Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by Fan Tracks. Here's shit us,
your source of information and analysis to help you win your fantasy hockey league.
Block off hot a step hit on, staylock block. Here's your hosts,
Jesse Souvier and Victor Nun You Fantasy Hockey Live. We're here. We're ready
to talk to fantasy hockey. I am Jesse Severe and that is Victor Nuno
of EP Ringside. Victor, how you doing. I'm doing great, Jesse.
Yeah, it's a really exciting time. We're recording these a little bit
in advance, but by the time this one's coming out, it is draft
season and draft times, so that's super exciting. And man, what's that
called be on my way to Vegas at the time that this is coming out,
So definitely excited for that. How are you doing. I'm doing good,
man. And while you're off in Vegas, the team that plays in
your environs in North California is gonna be is gonna be on tenter hooks thinking
about that draft. Nobody is more excited about the draft than the Sharks,
I should think at this point. So that is the topic of the topic
du jour to I'm still in Canadians mode, talking French Canadian dajure. Isn't
that it kind of isn't that the sandwich? Don't you order a dajure and
then you dip a roast beef sandwich in some paju? Isn't that how that
works means of the day. No, but maybe you're thinking of some grey
poupon. Grey poupon, great poopon. You have to pronounce it without the
end, Victor poopon? All right, I should have saved saved all this
stick for the Canadians, although then our guests probably would have left us.
Instead. We're gonna talk Sharks today. You can come and talk fantasy hockey
with us if you're getting excited for the draft. If you want to be
reacting in real time place, you can do it the discord for Fantasy Hockey
Life. It's free. You just have to get a link to pop in
there. Victor Nuneo twelve on x or myself Fan Hockey Life on x or
email is Fantasy Hockeylife at gmail dot com. Victor. As soon as these
drafts happen, you do all kinds of crazy things in the Patreon to update
ranks and that sort of thing, tell people what they can do to get
that type of stuff. Yeah, you can look at all of my prospect
ranks for four goalie d This will be integrated throughout the integrating the twenty twenty
four draft d's in there as well, which will be nice. That's always
a little bit challenging. You can also look at just the twenty twenty four
guys, and of course once the teams draft the players, there'll be a
little bit of movement some players. That's going to affect a little bit.
For most of them, it doesn't affect it too much, but we'll consider
all of that, and so there's all kinds of great stuff there. We'll
of course be doing patron Cast top ten lists, bonus content. I can
help you through your fantasy drafts, co piloting with you. All kinds of
great stuff. So check all that out at patreon dot com slash fantasy hockey.
All right, let's get to it right after the we welcome back to
the show longtime guest one of the most, if not the most knowledgeable member
of the press on the San Jose Sharks, Shangpang of San Jose Hockey now
of NBC Sports Bay Area. Shang how you doing good? Hi, you
guys in doing great, doing great? Ready to talk a little San Jose
Sharks today, And I gotta be honest, I can't sugarcoat it for you
here, Shang. This might have been rock bottom for the boys and teal.
It was a pretty rough year. They were last in the NHL standings.
They allowed by far the most shots against, the most goals against.
They took the fewest shots through though two more hits back of the net.
They had the second fewest goals to the Chicago Blackhawks. Did not get a
win in their first eleven games. Later in the season, maybe not as
well noticed. They had a twelve game a streak without a win. After
the All Star break, they played thirty games, only got four wins.
And today we won't be breaking down Captain Logan Couture, whose career could be
over at this point. Top five scores from last year, Tomash Hurtle,
Anthony Duclair. They ran off the playoff teams elsewhere, but this was the
plan. The Sharks are bottoming out on purpose. They have a plan to
get back there. They go into next year with pretty clean books, cap
space for days. What did Sharks fans get out of last year. Aside
from hope that the team is tearing it down to build a back up.
They got macli Celebrany. There you go, Victor, I think that's your
cue. Yeah. I will just add that there has been reticent here to
use the R word, the rebuild, right, and so that has been
some something that has not they've been reluctant to do. And I think Greer
softened around that a bit. Yeah, he's added that to his his spell
check on his iPhone, so he's agreed, he's a check. He's check
mark dead. Okay, yeah, you can use that word. But I
feel like he slowly moved the goalposts from no, we're not going to eventually,
Okay, maybe we are. So yeah, let's get into the players.
And of course we're going to talk about maclan Celebrini because I would be
and I think everyone will be completely shocked if he was not a Santose Shark.
On June twenty eighth, when the draft happens, he will be the
first overall pick, and it's finally happened for the Sharks. They finally will
draft a first overall, assuming they don't do something insane like when they traded
the Lacavalier pick back in nineteen ninety eight for what ended up being Brad Stewart.
I've heard a lot of Sharks fans say we've never got the first overall
pick. That's not true. They did actually get it, they didn't actually
possess it for any time because they traded it before they trade it. But
this is the first time it's going to happen in the franchise history. So
that's pretty exciting. Yeah. So I don't think they're going to the pick
shang zero zero percent chance they trade the pick. There is a is there
anything less than zero negative? Yeah, so that's not happening. So that's
not happening. The British Columbia kid, who spent part of his formative years
here playing for the junior Sharks is coming home, and I think the first
thing to discuss is will he be with the Sharks. I've heard some people
say there's a chance he goes back to be you. One of the interesting
things that is going to happen is Cole Eiserman, who he played with at
Shattuck Saint Mary, is going to be you. That could be fun.
But he also won the Hoby Baker as the best college hockey player as a
seventeen year old, which is really insane, and he's gonna be he would
just be so good in college again. But the Sharks are going to be
bad, and I just wonder what they're going to do. Are they going
to want to send him back to avoid that bad situation or are they going
to want the excitement for the fans to have Celebrini in the building and start
the emergence from this although they are still going to be bad even with Celebrini.
What do you what do you think on that front? Shang is?
Is he going to be with the Shark? I'm gonna frame my answer around
Macklin's perspective because I have to remember that as an NC doubo A prospect,
he has a lot of power in the situation. If he wants to come
out, and the Sharks necessarily don't want him to come out. There's only
so much you can push him or you risk a cutter go the ale situation,
right, and that's you want to avoid that more than anything. And
so I do think that he wants to come out. I do think that
he is the type of player from talking to people around him, he's a
type of player that wants to challenge himself and what's left for him at the
NCUBA level. There's really nothing to win a national championship. But honestly,
he's from Canada. What does he care about the national championship. He wants
to go star his angil career and get his way going to win a Stanley
Cup one day, and so I would be shocked if he goes back.
I don't really see any really good reason for him to go back. I
think the Sharks also believe and everyone believes that he's also AH already. It's
not one of those lip service things that you just say to blockade your top
prospect. He is only seventeen, yes right now, but he is six
foot He's a really solidly built one ninety five, and so there's no real
reason his game is mature. He's good two ways, he cares a lot
defensively, and so there's really not much of a reason for him to go
back. I totally agree. And one of the things you could also say
about Celebrini is not only does he score a lot of points and offensively gifted,
he's a really complete player for a number one overall pick, even just
comparing him to Badard some of the last first overall picks. He may not
have the elite level offense, but I think he's close to Badard, but
his two hundred foot defensive game all situations, I think is way better than
Bedard was and I think will be better in the future. So in that
sense, he will have an easier transition to the NHL because I think he
could already easily play a certain in the Sharks top six, but even on
a good team in the top six. So I think from that perspective,
he certainly is NH already, assuming he is. So let's assume that he's
going to be day one with the Sharks playoff season barring injury. Knock on
Wood, what do you think we can expect from him? Most seem to
say that he's somewhere between Jack Hughes and Connor Bodard in terms of what we
might expect from him points wise, and so that would be seventy four point
pace from Bernard and twenty eight point pace from Jack Hughes. Some people forget
Jack Hughes had a really rough rookie season in terms of point production. So
where do you think he falls there? In terms of how many points he's
going to score with this still not great chantose Sharks team, I'm gonna go
on a ledger and say that he's going to be between Jack Hughes and Connor
Bedard. No. Well, seriously though, I think closer to like maybe
forty. If you want to not put too much on him, he should
get plenty of playing time. But it is a great noteo to remind people
that just because he's the number one pick, just because he has all this
hype arale him, that sometimes it takes time for even for very high picks,
not even guys like Slevkowski who aren't necessarily consensus number ones, but a
guy like sel Bernie who is a consensus number one. Jack Hughes was a
consensus number one going back to Steven Stamco's Joe Thornton, right, these are
all guys who struggled offensively their rookie season. But yeah, what will help
cel Brittany is that even if he's not scoring, he should be able to
help you in a third or fourth line center role and just do a good
job there as he builds his offense, and that will keep him in the
lineup. It won't render him unplayable. It shouldn't render him unplayable, or
you've got to lower his minutes significantly, like you might with let's say Jack
Hughes, if he's struggling offensively in his rookie year and so anyway, I
would say forty in my conservative estimate. I have really checked around with people
yet. But offensively, yeah, he is compared more to Jonathan Taves,
but with more skill. Jonathan Tates wasn't exactly ninety. Jhonathanty's never cracked.
I don't think ever cracked ninety points. I think his highway was in the
low eighties. So if you get K's but more scale, if you can
get ninety points out of celebrity, you want to even touch one hundred,
it'll be awesome. Along with his two way play. But I would not
expect him to score at say a badard rate, of course, or even
reach Hugh's peak, which obviously we're seeing right now. We got to talk
about all the other players on the team, although celebrinis, I love it.
Mikyle Greenland, look, he had a career year. Lucien made his
dude tip his hat good year STI twelfth season on his fourth team, the
team relied on him a lot. He almost skated twenty one minutes a night,
which led the forwards. He missed thirteen games between his shoulder injury and
some sort of lower body injury. As one of the eight forwards under contract
for next year, you have to think he will be back for some more
scoring in a big role. Obviously. Yeah, what do you make of
this guy? And what do you think he's gonna do? I think the
other part that he's really he's a good leader. He's a good example for
all the kids in the room. It was really good for last year for
Willie Macklin and Faban Zeterlin to be around him so much. He's the kind
of guy that you want around your younger players to teach them sort of the
way like on the ice, off the ice, and that kind of focus.
And he should slide back in as the Shark's top center. There's no
need to put that on Macklin unless Macklin takes a job for him, which
he might well do in his rookie season. But for now, though,
Mcialk slides in as your number one center, and he should be a good
bet if you can stay healthy for a good fifty points, sixty points and
just be like the veteran guy that you can count on for some production on
this team. All right, that's exciting, and let's move on to William
Mackland, who is someone who I've been really excited about for a long time.
He played eighty games in the NHL this season, where previously he had
seven team over two seasons. Big jump in terms of role matchups. There
wasn't a whole lot to insulate him around from the rest of the league.
His strong defensive metrics I think kerry extra weight when you see how bad everyone
else was around him. There wasn't much offense, as as much offense as
some of us fantasy types would have liked. Forty six point pace is kind
of just under the threshold of what's super exciting. He failed to get two
shots on net most of the time, though he had almost a block per
game, which was unexpectedly nice in terms of peripheral production. So, shang,
are, what are we to expect from Ecklan next season? In long
term? Can he be a seventy plus point pace guy? I don't know.
I see him more as topping out as a second line on a good
team, but a second line that plays like you mentioned. Even even though
I think he has a lot to learn defensively, he tries. He wants
to be good defensively. That's where I think the blocks come from. Right
Obviously, do the Sharks give up a lot of shot gemps too, so
you're going to block a shot as a Shark just standing around happenstance in his
zone. But anyway though, he cares though, and I can see him
touching seventy points, but that's not where I would expect him on a year
to year basis. But I think if he settles in more into the sixty
rate, but he is again a very solid two ways you can use him
on a penalty kill. He's going to be a very valuable player on a
good team. He should be a very valuable piece of the next Sharks playoff
team, at least he would hope. So his game profiles as such.
So I'm a big fan of his. I seventy is the high for me
that I think, but maybe he'll prove us wrong. And I do give
him a lot of credit. Last year it was really hard for a young
player to development, and he did a good job of keeping his head above
water. And not getting to discourage when he was getting all those dashes.
I think he leads the league, led the league with the minus forty five
or something like that, and so I think he did a good job of
that. And so he's a guy who really deserves just like Grandlin, he
deserves more help around him, and I think that help should be coming,
not just Celebrainy and potentially Will Smith, but also too. I think the
Sharks know that they can't put out a product as bad as last year,
as embarrassingly bad as last year. So I think they're going to try to
amend that be a free agency or trade this offseason. Baby in Zeterland,
the another one of these young guys. Forty four points in eighty two games,
was the third most points on the team. Twenty four goals from Zinderland
led the team fifty percent more than Ecklund in second place. He was the
only Shark skater who played all eighty two games, and he had very good
bash two and a half shots, a hit and a half almost a block
a game. When the Sharks were playing out the string at the end of
the year, he scored in eight of the final ten games of the year,
nine points over that span. So I guess the question is in a
situation like the Sharks where it was a rough time finding the elite talent for
the top top lines, was he filling a vacuum up there or was this
a breakout from Zeeland? Is he going to be a significant player for this
team going forward. I guess we'll see. I think it's fair to wonder
if this is just a product of a decent player getting great playing time,
like a first line playing time. I yeah, so I'm not sure,
but I give Fabian a lot of credit. Obviously, when the Sharks traded
for him last year, coming from the New Jersey for Timo Meyer, Fabian
had zero goals in twenty two games. He looked like he at times that
he really just didn't just at least with the Sharks. I know he looked
better with the Devils before, but at least for the Sharks, he didn't
look like at all times I he belonging necessarily in the NHL, and he
worked his way this past season from starting on the fourth line, had a
very good training camp, but still there are guys that they wanted to play
ahead of him in terms of just name guys like your Hoffman's your La Banks.
Your La Banks was scratched the SERD season. But the guys that just
you want to get those guys going, because those guys are what's going to
bring you something out a trade deadline, Bara bon Off, Guys like that,
right, Zadina, And so they had a lot of guys ahead of
him, and he worked his way from the fourth line to basically the first
line, and he earned it too. Granted the competition wasn't stiff, but
he was better than all the other wingers that I mentioned, and very basically
he was the Shark's best winger last year, so he deserved the playing time
he got on this bad team. As a team gets deeper, I'm not
sure if this twenty four goal season is a preview of greater things to come,
like he's going to become a thirty gold man on a really good team.
But he has continually proven people wrong. And actually I liked him last
year even when he was slumping. I thought that he was going to be
a player, but I thought that more like a third line type of fifteen
goal type, and he blee past those expectations too, And so I guess
say, I think the jury is out on him. But if you're thinking
about him for fantasy purposes, just this year at least, he should still
be the Shark's top winger. Only only competition right now is gonna be williem
Mecklin. Willi Mecklin getting better than he was last year and taking that role
of go to winger. And of course the Sharks could sign somebody, but
I'm not sure if they're in the market to a lot of term or trade
a lot of assets for kind of your top of line wingers available on the
market, like your Eelers or your Steven Stampo. There's no reason whe Stanpgle
was the com in San Jose and so guys like that and the guys like
that would probably be beyond San Jose's reach. So there's a good chance that
Fabian is still the top winger on the Sharks, and he's gonna get that
playing time. He's gonna get a chance to play with guys like Randlin,
maybe a Celebrini guys that can help set him up. Blim Constin is next
up fourteen points in fifty two games. This guy came up with a very
talented Saint Louis Blues prospect system. When the same time span roughly as Tage
Thompson, Robert Thomas and Jordan Cairrou But clearly the trajectory for mister Coston is
not in the same ballpark. I've been watching the guy. He made his
midseason move from the Wings to the Sharks, and the overall stats don't capture
I said, fourteen points, but in the nineteen games until he did put
up ten points, jumping from nine to fifteen minutes a night, rows more
than two hits a game, but less than a shot per game. He's
a big guy. We'll give him that, no matter what is costin going
to maintain a substantial role with next year's team, and if so, what
could we expect from him? I think he's going to be given a chance,
obviously, Becaure's only so many players that the Sharks can add via free
agency and trade that are clearly better than your Clym Costin's or your Faban Zetterlinds
pushing down guys like that in the lineup. So I think Lim is going
to get a chance. But as we've seen throughout his career, though,
it's very inconsistent, and so we'll see if he seizes that chance and runs
with it. Last year, David Quinn said that Costin was a guy that
needed to lose lose a few pounds and not that he was out of shape
or anything like that, but he wasn't maximizing his body to be the best
possible Angel player that he could be. That was basically what I think Quinn
was saying. And even though Quinn isn't there anymore, I think the same
thing still applies to Coston. Is he going to this summer? Is he
going to shed a little bit there and be in the best shape but ever
and show that he's dedicated to staying in the NHL because he doesn't have a
lot of chances left in the NHL twenty seventeen first round pick, so he's
running out of time here. But there are good tools there. He obviously
is big. I think that he can still skate better, like I said,
if he gets in slightly better condition. But he can skate, He
has skill, he doesn't look out of place on the second power play unit,
and so there's definitely chances opportunity. That's the one thing about the Sharks
for sure. So if you've got a moticum of talent, a moticum of
possibly above average above fourth line talent, and Costin does have above fourth line
talent, there's no question about that. But can he sees it. And
he has in spots in his career like that one year in Edmonton when he
had sort of his breakout before he signed in Detroit, and he did do
well when the Sharks first picked him up, and he was placed with Granlin.
Once he got away from Grantlan at the end of the season, he
wasn't quite as productive, and so that's something to look at. But he's
gonna get a chance though, And so he's a good guy that if he
does hit, if he does pan out for you, he's probably a guy
that you can in fantasy. He can pick him up late and he's going
to supply a lot of different things and goal scorings and physicality, some penalty
minutes, all that kind of stuff, and so he is definitely a decent
bet in that sense. Then he's going to have, like I said,
a ton of opportunity. It's just going to be a question of whether or
not he seeses it. Yeah, and the next guy we're in talk about,
Thomas Bortlow, I'm sure fits into that opportunity category. Yeah, he
had twenty five points and thirty five AHL games for a very not good,
not playoff team at Barracuda Here in San Jose, he got into twenty seven
NHL games, registered eleven points for a thirty three point pace sharing. I
think we're all wondering, do you think Bordilow is going to be a full
time NHL or next season and what is the outlook for him in the short
and long term. I think that this training camp this summer obviously is going
to be huge for him. I will give him a lot of credit.
I thought that his Shark's career was going very wayward as of the beginning of
last year when they tried him at center and he just looked so overmatched,
and he was still making really poor puck management decisions, which I think has
been a hallmark of his Angel career up to that point. When they called
him back up from the Barracuda around March or so, he looked like a
different Thomas Bortolo, and it's had to say he doesn't have stuff to work
on. But he was playing wing. He was looking much better at wing
than he did the previous year when he played wing at the end of the
season. He was just quicker on pucks, he was stronger on pucks.
He was playing it. Look he was just playing faster. He wasn't they
looked. Doesn't seem like he was thinking as much. And but also he
seems to know that he is a little bit stronger than a guy than your
average small guy. Yes, Bortilo is five ten if but Bortilo is a
little bit stronger, I think, than your average guy of that size.
And so he started using that a little more. He started inviting contact,
letting that contact bounce off of him, and then making plays off of that
instead of just overreacting before the contact gets to him and getting rid of the
puck and making a bad decision that way, which is what he had been
doing at the AHL level in his previous cups of coffee. So I would
say that there's hope for him again in the Shark system. Whereas, again,
if he had asked me this question about mid season last year, I
was that this guy is trade fodder. But we'll see though. He's still
not quite refined, obviously, and so we'll see if his game has taken
even a little bit of a step this training camp. I think it's important
that basically he doesn't. I think it's important for him to know that he's
not done yet, that he's got to be continue to get better goal a
on the same path. He was on the right path when he was sent
down. I'm sorry when the Sharks called him back up last year. At
the end of last season, he was on the right path. He needs
to continue that and go upward. If he stays plateaus right where he's at,
barely NHL are on a good team, to be honest. But if
he can continue on the path, he does have a lot of skill,
and I think that of like the Sharks. The Sharks have a lot of
prospects from that they drafted in twenty twenty around that range, right, smallish
guys. You'll probably ask me about Gushen Robbins, right. I think that
Borillo might have the highest stealing I think he does, actually, but his
sort of night and I compete and all that kind of thing. That's what's
part of what's kept him out of ANHL lineup. And so that's got to
show that it's at a NHL level and better. And if he does that,
then he's going to have a chance yeah, I think I remember last
season you mentioning that about Bordelow and being a little bit questionable, So it's
good to see his improvement. I did get to catch him a couple of
times in the HL, and I did see what exactly what you said,
like being a little bit stronger on pucks, not getting pushed around as much,
making quicker decisions. All those things are really important. So we'll see,
hopefully as trajectory continues to improve. The last question I have for you
is do you think anyone else on this team can get a fifty point pace,
whether they're a guy that's currently signed or as you've alluded to, do
you think they bring in an offensively talented forward that can potentially do that?
Let me, I'll go to this roster. Yeah, that's a hard question
you're asking there. So with these guys, to be honest, I think
in terms of bringing somebody in, I think that they're not necessarily going to
bring in somebody that that's going to be a surefire fifty sixty points, Like
I mentioned guys like Eelers or Sam Ryan Hard or somebody like that. But
I can see them bringing in somebody that has some scoring ability. That maybe
in a lower role, like I've suggested myself, Dakota Joshua or Stephan Nason
or somebody that was mentioned to me recently. These are guys that might be
good for the Sharks in terms of they might flourish in a higher role.
They have shown some offensive ability, and they're not going to be very expensive,
of course, and they're also the kind of guys that maybe you want
your kids around too, to grow And so those are guys that maybe in
a bigger and a larger role. Right Stephanison, for example, has thirty
plus points in the last couple of years, playing about twelve minutes a night
and some power play for the Hurricanes, And so is that a guy if
you give them a larger role, can you get approached fifty points? Maybe?
Otherwise Eklund had forty five, so you think that he's gonna be right
there. Zeeland forty four, so he could be right there. Oh yeah,
maybe maybe that's it. Yeah, that's fair. There's some good twenty
twenty five draft picks too, So yeah, exactly, it can help with
that. Okay, let's move over to the defense, and frankly, I'm
not sure how much it's worth even going through each player, because Maria Ferraro
scored the most points on the blue line last year with twenty one points in
seventy eight games, ty Eberson Jan Ruta had twenty seven point paces not playing
a full season. Now, both of these guys, all these guys can
contribute in peripheral coverage. But I think there's a big question mark here there.
Kyle Kaitlan Addison was brought in to potentially run a power play. He
has really struggled in a lot of aspects of his game, I would say,
and there is no clear top power play guy. Who do you think
is going to run the power play for the Sharks next season? And can
anyone get over a thirty five point pace? Yeah, I don't know about
that. I guess it's good that if you pick up a Shark's defenseman fantasy,
he's gonna get you some blocks at least, right, I think the
Starks do better than to bleed shots and shot attempts. But anyway, though,
I think that Mukumdoolin should be in the lineup next year, and he's
very talented. I don't want to put it on a rookie to be hey,
you got to take over the power play, but I think that he
tops out as a solid middle pairing guy that on a good team can maybe
run your power play too. I don't know if I see him as a
PP one guy, but he's a guy of a lot of he has a
lot of talent, and he's actually for a guy his size, you think
of guy six five that skate well, you think, oh, this is
a defensive guy. That's the cliche. But no, actually he's more comfortable
with the puck than without, I would say, and so he's pretty good.
He's pretty good offensively, and you show that with the Barrakuda last year,
and I think I'll translate to the NHL. So he's a guy that's
a possibility. I do think that the Shark's greatest need on their rosters to
add two way defenseman guys who can move the puk decently and also kill a
player too. So I wonder if they might go for a decent middle class
free agent defenseman like a Sean Walker is a guy that I think will fit
great with the Sharks. Someone mentioned Alexander Carrier to me, and so these
are not guys sincerely that should be on your PP one, But like a
Walker. If Walker's on your PP one, he's standing in at least he
won't embarrass you out there, and maybe he will get to thirty five points
with a lot of opportunities. So a guy like that, if they sign
that guy, But they need to definitely push guys down the depth chart,
push a Ferraro down to death chart, push a Thrun down to depth chart.
And they can do that with assigning somebody or trading for somebody. That's
gonna be better for the team, better environment for a celebrating and a will
Smith walking to next year, but also too, it's gonna be better for
a team in general because Ferraro is probably fral shouldn't be your number one defenseman.
That's no discredit to to Mario. I think has done an underappreciated job
considering how much has been put on his plate over the last few years.
But you can push him down the lineup a little bit and have guys that
are not true number one defenseman but would still slot ahead of say a Ferraro
and a Thrun. It just makes your team better in general. And whatever
they pick up for that area, if they do pick up anybody that like
a Walker or something like that then that's the guy that is going to should
get his chances on a power play too, and should get himself in that
thirty point range if he stays healthy. Yeah, for sure. When Ferrara
was a number four defenseman, things were good for the Sharks. I know
they're good. The Sharks have made a playoffs and that's not a Mario,
but the Sharks have made a playoffs and Ferarral's entire career. But things were.
Things weren't as embarrassing as last year. Well in nineteen twenty when he
was more of the depth, they were still decent. But yeah, okay,
you're right. I think overall, check back training camp time to see
who's getting the opportunity because we don't really know right now. Well, let's
talk about the goalies. The Sharks were dead last and expected goals against per
sixty three point two three and conceded the worst number of actual calls per game,
so way to be consistent there, dead last in both categories. They
were nearly half a goal game a game worse than the Blackhawks, so overall,
it was not pretty in the net for the Sharks. They used a
few different goalies. Mackenzie Blackwood Capo Kakanen were the main ones, and Kakanen
obviously gone now. Devin Cooley, Magnus Crona, Georgie Romani were also goalies
that were used. Blackwood had his moments. I would say at times he
was incredible. I think sometimes he would get blown up, but that was
also certainly related to the team in front of him, not just him.
After the trade deadline, we saw a smattering of Kouli, Crona, and
Romani Romanov. I saw Romanov a couple of times in the HL and I
was super impressed with what I saw. I know, I've talked to cold
people who seem to think the Sharks are pretty high on him. Although he's
still a bit raw and need some refinement. It sure seems like the Sharks
are going to go with a Blackwood Vanchik tandem for next season based on who's
under contract. Is that how you see it, Chang is those two are
going to get the most to play. And do you think that the Sharks
want to hold onto Blackwood as potentially once they're good again, which could be
a while from now, do you think that Blackwood is their goalie? He
could be I think that they have two candidates that are about the same age,
Vanichek and Blackwood. I think of both twenty seven twenty eight, and
so I think that one of those guys could emerge or they could have a
tandem of the future there and anyway, I think both guys are decent bets.
Blackwood, if you look at his goals say or expected goals against,
was actually quite good last year compared to the qualities he was facing great a's
just from everywhere, and so he ended up actually, I believe, in
the top twenty five of goalies in a category. So on the more positive
side of that Ledger for sure. And Vanachek's guy who had an awful year
last year, but before that, he had a pretty good track record in
the three years before that he was I believe in that same stat he was
a top twenty goalie and he's a guy that if you can get back to
what he was, his ceiling is probably higher than say a Cacadant who they
traded last year. Traded catnan Ford Vancheck last year, and so I think
there's a little bit of hope there, at least immediately. In terms of
the long term, it's a will see thing. I think both Blackwood and
Vanicheck have shown in stretches that they can be the guy, they can be
your number one, right. But they both had great stretches in New Jersey.
Van Check also in Washington, and they've had great seasons too, or
at least good seasons, both of them, And so I could see that
happening where they are the Sharks goally, say five years from now, when
the Sharks hopefully are back in it. Sharks don't have any clear top prospect
down in the system. Romanov, like you mentioned, did have very good
end of the season, especially, but they don't have anybody that, Okay,
this guy is the Sharks goalie of the future. Some teams have their
guy like that, right. The Sharks don't have anyone close to that,
And so I think next year is going to be another year for them to
see what they've got in romano Off and Prona and let the veterans be that
bridge guy. And that bridge guy is still young enough that he can be
your guy for a long time maybe, And I will also buy the Sharks
time because Sharks need a draft a goalie. They don't have anybody of that
age in their system that's a credible prospect at this point. They didn't draft
a goalie last year, and so I would think that's going to be of
their on the top of their twenty twenty four draft to do list. Yeah,
and actually the last goalie they drafted it didn't quite work out. They
ended up releasing him, right, that was how I'm liking on his name.
Look bullpit, but they still a bullpit all the drow Ben Goodrow,
Yeah, Ben Goodrill, Yeah. Yeah, he was just okay with Insarnia,
right, he didn't he couldn't quite take that next step from being a
good junior goalie to a good pro prospect. And yeah, they definitely have.
I mentioned Bopit too, who's still in the Shark system, but he's
really stumbled the last few years. And the Sharks are you look at their
their goaltending, their prospect, that that sort of thing. It's pretty dire
now. And of course a guy like Romana Ron a good surprise. But
I wouldn't count on those guys quite yet. They're not quite there yet,
and so they definitely need to replenish the system with a couple of project guys.
All right, Shang, this has been some great information on the San
Jose Sharks once again let people know how they should get out there and follow
all your work. Thanks. You can just find me at San Jose Hockey
Now. You can also find me at NBC Sports Bay Area or NBC Sharks,
and you can find me on Twitter at Shang Underscore. Pang tremendous.
Thanks so much for talking Sharks with us again. Yeah, anytime, guys,
Wilson, that's get fired pas. Oh my goodness, with a cat
wet crap. Now it's your weekly goalie talk. But Kat Silverman Kat's Instincts
joined once again by Kat Silverman and NGL mag Talking Shark's goalies. We've got
a few interesting ones to get too here, so we'll start with the first
one. Magnus crona twenty eighteen fifth round pick by Tampa six foot six,
two hundred and sixteen pounds, now twenty three years old. This was his
first professional season after three stellar seasons at the University of Denver, where he
won a national title. I'd say his pro transition was a little rough.
He had two ECHL, nine NHL and thirty one AHL games. His numbers
and all but the ECHL were not good, but some of the other numbers
were okay, and it was fun to see him in the NHL. If
you look at his ramprom chart at Hockey at Evolving Hockey, it's deeply in
the orange, as in not good. But that's just in the limited experience
with the Sharks, who are not good. The hockey prospecting has him hovering
around high twenties, low thirty percent chance of being an NHL are and one
of his comps looks like camp Talbot, which might be reasonable. I don't
know. We have to find out from the experts. So Kat, what's
your instinct tell us about Crona. It was really hard to gauge him last
year because he especially the Sharks, they're such a bad team right now,
and he essentially went pro and then he played in all three Leaks and really
didn't get a whole lot of time to just work on consistent reps, which
unfortunately is the case for every goaltender in the Shark system. This year,
we saw a couple of the other guys that were in their prospect pool who
I would argue should have been parked very permanently and fully in the AHL and
ECHL last year get some NHL game and not just one game, but like
between five and ten games for each of them, and that's really hard for
a guy who's just getting his pro game feed under him. It looked like
that was really Corona's biggest issue is he just looked like the timing and the
speed, because he tracks pretty well and his movements I would say for his
size is pretty decent, and there were just some reaction timing things where it
looked like he wasn't prepared. For example, in the NCAA, sometimes you'll
see a guy who's really good at handling the puck take a really good shot.
A goaltender knows that he can safely deflect that pock back out into play,
and the likelihood that someone else on his team is as adept at scooping
up that rebound, maneuvering the puck past the entire defense and doing the same
thing is a little lower, whereas in the HL and the NHL, the
likelihood that there's going to be someone else who's just as good at retrieving that
puck and taking that second shot the third shot is demonstrably higher. So it
looked like he was just ti getting his feet wet in terms of figuring out
how to manage that sort of tracking load, figuring out which guys he had
to keep an eye on, and that will come with time. But it
didn't look like he was having trouble with tracking. The pucke itself didn't look
like his movement was super bad at It looked like he was thrown into the
deep end of a pool that was way too cold to be swimming in and
was just like, oh, here we go. So I think we'll probably
see him do a little better next year. I think some of that will
depend on if they give him a chance to not play any NHL games next
year. But unfortunately for the Sharks, I don't know how likely that is,
just because the availability of gold tenders in the Shark system is it's not
quite where it should be. So unfortunately, there's a chance that he's still
going to have that learning curve. Yep. If you have a lot of
prospect goalies, then you have no prospect goalies, and the Sharks have a
lot of them. Do you think that the Krona's upside is that of a
starter or is he more of a one B at best. I think if
he's given a chance to fully develop at the AHL level, he could very
comfortably become a starter one day. I think if he's going to be introduced
to the NHL, be a trial by fire. Just moving forward, it's
probably gonna end up ultimately being a tandem situation in terms of his upside,
which doesn't necessarily mean that's how they'll play him. I think if he shows
any sort of consistent promise at the NHL level, he may end up getting
every game for the foreseeable future. But I do think that if he plays
substantial NHL time next year, it's probably going to be upside of tandem for
him. Alrighty, that's probably the Sharks do the right thing here, but
I also agree with you they might not, so we'll see. The next
goalie we're going to talk about is Devin Cooley, undrafted six foot five,
one hundred and ninety two pound from Los Gato's for those of you who don't
know Los Gatos besides it meaning the Cats is one of the closest places you
could be to where the Sharks play, and so he was a junior Shark
and the first junior Shark to play goalie for the San Jose Sharks. That's
pretty fun. He bounced around a lot ushl Nahl ended up at Denver,
also with Grona, and he bounced around a little bit more after that.
Hl Echl then finally actually made his NHL debut. This season wasn't great as
you might expect playing in front of the Sharks. He's got some interesting comps.
Heies trended down a little bit. He was in the high forties early
on and graduated the Hockey Prospecting Model at fourteen percent chance of being stars,
so most of his comps are replacement level. But goat, I think he
had one of the best goalies. One of the best quotes from the goalie
I've ever heard in one of his really stellar performances. He said, I
look up, I'm like, wow, a goal on forty shots or whatever.
I'm like, I feel it's just nobody cares. Nothing's really going to
matter, We're all going to die. Just awesome stuff there. So anyways,
Coolly, I don't know what kind of upside he has, but he's
huge, and he didn't cost anything to the Sharks. They actually traded for
him. He was in the Buffalo system at the time. But what kind
of upside do you think he has? He already played six NHL games.
None of them went great except for that one crazy forty eight shot that he's
referring to where he got to win. So what do you think about Cooley.
I think he's a lot of fun for starters. I really like seeing
a goaltender who plays in a system like the Sharks, which, in the
kindest way possible, is like their defensive system is a dumpster fire and their
goaltending depth chart is a dumpster fire. And seeing a guy who's able to
truly be a goldfish like that is that's what you need. That quote reminded
me of the way that Connor Ingram talks about goaltending, and that's the kind
of player is able to bounce back from bad games. We've talked in the
past about some of those prospect goaltenders who takes things a little too harshly.
They play a bad game, and they go and they overanalyze every goal they
allowed, and they overanalyze every missed pass and you know, every post that
gets hit instead of them actually making the stop themselves. And Devin Cooley's like,
you know what, We're all gonna die. So hope I have fun.
And I think his actual techniques a little unrefined. He plays a little
far out for my taste for a guy of his size, which makes me
super nervous. Like you said he was free for them, he doesn't really.
It's not like he is going to be a bust for them, so
to speak. If he doesn't pan out, worst case, he's a minor
leaguer they have in their system that they can call up when they need to.
Not that any player's career isn't super valuable, but if they don't want
to sacrifice Corona's development by having him play too many NHL games, you can
have Coolly go up and play some of those games. Allow Corona to stay
in one place, and that's super beneficial. But I do think that he
is a project. If they want him to be in a true NHL or
long term, I think he needs to calm down a little bit. But
I also don't know how much I want to see his technique change, because
I think that would require some overthinking on his part, and I don't know
at his age how much he can truly change his overall style and skill without
taking out some of that. Just like I said, the mindless, the
goldfish elements of it, which is part of His biggest strength is he can
allow a really bad shot to slip by and the next play it's like nothing
happened. It's like he's stepping out on the ice for the first time.
So that's a good guy to have in their system. I don't know if
that's a long term option for them, though, God's Oleomen says Devin Cooley
is the chum for Maxix Crona. That's what I heard. No. I
think it's really good. He's from the area. It's great story people.
They love to talk that up, and it's cool to bring him to the
Junior Sharks and could pray him around and have him talk to the kids.
I think I was an organizational thing. It's really fun. I don't know
that's really a long term him being an important part of the future in terms
of being a starter or something, but maybe, like you said, the
attitude and the goldfish ability is pretty awesome. Let's talk about the last one,
who I think is actually my favorite and perhaps the most promising, Georgi
Romanov not signed, not drafted. Sensing a theme here like just don't draft
goalies and sign random ones when their mid twenties. Apparently that's the strike strategy.
Right now, twenty four years old, is Romanov sixty five two hundred
and seven pounds are also going for these very large goalies. Spent time in
the VHL for two seasons before coming to North America. He had seven ECCHL,
two NHL twenty nine AHL games. As you said, a lot of
bouncing around for all these guys. I got to watch one of his games
and I was super impressed with his reads and movement. He's very controlled yet
powerful, tracked the game really well, and of course he's huge that helps.
But he really tilted the game that I saw for the Barrakuda, who
were really not good that night and still lost, but would have lost by
a lot more if Romanov hadn't been so good looking. At his hockey prospecting,
he was up to sixty three percent when he was playing in Russia.
Being an NHL or is trended down a little bit, but still at about
twenty eight percent. He has a comp of a many Fernandez type. What
do you think of Romanov? I've heard some people in the organization say they
like him quite a lot too, but he's a bit unrefined or needs us
a little bit more seasoning. What are your thoughts on him, Kat,
He's another one that makes me nervous to watch, which kind of seems to
be the Sharks strategy right now is picking these guys who have a lot of
raw physical talent and for his size, he's got a ton of speed,
a ton of power. I saw him make some really quick saves, some
really quick recoveries. I saw him make a few too many recoveries, and
some of the highlights I was watching of him, which some of his tracking
in close got a little questionable, like he lost sight of the pocket a
few too many times when there was traffic around him, but his recovery was
really quick, which is nice. That's someone who needs some coaching, which
I guess the Sharks have decided that's their strategy for right now is these guys
who need a lot of technical coaching but have the physical talent. We'll see
how that works for them. I do that if they don't have any surefire
options in their system. You know, they don't have a Jasper Wolstad,
they don't have a a Arslvaskarov, they don't have an to look at some
of the older ones, ebercious striking. They missed out on that round of
prospect goaltenders and decided that they really didn't want to draft any of those top
names like that. If they're not going to, if they didn't have any
of those, and they don't have a ton of at present assets to be
trading, they might as well take some of these undrafted guys who essentially they
get for free. They didn't have to spend a draft pick on them,
they don't have to send in nhller away, and they can see what happens
because worst case, these guys at them through their darkest years, and then,
like you said, they're kyda chump for someone like Magnus Corona, who
does need to work on some of the recovery timing, but has a lot
more control to his raw game than the other two. And then just as
they gain more assets that they can either trade for more NHL riddy goaltenders or
draft in the top couple rounds in the next two or three years here they
can do something like that and just get themselves through it. I do think
that if they do too much of this, just grabbing these undrafted guys who
need a lot of work but seem like maybe they could pan out, they
run the risk of becoming a Philadelphia where they have fourteen goaltenders in their system
and none of them are a clear future vesno winning NHL starter. That's not
what they want to do, I think, But we'll see. I think
romano Of is robably their second best. Ideally we see him Krona get a
little more sheltered then Coolly, but we'll see how it goes with him.
He looked he made me a little nervous on some of his saves, But
I think that's probably going to be something that we say about any goaltender in
the Sharks system for anywhere between the next two and five years. Here.
I find it interesting that the goaltender coach for a long time, scout goaltender
coach, development coach, assistant coach, and now director of goaltending has been
getting to back off for a very long time. And he is He's obviously
was a great Sharks player and had really great success. But he's fairly small.
I don't know if people remember, but he's six foot like maybe and
at most yeah, maybe this is him like looking. I don't know how
much influence he has in the decision making, but they have been going after
these large goaltenders for a long time, which is the opposite of him and
urbe one of the other great goalies in the Sharks history. Wring if this
is like some envy of what they what he didn't have, or what they're
seeing trends towards. I don't know if you have any thoughts on that,
but they definitely seem to be having a type of just going after these very
large goalies that I don't think are very technically sound, and maybe that,
like you said, they're just that's their type is let's get them. They
have the physical abilities, and let's train them to have the other skills that
they're lacking. It's interesting because they in the past have done a lot of
work with goaltending conditioning coach Adam Francilia, who has worked with Martin Jones,
which that one Martin Jones exists and he's still in the NHL at times,
so obviously something worked there. Maybe, but he also worked with Lauren Bresois.
He's worked with Philip Grubauer, he worked with I believe he's done a
little bit of work with Matt Murray. So guys who are naturally physically very
talented but have biomechanical like physical statures that lend themselves to being a little bit
inefficient with the way that they play. And Francily's big thing was taking these
very instinctively talented, huge bodies that, like Lauren Bresois, was all limbs,
and so he was very uncontrolled with a lot of his excess movements with
his hands, with his glove, with his lower body essentially the way that
his legs moved for kicksaves, and was able to rein that in by working
on how his musculature can best be used to essentially get him through his career.
And so that might be what the Sharks are continuing to do because I
know that getting to Bakov and Francilla are friends and they've worked very closely together
with some of those guys, and so he might be looking not necessarily at
the size, but at these guys who have a lot of raw talent,
and it looks messy and inefficient the way that they're playing right now, because
he knows that from just evidential success, that there are guys out there who
can take these bodies that could be more fine tuned to use that natural talent
in a more efficient way and can make it work a little better for them,
And so typically you don't see guys who are five eleven six feet six
foot one play with that kind of unrefined, uncontrolled style because if they are
that row and chaotic, chances are they're allowing a lot of pucks through because
they can't afford it quite as much. So you tend to see those guys
who are a little bit more just naturally talented but undisciplined in that larger size
category. So that might be where they're getting all these bigger guys from,
is those are the ones who tend to be the project, whereas those unrefined
guys who are on the smaller side tend not even to make it to the
NCAA or two the minor leagues, So and that might be what's happening there.
Those guys do tend to be the most injury prone, though, so
I'm curious to see how that strategy works out for them long term, because
they have had these guys, they've had most of their success with these smaller
guys, not just Nabokov, but Alex stay Lock was a lot of fun
for them and Aaron Dellan. Those aren't huge guys. Those are some of
the last of the small goaltenders, so we'll see how that goes for them.
It's definitely fun to watch, though, if anybody's really interested in watching
the nitpicks of the physical transformation of goaltenders at the pro level, I think
the Sharks are one of the best teams to watch for that awesome. Thanks
so much for giving me us your instincts on the Sharks goalies. We'll be
back right after this. Diggelly sure to get their late picks third through sixth
all gone, though luckily they have extra picks in each of the top rounds,
so third through six it's the Sharks picks that are gone, but they
have all kinds of picks at the top of the draft. They famously won
the lottery. You've been hearing about it all show they're gonna pick first,
and luckily their prospect system is already pretty good, tied for sixth in Victor's
rankings. It all starts out with the no brainer, Victor, who is
it that's the fresh Prince of bel Air Will Smith of course, twenty twenty
three fourth overall pick, six foot er, one hundred and eighty one pound,
and he had a stellar first NCAA season, no one had more total
points, no one had a higher point per game pace, no one had
more assists. He was a Hobie Baker finalist. He did not win,
obviously, so maybe his future teammate did, but he had. He was
a Hockey East champ Tournament MVP for the Hockey East Championship First Team All Star
and he was the only non Denver University player to be named the NCUBLEA Frozen
four All Star team. It was all Pioneers except Will Smith, so that's
pretty impressive too. And obviously we talked about how BC looked like a juggernaut
that eventually lost to the Pioneers, but Smith did all he could. Of
course, he was also a U twenty World Junior Championship gold medalist and looking
at all time NC doublea's scoring for teenagers with a minimum of forty games,
Will Smith is tied at fourteenth in total points with seventy one, just an
insane season. He's also tied for fifteenth in the past all time in points
per game per season. In the past thirty years, the only player who
had the same number of points was Jack Eichel, and he did it the
same number seventy one in one fewer game. So that's the level of production
we're looking at here with Will Smith and maybe a peak as to what the
upside is for Will Smith. So, looking overall at his World Junior Championship
player his track data from Mitch Brown, we know that he had nine points
in seven games and for of those were goals. We know that he has
some affinity for showing up in the big minutes in the right time. His
offense was really good. His expected goals numbers were really high, as were
his expected primary assists. His shots were above average but not amazing. His
transition game was only sixty third percentile, which is interesting. Some of his
controlled exits were poor, though his entries were good, and his defense rted
out as a ninth percentile really bad, but his primary point involvement and game
score overall affecting the game in a really positive way. So you love to
see that for Will Smith. Looking at his FHL player card, you can
see that he shoots a lot and overall the points are ten out of ten
ninety one hundred percent tile basically in terms of goals, and a six per
sixty in the NCAA. His bash though is going to be low because he
shoots a lot, but he doesn't really hit or block at all, and
so that's going to be pretty so unless you're just focused on hits, it
might be a little bit lower than expected. Looking at his underlying data,
you can see that he scores has generates a lot of scoring chances. His
transition game is pretty good. He has some decent puck battles, some puck
touches and puck possession, but overall his defensive metrics are quite poor. So
that's a little bit of the struggle with him. To hear a little bit
more about what makes Will Smith interesting, let's hear from our FAHL scout.
FHL Scout Arden has this to say about Will Smith skating top of the charts.
Smith has improved his agility, speed edges more refined and explosive. He
activated efficiently and effectively, and has become one of the fastest skaters, if
not the fastest skater, not only in the NCAAA but from his twenty twenty
three draft class. Acceleration is particularly impressive and has allowed him to become more
physically engaged passing and handling. Five out of five Will Smith can make any
pass work. None will ever look forced. He can create a dangerous chance
for every time he has the puck, the speed at which he can control
the puck is unmatched, applying deception in moments that can't be done or processed
by any opponent in his group. For shooting a four point eight out of
five. Once an area of relative concern for an elite talent such as Will
Smith, He's always had a lethal rister, but the release and accuracy were
inconsistent, and the quality of a shot versatility fell off after that. Now
he can get a shot off in nearly everybody position, as with pristine accuracy
and impressive power. Release is as sharp as it gets the IQ over the
top of the charts five point five out of five to Arden, truly a
special talent. He's cerebral and just a joy to watch on the ice.
Will Smith is so calm with the puck on his stick and knows exactly where
his teammates will be and how to facilitate a play. Once the puck is
off his stick, he's getting into position to support the play and elevate the
opportunity. He never abandons pressure. For checking four point nine out of five.
Smith doesn't, for check, with the tenacity of a power forward,
but the effectiveness of one. He anticipates and tracks the play better than anyone
on the ice, and his elite skating, balance and handling make him the
toughest and most consistent player you'll see battling in the offensive end, neutral zone
defense four point five out of five. Is a defensive asset because he drives
so much possession. When he does need to transition to defense, he does
so with ease, and his anticipation allows him to be block shots and pressure
attackers. He creates turnovers frequently, the biggest asset. Then, once again,
as expected, the IQ the biggest concern in the physicality, the top
tier outcome for this guy, superstar center. He's truly a special talent.
There is clearly no holes in his game according to our scouting report and the
median outcome. How about a second center, only a real jam at center
putting him would put him below that ceiling. Well, there happens to be
a major jammer up there in the first center role in this team. Stylistic
comparable Elias Petterson and the final thoughts from Marden, I really believe Will Smith
will be in the conversations with Badard and Mitchkoff as the best offensive player in
the draft. However, his defensive effectiveness puts him above Mitchkoff for NHL impact
to him, and San Jose immediately has the best pick of the draft by
taking him at fourth Wow. I praise for Will Smith and our friend Mason
Black, the NHL rank King sent out this poll Will Smith versus Leo Carlson.
We're talking about the top four picks to the top four picks from the
two thousand and twenty three draft, and in this poll, it was Leo
Carlson, the guy who's got a little bit more NHL experience or all the
NHL experience completed compared to Will Smith under his belt, sixty four to thirty
six. Victor, are you Carlson over Smith? This is difficult, but
I think the short answer in fantasy is no. I think I would still
take Will Smith, although what he did what Carlson did this season was super
impressive, and I don't think we can ignore that, But I still think
the upside in terms of pure points is higher with Smith. I think Carlson
is going to be a much better all around player and might be a more
valuable player to the Ducks to his NHL team, but he's certainly going to
be asked to do more defensive work, more to play more responsibly, to
drive play. He's going to be a center. I'm not still not convinced
that Will Smith is going to be a center at the NHL level, and
if he slides to the wing, that might actually be better for his NHL
production in terms of his points. So if you're just looking at points and
fantasy, I think I would still take will Smith, although Carlson is super
impressive and I think has pretty good upside too. Looking at the PNHLA,
Carlson's is fifty eight and Will Smith is one hundred and eight. I don't
think the gap is quite that wide. That seems a little excessive in terms
of how much how high it is for Smith, but I do think that
we could see on average a twenty point gap or so in terms of point
production between the two. It depends if Smith ends up becoming a center and
asked to do more, ask to play more responsibly, that is going to
hurt his offense. I do think he's going to ask to be a little
bit more responsible, but hopefully for fantasy purposes, they are fine. The
Sharks are fine making him a winger. I think with Celebrini that helps the
chances that Will Smith will be more of a winger. Although we just heard
that they don't really see Bordelau as a center, so eventually they're going to
need a middle six center. Maybe some of the guys like Bistet or Edstrom
could do that, and then Smith can be a top line winger, which
I think would be better for fantasy purposes. Looking at the hockey prospecting between
Smith and Carlson, you have Smith that's seventy five percent chance of being a
star, Carlson at twenty one. I don't know that Will Smith is three
times more likely to be a star producer, but I do think it is
quite a bit more likely. And this kind of illustrates that both of them
are pretty much locks to be NHLer, which I would totally agree with that,
and looking at some other comps for Will Smith, they're pretty much all
superstars. The guys in this model anyways, Danny Brier, Pierre Turjhon,
Pat Lafontaine, del Howard, Chuck. I think Marion Josa is probably the
one that I would pick as maybe the more realistic who had obviously some really
strong seasons but wasn't like Patrick Kine level or anything like that in terms of
his production. So I think a round point per game, like maybe seventy
to eighty is what I would project for Smith, but I think he could
see some seasons that are over that as well. Looking at the j freshcard
for Will Smith, sixty two percent chance of being a star, ninety six
percent chance of being an NHL are basically one of the top ten prospects in
this model. So definitely high upside for Smith. Definitely somebody you want on
your team the Sharks. You're really excited about him. He just had an
insane NCAA season and certainly was Hobie Baker worthy if his future teammate didn't have
such an insane season as well. Next up, Victor, it's our need
to no prospect. This is Quentin Musty twenty twenty three, twenty sixth overall
pick. Pretty great value to get Musty in the latter half of the first
round. Six two two hundred one pound left wing, Very young for this
draft class. He's a July sixth birthday, so he played his entire draft
season as a seventeen year old, and he's still only eighteen as we're recording.
This doesn't turn until July nineteen, so very young. He played the
same number of OHL games this season, increased his scoring from seventy eight points
last season to one hundred and two this season, and he had a ten
points in eight playoff games for the Sudbury Wolves. Looking at his tracking data,
his offense rates out at one hundredth percentile. No one statistically better in
terms of offense in the OHL, so that's pretty awesome to see. His
transition game also really good in terms of his control exits, entries, his
expected assists per sixty we're breaking the Mitch Brown's charts, and especially his slot
passes per sixty, creating really dangerous opportunities for his teammates, board plays to
the middle at advantages created all these things primary port involvement game score off the
charts for quin Musty. The one thing that is still not great is his
defensive game still rates out at just fifteen percent TILE, so that's not great,
but definitely a strong offensive player. Looking at his FHL player card,
you can see he shoots a ton. His goals and assists are also off
the charts. He hits close to average, but a little bit below that,
and overall I have n't rated as an eight out of ten in terms
of my projection. But to hear a little bit more about what makes Musty
tick, we're gonna hear from our FHL scout. We get a report on
Quinn Musky from our FAHL scout arden Muskie terms of skating three point five out
of five agile. Mobile acceleration needs work, but top end speed is very
good, combined with proficient use of mobility in tight spaces, making him capable
of being a relentless checker at both ends. Passing and handling pretty good.
Awareness is high, often makes the play most don't predict. Although head is
always on a swivel, can still place passes in the wrong spot, sometimes
telegraphs his passes, allowing defenders to get in the lane. He lacks deception,
but handling, speed and IQ keep him ahead. He could take a
pass, then dish one without hesitation and vice versa. Shooting that's even a
bit higher. Strongest mechanic is the speed and accuracy of that release. Could
beat goalies from the slot one on one. Also rarely fails to get under
the puck from in tight and get it above the goalie whether they're aggressive or
back in the crease. IQ four out of five is IQ sets him apart
from the competition strongest asset in our man Arden's viewings. Not only does he
see the ice offensively a step ahead of the rest, but also defensively.
He gets into position quickly, makes the right play without thinking twice. Sometimes
the execution is lacking, but that will come in time. Combining his motor
with a borderline elite intelligence makes him a for checking hazard for defending teams,
always aware of a play to make and capable of getting the puck for checking.
Five out of five stars just said his IQ as his best ass set,
but Arden's rating his fore checking even higher than that. Without the intelligence,
he wouldn't be as effective. It allows him to take the fastest lane,
combined to sception and awareness to always have the edge on the defender.
His top end street line speed and four way mobility allows him to get in
between defenders and the puck. On defense well. The effort can be there
when he applies himself, makes attackers hesitate and make the wrong play with his
prompt stick work and processing speed However, he can be quite passive until he
sees the incentive in defending. So the best asset here was intelligence. The
biggest concern acceleration. Top tier outcome for Quentin Musky, top line complimentary winger
or second line driver that's based on his four checking ability, shooting and on
ice intelligence. The median outcome for Quentin Musty would be a fourth line role.
If you can't translate his intelligence and mobility into his checking game, NHL
defenders will give him grief and transition, and Arden doesn't see him giving up
much reason to play higher in the lineup without that advantage. In the stylistic
comparable, Adrian kempe for this fella and our friend Mason Black, the NHL
rank King put out the poll on X put out the call of Quentin Musty
versus Eastonkwent of the Toronto Maple leaves the guy who I think got beat up
on like ten draft shows that we did last year, I feel like,
and Musty continues to be ahead of Easton Kwen seventy three to twenty seven percent.
Pretty decisive win for mister Musty, Victor. Is that how you see
it? Yeah? I think so. Certainly for fantasy. I think if
you ask some NHL teams, they might want Easton Cowen better. He is
also an offensive player, maybe not the best defensively, but I don't know
that he's as as bad as Musty has shown to be so far, and
I think the upside with Musty here is better in terms of the offense.
Both of them have really high pnchily right now, Musty at eighty seven,
Cowen at eighty, and I think overall there is a little bit more upside
there. Although Cowen just had an insane he had ninety six points and fifty
four games and still going in the playoffs thirty four in eighteen as his London
Nights won the OHL Championship and are currently playing in the Memorial Cup. As
we're recording this. You will know probably the outcome of that when you hear
this. But just a really outstanding season, so really improved his stock so
far. But I think Musty's is still higher, and neither of these guys
are going to be huge bashers. Cowen hit some blocks a little bit more
but overall but shoots a little bit less, maybe a little bit better overall
bash but Musty definitely the better shooter. Looking at the Hockey prospecting between these
two, Musty at forty six percent chance of being a star, Kwen at
twenty Musty doubling them up there, Musty seventy percent chance of being a NHL
or Cowen fifty two, So definitely looks like leaning Musty here. Looking at
some other comps for Musty, one that probably makes a good amount of sense
is Brad Richards, who was a star producer. He was drafted much later
due to some skating issues, but obviously was a really fantastic producer. And
I think the same could be said for Musty there in terms of his mobility,
but not the quickest guy, but certainly really smart, great playmaker,
great hands. Looking at the Hockey prospect or sorry, the j freshcard here,
thirty one percent chance of being a star and eighty percent chance of being
an NHLer, So both really strong numbers Musty. Between Musty and Smith,
one of these is going to be the top line and left winger, I
think, unless someone else slides in there at some point, but they have
some pretty good options. And even if he's not the top line, I
think he'll be someone who's on the power play, someone you're gonna want there,
and there really isn't a whole lot of reason to have Musty on the
ice if he's not on the power player or in an offensive role. So
I think he'll get that third up victor we've got the keep your on that
prospect. Who is it? Luca Cagnoni twenty twenty three, fourth round pick,
five to nine, one hundred and eighty three pounds, left handed d
That height is certainly the issue. That is the reason he slipped all the
way to the fourth round. But he had a really after a strong draft
season. He had an insane draft plus once he's in ninety points in sixty
five games, led the Portland Winnerhawks all the way to the WATL Championship,
where they fell to the juggernaut that is and was the Moose joh Warriors.
He had thirteen points in thirteen games during the playoff run, really outstanding production.
One of the things we saw from him is he say he really wanted
to work more on his defensive game because he knew that was going to be
an issue getting stronger, playing better defensively, and he did so. Focusing
on his defensive game, he massively increased his scoring production as well. So
that's pretty nice to see. He's still a bit undersized, and obviously there's
still concerns about how he is going to translate to the NHL, although he
did sign his entry level contracts, so that's good to see the votal confidence
from the Sharks that he can continue to develop. Looking at the tracking data
for Mitch Brown, you can see that he's pretty much overall a ninety seven
percentile guy. Ninety five offense, eighty seven transition, eighty five defense.
All this looks really good. Couple of the defensive end transition metrics are a
little bit lower, but overall it looks great. In the WHL, and
his FHL player card shows that he shoots a lot and scores a lot,
which we know already. He doesn't really hit or block too much. Though
his hits are about average, blocks are just a little bit below that,
so not a huge Perferle floor for Luca Kegnoni. You wouldn't expect that from
a smaller player, but he's close to average. He's not going to be
a total block, and I have him as a seven out of ten in
terms of my rating. But to learn a little bit more about Cagnoni,
let's hear from our Fahl scout Luca Cagnoni. His skating is decent but not
elite. Good speed moving up the ice, accelerates well and carries speed through
tight edge work and crossovers. However, he does struggle with agility, and
especially as a four weight directional skater, he's slow to pivot and position his
body effectively. Choosing the right time to apply his pace is a consistent problem.
In terms of passing and handling, is passing is a standout attribute.
He has a dynamic tool set of passes to rely on in any spot on
the ice and body position combined with soft hands that can keep up with this
high IQ. He makes some great passes, but Cagnoni also struggles with accuracy.
At times. He tends to turn over the puck when he is pinching
for the offensive pressure and can lead to nasty defensive situations which he is out
of position to defend. In terms of shooting well, his shot is an
area that needs improvement. The tools lack quality and depth. His wristshot is
his best variation and he doesn't utilize it effectively. This is the only shot
with average accuracy and power. Every other one in his arsenal is below average
for defenseman, and he lacks accuracy to be a volume shooter. At the
stage IQ the hockey IQ is impressive, showcasing excellent vision and anticipation. His
offensive IQ's is separating trade, processing the play faster than his impressive north south
pace. Generally, he reads the play well, making smart decisions in his
own end, jumping into the play at the right moments for checking, it's
relentless. Cagnoni is consistently pressuring opponents and creating turnovers. His length and powerful
stride is an advantage one, applying pressure that leads to high danger chances for
he uses his body effectively, but can improve his timing and positioning and applying
his I ind IQ to his skating routes defense well. It's an above average
defensive game, showcasing positive positioning physicality for an uther sized defender. He doesn't
fear contact. Coagnoni effectively uses his body to try to pry the puck from
opponents when his IQ and borderline elite gap control don't suit the moment, but
can struggle with quick changes of direction. It has been a big area actually
of improvement. Best as that then two parter that handling and passing is the
biggest strength, but without his I on IQ it may not be his ability
sets up teammates with his vision and passing. The biggest concern was that defensive
reliability. Although he's got the IQ and the tools and the physicality to be
an effective defender, he lacks the drive, agility and decision making to be
considered reliable, although he does show flashes of being a very good two way
defender. The top tier outcome, probably middle pairing for Cagnoni, could see
him splitting power play on a balanced San Jose decore. He could put up
thirty to thirty five points be counted on to provide sound defense. That's the
best case, top tier scenario. That would be a unique combination of high
end assets IQ, handling, speed, tenacity passing all contributing to that type
of outcome. The meeting outcome likely to be a bottom pairing defenseman who can
pop up the lineup and provide a boost on power play too. His agility
and decision making can make him nuisance and sheltered minutes could really alleviate a lot
of those concerns. The stylistic comparable chosen here Matt Benning point totals don't necessarily
indicate a high end projection, although the Sharks netted value with Cagnoni at one
hundred and twenty third in the draft. He's got a very long way to
go and a lot of below average tools that need development. He does have
unique skills that could make him a late round, second round talent. Mason
Black puts out the poll the NHL Rankking goes to x to ask the people,
Luca Kagnoni versus Christian Cairou little brother Christian Cairou not to be confused,
brother Christian not to be confused with sister Christian If and Luca comes out ahead
in this one, sixty five to thirty five motor in his way to a
victory. Victory? Is that how you see it? I think so?
For fantasy. I just wrote about Christian Cayrou repea ring side. In terms
of his AHL production, he just had his first AHL season with the Texas
Stars. The Texas Stars were a great AHL team. They just recently got
eliminated in the playoffs. There but twenty three points in fifty seven games.
He had a decent number of ice time for a rookie. He got a
little bit of power play time. Seven points in seven playoff games was also
really nice. So overall, he's come a long way. He still has
a really good shot. That's one of the things that's always been true about
Christian Kyrus that he's probably going to be someone who scores a little bit more
goals than usual for a defenseman, and he did that in the AHL.
He was above average in terms of his goal scoring with eight and fifty seven
games. Again, there's a lot of variability here, not huge numbers,
but higher than you would expect for someone in that position. So I like
Cayrou. I think he's someone who can really develop into a decent defenseman.
He has the size, a little bit more size. Anyways, he's still
he's only five tenths. He's not that much different, but he doesn't seem
to have as much of an issue there, has pretty good mobility. So
but between the two, I would definitely take Kegnoni because I think if he
hits the offensive, upside is higher there. And I don't know that Christian
Cairou's floor is so high that you have to take him there because I think
the security is a little bit volatile as well. Looking at hockey prospecting,
Kegnoni definitely has a higher potential here thirty one percent chance of being a star
to Christian Cairou's third ten percent. Both of them have a similar sixty five
percent chance of being an NHL are looking at some other comps from Cagnoni,
you got guys like Aaron ek Blad and David Eyerchek, and Adam Fox is
one that he looks right now exactly like in the model. Of course,
a different trajectory for Fox. USHL NCAA took a long time and eventually got
there. Box only five to eleven, so not that much bigger than Kagnoni.
I guess there's some possibility there, but anyways, I'm not sure that
he has Adam Fox upside. Just that's what the comp there says in hockey
prospecting. Looking at the j Freshcar just eight percent chance of being a star
for Cagnoni and sixty four percent chance of being in NHL are a little bit
more pessimistic. But overall, I think we talked about the lack of defense
for the Sharks. Mukamadulin is probably their only middle pair upside guy. Cagnoni
I don't think has top upside potential. Maybe a middle to bottom pair with
top power play. It is probably the best case that you're thinking about for
him. It really depends on how far his physicality and his offensive game can
translate. He should be able to play in the AHL this season, so
we'll see if we can see that from Kagnoni. But yeah, definitely someone
you're interested in fantasy for sure. That's it for the Santa the Sharks dig.
If you're a patroon, you can listen to my top ten recap per
team on Patreon that we'll start after the draft, which is coming up this
week. And if you're interested in doing some scouting with us, shoot me
a DM on Twitter, Discord, or email us. We'll be right back
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