Plenty of ‘hidden gems’ for Sharks, others teams to find
The Sharks and other teams should have no trouble finding quality players at the end of the first round and beyond in this year’s NHL entry draft, the league’s central scouting senior manager said Wednesday.
“Teams are going to get very, very good players as they pick into the second, third and fourth round,” said David Gregory, who has been with NHL Central Scouting for 17 years, on a teleconference hosted by the league. “There’s going to be some real hidden gems there. A few years from now, we’ll be talking about how did that player get taken so late.”
The Sharks have three picks in the first two rounds of this year’s draft, including the first round selection they acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 24. The Sharks traded Barclay Goodrow and a 2020 third round pick to the Lightning for a first rounder this year and AHL player Anthony Greco.
The Sharks also have two picks in the second round — their own and the one they acquired Feb. 18 from the Washington Capitals for defenseman Brenden Dillon. That pick was originally held by the Colorado Avalanche.
As of now, the Sharks also have two picks in the fifth round and two picks in the seventh round.
Sharks general manager Doug Wilson has hinted he isn’t necessarily married to using those picks to draft players, leaving open the possibility of flipping some of those selections for NHL veterans as they seek to return to the playoffs next season.
“When and how those assets are utilized will be determined at some point, but it doesn’t change our approach,” Wilson said last week. “We’re going to prepare and really look under every stone to help make us a better hockey team.”
NHL Central Scouting released its final player rankings Wednesday for this year’s draft and listed left wing Alexis Lafreniere of the Rimouski Oceanic No. 1 among North American skaters. Tim Stuetzle, a left wing for Mannheim in Germany’s top professional league, was ranked as the top international skater.
The Sharks, as of now, have no shot to select any of the top ranked skaters after they dealt their 2020 first round pick to the Ottawa Senators as part of the deal to acquire Erik Karlsson in Sept. 2018.
Still, it appears they’ll have the opportunity to find a player that can help the team three or four years down the road.
“There’s lots of depth here,” Gregory said, “and lots of opportunity for the NHL clubs.”
This year’s draft was originally scheduled to be held June 26-27 in Montreal. Last month, though, the league announced that the
“location, timing and format” of the draft will be “announced when details are finalized.”
It remains unclear if the league will be able to resume its season and hold the playoffs, or when the league will be able to finalize a draft order.
The pick the Sharks acquired from the Lightning realistically could fall anywhere from No. 22 to No. 31.
Ordinarily, after the draft lottery is held, picks 16 through 23 would be awarded to the nondivision-winning teams eliminated in the first two rounds of the playoffs based on reverse order of regular-season finish. Those spots would be followed by any division winners at picks 24 through 27 of the first round. Teams eliminated in the conference finals would pick 28th and 29th, the Stanley Cup runner-up would select 30th and the Stanley Cup champion would select 31st.
When the NHL paused its season March 12, the Lightning were tied for third in the league standings with 92 points. Tampa Bay was second in the Atlantic Division, eight points back of the Boston Bruins, who had the league’s best record at 4414-12.
In his draft rankings for April, Sportsnet’s Sam Cosentino ranked forwards Lukas Reichel (Germany), Mavrik Bourque (Shawinigan) and Jacob Perreault (Sarnia) and defensemen William Wallinder (Sweden), Justin Barron (Halifax) and Ryan O’Rourke (Sault Ste. Marie) as among the players that could be available late in the first round.
It’s unclear if the NHL will be able to hold a scouting combine for draft prospects.
Teams have been allowed to interview players all season, but now those interviews are done strictly online. When it comes to medical history, the league is asking players to fill out questionnaires that will be made available to the each team’s medical staffs. In terms of testing, Dan Marr of central scouting said onice testing was done at various prospect games this season.
“The teams do have test results of 75 of the top 100 prospects for this draft,” Marr said.
Earlier this week, Doug Wilson Jr., the Sharks’ director of scouting, said he and his staff are preparing as if the draft will still be held in late June.
“There’s no reason to change the way that we scout,” Wilson Jr. said on Morning Tide podcast. “The guys will just have to put in way more video reports, they’ll have to be more secondary interviews with teachers, former teammates, coaches, et cetera. No team is getting a lot of viewings right now, so we just have to go back, watch more video, do more interviews and just work as hard as we possibly can.”