The potential of the San Jose Sharks

[Sasso09]

Smith is absolutely a pure C

Smith was never a center imo, but hey i only spent 2 decades as a scout. He plays like a wing, always has.

They are doing good. Not sure why the shade at Chicago or montreal

We both deserve the shade to be fair.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Was pumped for the Bedard draft, but Celebrini might be the better player.

Celebrini might be the "new" MacKinnon

Will be exciting to see how he further develops

 

[Sasso09]

Hard to say if Smit his a winger or a center at this stage. He's smaller and worse defensively than Celebrini, so we won't really see if he sticks at center until next season at the earliest I'd guess. Could go either way but I'm leaning on agreeing with you that he seems better suited to wing ala someone like Marner.

I like Hagens but I doubt we pick first and I'd be worried about the size of forward core; none of him, Celebrini, or Smith are particularly large.

That's my only concern about Hagens as i voiced it a month ago if Sharks end up with the 1st do they take Martone if they believe in Smith as 2C or do they take Hagens with Smith moved to wing, then you have your three offensive stars all under 6ft (mack and Smith both measure just over 5'11")

That being said i think you can't pass on Hagens unless you get a great deal to move back a few spots. Hagens and Celebrini would feed families in the bay area and you can always sign the Maroon types to protect them

 

[SoundAndFury]

Yeah one thing for sure, I think Celebrini was underhyped for how good he is.

 

[Sasso09]

Was pumped for the Bedard draft, but Celebrini might be the better player.

Celebrini might be the "new" MacKinnon

Will be exciting to see how he further develops

If Celebrini ends up being MacKinnon then he def passes Bedard... I don't see it and i've been hard on Celebrini for years due to what i see as a lack of Elite offensive ability but he's been proving me wrong. I must admit i did have Celebrini as a better prospect than Mackinnon DY

And i'm honest enough to admit that my biggest miss on as a scout was on Mackinnon.... maybe that's a good sign for Celebrini. I'll clown myself here, i had Drouin above Mackinnon and thought he would continue to be the better player like he was in juniors.

 

[Barrie22]

If Celebrini ends up being MacKinnon then he def passes Bedard... I don't see it and i've been hard on Celebrini for years due to what i see as a lack of Elite offensive ability but he's been proving me wrong. I must admit i did have Celebrini as a better prospect than Mackinnon DY

And i'm honest enough to admit that my biggest miss on as a scout was on Mackinnon.... maybe that's a good sign for Celebrini. I'll clown myself here, i had Drouin above Mackinnon and thought he would continue to be the better player like he was in juniors.

What is it about Celebrini that you don't see offensive potential?

Every single league he has played in all the way back to U14AAA, he has been the top player offensively.

His worst finish was 3rd as a 17 year old hobbey baker winner in the ncaa as a rookie.

 

[fasterthanlight]

I love ek65, but it's pretty crazy we flipped him and that contact for Sam Dickinson

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

They’ll be one of the best teams in the NHL in five years. Celebrini-Smith down the middle will be a very good top 2 centers and they have the goaltending with Askarov. They have some other pieces scattered around like Eklund and Dickinson and a few others. Still need to grab another top 5 pick or two. They don’t want to get too good too quickly. That might limit them if they get like the 11th pick for 2025 being nowhere close to the playoffs while also not getting a premium pick.

 

[benfranklin]

I havent heard of most of those names but I like Celebrini and Askarov.

 

[Juxtaposer]

Still a long way to go before all the potential is realized. Anything can happen. But I think you have to like the way it's going.

 

[I am Canadian]

Personally if I was rebuilding a team I would draft defense first. The Leafs drafted 3x forwards in a row and are paying for it now with no real top pairing defenders.

Hopefully Dickinson does that for them. I don't know enough about their other defense prospects but fairly safe to say they have a fair bit more forward prospects then defender ones.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I think they need some solid defense and a better bottom six once Askarov is to be the full-time starter. But by next year I see them clinching wild card at least.

I think they trade Vanecek/Blackwood for a defenseman. But Celebrini has proven to me he has the potential to lead and carry a team. But also, I think Askarov should be on the Sharks not the Barracuda.

 

[wetcoast]

Between them and Chicago who have been competing to try to be the worst teams in the league over a multiple year stretch, they are the ones who have certainly compiled the much more attractive pieces to this point.

Unfortunately there is a long road between accumulating attractive pieces and putting a winner on the ice which several teams who are still trying to come out of that stage can attest to.

Yup just ask the Sabers among others.

 

[Barrie22]

I think they need some solid defense and a better bottom six once Askarov is to be the full-time starter. But by next year I see them clinching wild card at least.

I think they trade Vanecek/Blackwood for a defenseman. But Celebrini has proven to me he has the potential to lead and carry a team. But also, I think Askarov should be on the Sharks not the Barracuda.

He will be by next season or if a trade comes up this year for one of the 2 goalies we have now.

Askarov is the only NHL worthy goalie signed next year.

 

[wetcoast]

Personally if I was rebuilding a team I would draft defense first. The Leafs drafted 3x forwards in a row and are paying for it now with no real top pairing defenders.

Hopefully Dickinson does that for them. I don't know enough about their other defense prospects but fairly safe to say they have a fair bit more forward prospects then defender ones.

There is no simple recipe as different draft have different players and sometimes, actually alot of the time, some luck is involved.

 

[Block]

Still a long way to go before all the potential is realized. Anything can happen. But I think you have to like the way it's going.

Yeah, look at Edmonton for all those years.

 

[Fraser28]

I havent heard of most of those names but I like Celebrini and Askarov.

I think that’s more on you than on their quality.

 

[sxvnert]

A few more years of high picks and the sharks will be power houses again.

 

[wintersej]

Think it’s too early to say they’ll be a juggernaut. Their forwards look very very promising and should be good with Celebrini, Smith, Eklund, Chernyshov, Musty, Bystedt, etc. Askarov looks like the real deal which is great so they should have their starter unless something goes wrong. It’s defense that they need to fix. I think they might have a top 4 D or two in the system with Dickinson, Mukhammadulin or Liljegren but I’m not sure any of those guys are top pairing D and one of those hasn’t played an NHL game so too early to say much.


So like Toffoli, Wennberg, Ceci, Walman?

Not sure if Wennberg and Walman fit the “winning” part of the equation. I’m thinking more like Hossa was to Chicago.

 

[TheDoldrums]

Personally if I was rebuilding a team I would draft defense first. The Leafs drafted 3x forwards in a row and are paying for it now with no real top pairing defenders.

What a strange post. The Leafs are a top 3 team in goals against lol, how are they paying for it now?

 

[hohosaregood]

Personally if I was rebuilding a team I would draft defense first. The Leafs drafted 3x forwards in a row and are paying for it now with no real top pairing defenders.

Hopefully Dickinson does that for them. I don't know enough about their other defense prospects but fairly safe to say they have a fair bit more forward prospects then defender ones.

Sometimes you can't like there's no argument for Reinbacher over Smith or Levshunov over Celebrini but Grier's also had to completely overhauled the defensive depth. The best defensemen U23 defensemen that DW left the franchise was Mario Ferraro, Ryan Merkley, and Artemi Knyazev.

 

[OverTheLine]

The forward core seems pretty good. Don't think it's challenging for the cup without a couple more pieces, but in a vacuum it could push for a wildcard or make the playoffs in a year or two's time.

The real issue is the backend. It's HORRIBLE. And while Dickinson is a beacon of hope, defensemen can take awhile to be ready for the show. Our biggest hope is Mukh or Cagnoni makes a big jump soon, or we get lucky with a big FA signing or a trade.

 

[eojsmada]

They just need to hit on some defensemen and they should be pretty set, provided their top-end forwards don't go the Edmonton/Toronto route and handcuff their franchise.

 

[My3Sons]

Lots of talent and potential. But be prepared for them to lose longer than you expect and for them to backslide at times after it looks like they are turning the corner.

 

[coooldude]

Celebrini is exactly the type of talent you want to build your team around. He does it all, wont have any glaring weaknesses in his game. They will not be like an Ottawa/Buffalo/Montreal.

I think they push for the playoffs next year, or the very least the year after that.

Only thing they are kinda lacking is on the back end but Dickinson should develop nicely and teams have gotten by/made playoffs without straight up legit #1 Ds.

I think it'll take longer. The teardown by Grier was textbook and the first quarter of the season looks like he's doing okay at building a team that takes a step forward this year. But we have a very weak back end and the promising prospects are still children. I've been saying and I'll keep saying, first playoff push in 2026-27, not contenders until 2030. But everything is on track except Musty and we need one more blue chip D prospect, plus others to keep their trajectory.

Lots of talent and potential. But be prepared for them to lose longer than you expect and for them to backslide at times after it looks like they are turning the corner.

Exactly. I and others have said bottom 3 this year, bottom 5 next year, bottom 10 after that, then maybe wild card... But stacked young teams take steps back all the time. We could be bottom 10 next year and sniffing wildcard, then bottom 5 the following year. Contention in 2030+ if the rebuild stays on the rails and Celebrini hits close to his ceiling.