2025 NHL Draft: Lose a ton for Porter Martone

[dmcccdmn]

One time I had a squirrel ran past in front of my car from one side of the street to the other. And just as he was about to reach the other side of the street to safety, he ran all the way back to his original starting point right across my moving car, which almost ran him over. Essentially, he moved faster than he can process. From all the descriptions that I read about Dickinson, he is just that, he has good speed but lack processing speed.

And the more red flags Dickinson has shown, the more I hope we can get Schaefer. Dickinson isn't the savior I thought he was. But Schaefer, he could elevate Celebrini to dangerous new height.

 

[Star Platinum]

One time I had a squirrel ran past in front of my car from one side of the street to the other. And just as he was about to reach the other side of the street to safety, he ran all the way back to his original starting point right across my moving car, which almost ran him over. Essentially, he moved faster than he can process. From all the descriptions that I read about Dickinson, he is just that, he has good speed but lack processing speed.

And the more red flags Dickinson has shown, the more I hope we can get Schaefer. Dickinson isn't the savior I thought he was. But Schaefer, he could elevate Celebrini to dangerous new height.

Please everyone, think of Sam Dickinson's mother and don't run him over with your car just because he doesn't have NHL level processing speed.

 

[JotAlan]

If you enjoy watching Macklin at C, then you should want Misa to be a C in the NHL if he is drafted by the Sharks. I remember lots of the descriptions of Macklin last year, were that he was not really elite in any one area of the game and just very well rounded. That is essentially the same with Misa - a very high motor, committed 200ft game, intelligent and detail orientated playstyle. They both play a game from the C position that elevates their line mates. That is why I view Misa as a winger being a waste, since using Macklin as a winger would also be a waste.

Finally someone who expressed exactly what I think, whenever I watch Misa I see a Celebrini-lite. Misa is a potential elite 1C. Having him as 2C behind Celebrini would be insane. If I were GM of the Sharks I wouldn't think twice. And although I agree that Will Smith is excellent, I project him more as a winger, I would like to have all 3.

 

[coooldude]

Finally someone who expressed exactly what I think, whenever I watch Misa I see a Celebrini-lite. Misa is a potential elite 1C. Having him as 2C behind Celebrini would be insane. If I were GM of the Sharks I wouldn't think twice. And although I agree that Will Smith is excellent, I project him more as a winger, I would like to have all 3.

I'm starting to make the somewhat stylistic connection of Misa as Marleau. He's not your clear 1OA and he's not probably the savior player you need but he's seemingly so versatile that he could be a great asset for a long time, especially behind the actual savior. I'm not sure if I like Misa over Martone or Hagens but it's very intriguing.

 

[Forlan]

Finally someone who expressed exactly what I think, whenever I watch Misa I see a Celebrini-lite. Misa is a potential elite 1C. Having him as 2C behind Celebrini would be insane. If I were GM of the Sharks I wouldn't think twice. And although I agree that Will Smith is excellent, I project him more as a winger, I would like to have all 3.

I totally agree, I would be very happy if we were lucky with Misa's choice.

 

[JotAlan]

I totally agree, I would be very happy if we were lucky with Misa's choice.

I see a majority say: but we need a 1D more (so we have to select Schaeffer) than another center, and ok, I would even agree. The problem is that it takes a defender much longer to reach the ceiling. I prefer to take Misa and spend as much as possible to acquire an older defensive top pair because the attackers (Celebrini, Misa, Smith, etc... will take less time to reach their peaks and the Stanley Cup would be closer.

I'm starting to make the somewhat stylistic connection of Misa as Marleau. He's not your clear 1OA and he's not probably the savior player you need but he's seemingly so versatile that he could be a great asset for a long time, especially behind the actual savior. I'm not sure if I like Misa over Martone or Hagens but it's very intriguing.

Sincerely? I prefer Misa to be a 2C, and bring Smith to the wing. Than Smith in the center with Martone on the wing. This is because I believe that Smith is better than Martone and Misa will be a better center than Smith.

 

[Celly4Celebrini]

I feel like you really underrate Dickinson.

I like the idea of drafting Schaefer too(i was on Logan Hensler last year but his stock has fallen hard), but Dickinson still has #1D written all over him. Is Schaefer better? Probably, but Dickinson wasn't used on London's top PP last year so his numbers weren't as pretty, yet he was still the best two way D of the draft next to Levshunov, who is considered weaker offensively. Buium was considered quite a bit weaker defensively, but more dynamic offensively and smaller.

As it turns out, London gave Dickinson PP1 this year and he's having a historically good two way season in the OHL, Vastly outscoring offense only Dynamo zayne Parekh while being 10x better defensively

i love BDE more than anyone, but i have my doubts hes truely the solution at D and is more so an elite secondary option on a top team. More of a guy who is a top dmen but not THE guy.

If you believe in the "not 30 #1" idea, than i think he's absolutely peaking as a top 30 dman, but not a #1 if you know what i mean. If you want to win a cup, he cant be the top guy.

 

[StrawHatEklund]

The tank is looking in good form now. Still hoping we beat Philly or Vegas though. Flames are a 3rd option. 1 win to finish the year.

 

[StanleyCup2035]

The tank is looking in good form now. Still hoping we beat Philly or Vegas though. Flames are a 3rd option. 1 win to finish the year.

We need every loss to get our future 1D:

#25 Matthew Schaefer, D (2025 NHL Draft): Schaefer continues to get better with every game – so much so that he’s been Canada’s best defenseman overall. He makes so many smart, high-IQ plays at both ends of the ice. He’s not afraid to rush in when he needs to and he’s defensively sound around his own net. Hard to hate a two-point night from an underaged defenseman – someone many expect to go first overall in 2025.

 

[sampler]

We need every loss to get our future 1D:

#25 Matthew Schaefer, D (2025 NHL Draft): Schaefer continues to get better with every game – so much so that he’s been Canada’s best defenseman overall. He makes so many smart, high-IQ plays at both ends of the ice. He’s not afraid to rush in when he needs to and he’s defensively sound around his own net. Hard to hate a two-point night from an underaged defenseman – someone many expect to go first overall in 2025.

OK I'm sold on the Tank. let's do it.

Dick and Schaefer on the back end for a decade sounds like a lot of fun, particularly if Smith can re-emerge as a top 6 forward to compliment Ek and Celly.

Truth is, the forwards, as is, are nearly good enough for a playoff team. The D is the clear glaring weakness. Sharks have just 15 goals in 37 games from the D, good for 18th in the league in goals/gm by D. Having a couple of Makar/Hughes/Bouchard level guys on the back end would sure be nice.

Im all in the tank (just hope we end up with over 63 pts... gotta win that bet )

 

[Star Platinum]

Truth is, the forwards, as is, are nearly good enough for a playoff team

Truth is, this is not the truth

 

[Lebanezer]

Truth is, this is not the truth

It is very far from the truth.

 

[sampler]

It is very far from the truth.

Well, we can agree to disagree. I think we are one top line guy away. Just one, along with jettisoning the dead weight like Goodrow, Dylandrea, and co. Granted, there would be zero room for injury or underperformance, but I put an Ehlers or Marner level player in and you got the Lund line (which is very servicable 2nd line). Celebrini-toffoli-Marner(type) as you top line and wennberg-Smith- and Kovalenko as a 3rd line. Also servicable third line assuming celly and smith continue developing.

Right now, its the D that's sorely lacking. Ferraro, Mukh, and Thrun are not NHL level on a playoff team. Maybe you can argue ferraro on a 3rd pairing with limited minute and some PK duties, but how many fumbles did the D have, and how much offense does the D tend to create? Also, how is the D doing in the cruch time? Walman is the big exception, but after walman, its a big fall. The D at both ends is the main area of need. giving up 4 goals per game isnt good enough, but neither is scoring at such a below average clip.

I miss having a boyle, Burns, or even Karlsson on the blueline that made every O-zone possession into a legit scoring threat. Someone who can walk the line, gets shots through, pick spots to cheat back door or even cycle below the goal line. The top D is missing so if they can get schaefer, they'll have two good potential eggs in that basket.

 

[weastern bias]

Truth is, the forwards, as is, are nearly good enough for a playoff team.

Lol

Lmao, even

 

[Hodge]

Moneypuck currently projects us to finish last by 7 points

 

[one2gamble]

Truth is, this is not the truth

I think if you had real #1,2,3,4 defenders, kept blackwood, with the way the division is, they could probably sneak in but that means replacing everyone on the backend with high quality people. They arent getting boat raced every game and the defense is horribad. I dont think people really understand what a stable back end does to the forwards efficiencies.

You would likely break out the broom in round 1 though.

 

[matt trick]

I think if you had real #1,2,3,4 defenders, kept blackwood, with the way the division is, they could probably sneak in but that means replacing everyone on the backend with high quality people. They arent getting boat raced every game and the defense is horribad. I dont think people really understand what a stable back end does to the forwards efficiencies.

You would likely break out the broom in round 1 though.

So, say you replaced Thrun with Harley and Rutta with Bouchard (resisted the urge to go with a Norris candidate). New defense is Bouchard-Harley-Walman-Ferraro-Liljigren-Ceci?

Top 9 of Celebrini, Granlund, Eklund, Tofolli, Zetts, Wennberg, Goody, Kunin, and Koistin/Smith?

Blackwood and Askarov?

I’d say that’s a bubble team, maybe grab the kings/utah/cgy slot, but don’t see it being better than Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, or Vancouver. We’d be hoping to bring in an upgrade or two in the top 9 at the deadline. Good (unproven) goalies, good defense, solid centers, poor wingers.

Things get so much easier with an elite dman. Trying to stitch together a bunch of 3/4/5s like Walman, Ferraro, Ceci, Liljigren into an all situations group is freaking hard. Getting complimentary 3/4 guys isn’t easy (especially once cap space and assets dwindle), but it’s not a huge deal, particularly if you’re not looking for a guy to carry the load offensively. In addition, if you have a legit #1 you don’t absolutely have to have a legit #2.

If we get a top 4 pick, even Schaefer, we’re still a couple pieces away. However with 1C/D/G and Smith, Dickinson you’ve got the five hardest pieces to acquire, and the rest can be got through trades. That being said, Celebrini is the only one who has a viable chance to be top half (16) at his position (1C) in the league next year. The same won’t be true for Askarov, Smith (2C) Eklund (1LW), or Schaefer (who almost certainly won’t be in the NHL). If Grier got the team out of the bottom 10 next year, I’d be exceedingly impressed.

Chicago, Anaheim, Montreal and Buffalo (somehow) will likely still suck next year. Ottawa likely won’t have a first. Philly, CBJ, Pitt, Calgary may suck as well. If Grier can build a team beat out those teams to claim 10th I’d be rather impressed.

The following year, I’d be disappointed if they ended up bottom 10 again.

 

[vortexy]

Agreed this year I expect a bottom 2-3 finish, next year a bottom 5-10 finish and then the following year we could hopefully be contending for a wild card spot but in the end probably missing (at least playing meaningful games after the trade deadline). I think thats a reasonable timeline for the Sharks and what we could expect.

 

[TheBeard]

Moneypuck currently projects us to finish last by 7 points

What was it before the Blackwood trade?

 

[Star Platinum]

I think if you had real #1,2,3,4 defenders, kept blackwood, with the way the division is, they could probably sneak in but that means replacing everyone on the backend with high quality people. They arent getting boat raced every game and the defense is horribad. I dont think people really understand what a stable back end does to the forwards efficiencies.

You would likely break out the broom in round 1 though.

Feels like the defense is a "whole team" problem to me. The defensemen is something we've covered many times, but most of our forwards just aren't great at winning puck battles. It would be great if the defensemen made better passes out of our zone, but the big thing is just go get the damn puck back.

 

[coooldude]

What was it before the Blackwood trade?

Trading places with CHI for last, depending on games won or lost that week.

 

[coooldude]

Feels like the defense is a "whole team" problem to me. The defensemen is something we've covered many times, but most of our forwards just aren't great at winning puck battles. It would be great if the defensemen made better passes out of our zone, but the big thing is just go get the damn puck back.

Agreed, and the forwards are inconsistent at making the right play to break out, and we get stuck in the hemmed in-> tired -> make mistake -> no line change -> hemmed in or icing loop. Just yesterday there was a shift in the second where Zetterlund flubbed like two exit chips, someone else flipped it out only to the center dot, was like 2-3 minutes in our zone because of 2-3 mistakes. This is why the NHL coaches say details matter. One minor screw up and you get stuck in your zone. Our D last year were the prime culprit but this year it's also the forwards failing to break the puck out consistently (but sometimes they do very well!)

 

[hohosaregood]

i feel like a lot of the wingers don't make good defensive reads AND/OR are bad on the boards. like you see our d-man rim the puck and the opposing defenseman reads and reacts to the rim a half second ahead of our winger so they don't get to the puck on time and then we get into the hemmed in problem. like conceptually the defensive system isn't too asking for anything crazy but the wingers just don't make plays on the rim plays very well.

 

[Star Platinum]

Agreed, and the forwards are inconsistent at making the right play to break out, and we get stuck in the hemmed in-> tired -> make mistake -> no line change -> hemmed in or icing loop. Just yesterday there was a shift in the second where Zetterlund flubbed like two exit chips, someone else flipped it out only to the center dot, was like 2-3 minutes in our zone because of 2-3 mistakes. This is why the NHL coaches say details matter. One minor screw up and you get stuck in your zone. Our D last year were the prime culprit but this year it's also the forwards failing to break the puck out consistently (but sometimes they do very well!)

My concern is that as a team, we don't ever seem to be getting better at this which makes me wonder how good the coaching is. I can accept that the innate talent of the players puts a cap on this sort of thing, but even if many of them are not great players, they still are NHL-worthy players and they should be able to get an organized breakout going.