picks.

 

[Kcoyote3]

all-time joe will interview. we're not buyers or sellers. we're listeners. (featuring funny comment from @Kcoyote3 )

Hahah I don't remember saying that but damn that is good.

 

[Juxtaposer]

Yeah, Joe Will was Not It. Definitely set this team back a couple years.

 

[DG93]

The Sharks lose every single one of those comparisons, which is why I didn’t make them. McTavish is superior to Eklund and none of the other guys you mentioned have done anything in the NHL.

I would consider Eklund to be the Troy Terry of our rebuild, albeit a little closer in age to the rest of the future core. Bystedt is Isaac Lundestrom if we’re lucky. Mukhamadullin would be fortunate to be 75% of Drysdale and hasn’t proven anything in the NHL, he could be a flat out bust. Ditto Musty. I like all those guys but none of them is a “core” prospect the way the five guys I listed for Anaheim are.

The guys the Ducks drafted were top-10, sure things. Even if we draft top-10 in 2025 and 2026, expecting to turn around and make the playoffs in 2027 would be crazy.

The craziest thing is that Anaheim can actually be directly blamed for the state of the Sharks’ rebuild right now. I’m still convinced that we were targeting Mintyukov at 11th in 2022 and that if Anaheim hadn’t picked him, we wouldn’t have traded down. And it’s been well-documented that if the Ducks had just taken Fantilli like they were supposed to, we’d have Carlsson.

In conclusion, f*** the Ducks.

This makes me sad...but true. Assuming the Sharks get Celebrini, draft top-5 in 2025, and top-10 in 2026, what's the earliest you see them making the playoffs with a core of Eklund, Smith, Celebrini, top-5 pick in 2025, and top-10 2026 pick (assuming Mukh, Musty, Bystedt, etc are supporting pieces)?

 

[hohosaregood]

The Sharks lose every single one of those comparisons, which is why I didn’t make them. McTavish is superior to Eklund and none of the other guys you mentioned have done anything in the NHL.

I would consider Eklund to be the Troy Terry of our rebuild, albeit a little closer in age to the rest of the future core. Bystedt is Isaac Lundestrom if we’re lucky. Mukhamadullin would be fortunate to be 75% of Drysdale and hasn’t proven anything in the NHL, he could be a flat out bust. Ditto Musty. I like all those guys but none of them is a “core” prospect the way the five guys I listed for Anaheim are.

The guys the Ducks drafted were top-10, sure things. Even if we draft top-10 in 2025 and 2026, expecting to turn around and make the playoffs in 2027 would be crazy.

The craziest thing is that Anaheim can actually be directly blamed for the state of the Sharks’ rebuild right now. I’m still convinced that we were targeting Mintyukov at 11th in 2022 and that if Anaheim hadn’t picked him, we wouldn’t have traded down. And it’s been well-documented that if the Ducks had just taken Fantilli like they were supposed to, we’d have Carlsson.

In conclusion, f*** the Ducks.

My only disagreement is that I don't think Drysdale is much of anything.

 

[Juxtaposer]

This makes me sad...but true. Assuming the Sharks get Celebrini, draft top-5 in 2025, and top-10 in 2026, what's the earliest you see them making the playoffs with a core of Eklund, Smith, Celebrini, top-5 pick in 2025, and top-10 2026 pick (assuming Mukh, Musty, Bystedt, etc are supporting pieces)?

If:

1) we win Celebrini
2) we get a defenseman in 2025 who is a true future #1D
3) all those guys (Smith, Bystedt, Musty, Mukhamadullin) pan out and hit their upsides plus another top-10 pick in 2026
4) Grier makes good trades for supporting/depth players

Then, I could see competing for the playoffs in 27-28. But that’s a ton of stuff that would have to work out right.

There’s also always the off chance that the Sharks go on a random heater and make the playoffs off-schedule randomly like the Flyers this year, but hopefully that doesn’t happen…

 

[Coily]

Yeah, Joe Will was Not It. Definitely set this team back a couple years.

Oh, what could have been if Minnesota hired him instead of Chuck Fletcher...

 

[Barrie22]

If:

1) we win Celebrini
2) we get a defenseman in 2025 who is a true future #1D
3) all those guys (Smith, Bystedt, Musty, Mukhamadullin) pan out and hit their upsides plus another top-10 pick in 2026
4) Grier makes good trades for supporting/depth players

Then, I could see competing for the playoffs in 27-28. But that’s a ton of stuff that would have to work out right.

There’s also always the off chance that the Sharks go on a random heater and make the playoffs off-schedule randomly like the Flyers this year, but hopefully that doesn’t happen…

We could ultimately end up with that number 1 defensemen this draft if the picks fall the right way. Top 10-15 could be good enough to get someone like Buium. He is as of now ranked 16th to 22nd.