I have a few thoughts. First, what a day. Even being in the car and having my wife read the picks to me off her phone and me explaining to her the significance of some of the picks, it was super exciting. And my wife is no sports dummy - I'd put her ahead of many men on sports knowledge, but she hasn't dived in whole heartedly on the Sharks like I did after we won the lottery. Best moment of the draft is when I realized she thought Eiserman was Yzerman's son as we were waiting on Detroit's pick and we were finally in our condo with the TV on.
Also interested to hear what those of you at the draft thought of the Sphere as a hosting location. From a televised event perspective, I thought it looked incredible and thought the NFL and NBA should immediately move every draft there. But maybe it's different when you're there live.
Like most people on this forum, I was praying hard for it to be Buium. When I saw his highlight package, I just didn't care at all about the size issue and thought this guy is hands down no doubt about it the best defenseman in the draft. But clearly size knocked him down. If you told me he was going to be the sixth defenseman picked, I'd have laughed at you. IMO, some of the teams who took defensemen are going to regret passing on that kid.
I'm pretty pleased with the Dickinson pick though. I never really thought much about Levshunov at all cause I knew there was no chance, but that's why I did the poll on the defensemen and I was surprised Dickinson didn't get more love. I know he's not as flashy as Buium or Parekh were, but I did really like his all around game/size combo and how he skated with the puck. I was willing to go with a boom/bust type pick at 11 if it was for defense, but I really can't see Dickinson busting outside of some sort of unforeseen future physical issue. The Hunters will round out the rest of his rough edges and he'll come to us well-cooked. Can't wait.
Any doubts I had about Grier as a GM after today are done. That was the most masterful draft the Sharks have ever had. He knew right where he had to get to to get the guy we needed and didn't panic move up when things started falling our way. We're in good hands.
What a great day.