Prospect Info: All-Purpose 2024 Draft Thread & Celebrini discussion (also the 14th pick and whatever else is draft related)

[rekrul]

Toronto's problem isn't necessarily that their top pieces are bums (although Marner certainly is), it's that Dubas and Treliving didn't/don't know how to build deep teams and therefore have to rely on their top guns to get the job done, and that's not how teams win Cups.

A guy like Celebrini is almost as perfect as it gets as a player to be a core piece to build around. You take him 100 times out of 100. You can get defense in a later draft (or later in this draft if we're lucky) if need be, but an elite #1C is the hardest piece to get.

The Sharks will be bad again next year; we don't have to worry about not getting another high pick next year.

Another situation to consider is Detroit who for some reason didn't see the potential Q Hughes and took Zedina at #6 overall in 2018. They are missing the franchise center and defensemen and are 7 years removed from making the playoffs. With Celebrini they get a onetime only chance to get an elite C who can move the puck out of the zone and crate. Certainly, we see Toronto missing some of that with a soft playoff team that gets squished by any team that looks at tape. Sharks need to hunt more for that puck moving Dman, and take a chance because there will be teams like Detroit that will overlook a Dman that is not a slam dunk ( too small, too slow, not enough offensive ect,,,) . find a RFA and do a offer sheet, find a UFA in a few years and overpay or draft some that are going to be a risk to develop.

 

[Jargon]

The nice thing with Celebrini and the other guys we have is that while we should definitely keep an eye out for great wingers, particularly right wingers, Grier can really focus on building out the defense.

 

[YUPPY 2 7 10 11]

To me, this is what makes Buium so special, and why I think you do what you can to get him. Yes, he is doing everything out there, and his team relies on him, but it always seems to me he is doing it within the system. He is not out of control or desperate when he makes these plays. He is pushing play as far as he can based on what is available, and then making the right play, without forcing it.

To me, he isn't playing hero. He is walking the line where him making the play is more likely to succeed because he is the best player, and where others have an easier play. Never loosing sight of his teammates situation and how they can make a play. And at the same time, you can tell all his teammates trust him to make that decision and are ready to become the next option, despite him being the freshman on the team.

To be honest, I think Buium will be gone by the 6th pick. So if the Sharks trade up to a 6th spot, why not just grab Cole Eiserman?
Let's me see what former team known as the Coyotes needs is. They need #1 defensemen and a starting goaltender. They have Cooley and Josh Doan. Arizona, I meant Utah, only have one 1st round pick and three 2nd round picks. I don't think they will trade.

On the side note, The Bruins is in a log jam at goalie position. They must move one of their three goalies this summer. If the Sharks can pry MICHAEL DiPIETRO from the Bruins, who is relatively young at 24 and cheap with a save percentage at .914, would be great.

 

[cheechoo]

I almost kind of wish we didn’t get Celebrini this year. Like he’s a great player, but looking at our pieces, I just don’t think we are there yet. We still need a franchise defenseman.

I only agree with this if the winning of the draft lottery artificially expedites the natural course that we were on.

I'm seeing a bit of it from the fans, but I hope the braintrust above is thinking further down the road. We need to stick and pick pretty much at 14, 33, 42, 2025 1st, 2025 VGK 1st and we especially need to hit on a couple more foundational pieces with those assets.

I couldn't see our situation with or without Macklin and get the feeling that we're anywhere near the final stages of this process.

Besides that though, there's no shot that we're now somehow too good to continue tanking / building through the draft because of Macklin and potentially Smith otw.

The 2005-2006 Penguins with a rookie Crosby (who scored 102 points!) + three other 50 point scorers were still horrible enough to draft 2nd overall again.

We're extremely thin up and down the lineup, the defensive core is scary sight and the goaltending unit is a huge question mark. Unless GMMG trades for Marner and spends to the cap limit in FA, we should very easily be aligned to select another bluechip asset at the top of the draft in the summer of 2025.

 

[Juxtaposer]

I almost kind of wish we didn’t get Celebrini this year. Like he’s a great player, but looking at our pieces, I just don’t think we are there yet. We still need a franchise defenseman.

I think Macklin, Smith and Eklund are eerily comparable to Mathews, Marner and Nylander. We’ve all seen how that goes. GMMG has been focused on defense with his trades but franchise caliber defensemen are almost impossible to get like that. It’s gonna have to come from the draft and that means another bad season.

The last thing you want to do is build around a good, but ultimately flawed defenseman like Darnell Nurse or Morgan Reilly. That is where moving forward puts us.

Even the cluster with Silayev, Parekha and Buium from 6-8OA has some warts if we were to trade up. Yakemchuk too.

I wonder what it would cost to get 4OA from Columbus. Trades almost never happen that high up though. Ugh. We need another tank season.

Hate to break it to you but the Sharks are going to be really, really bad next year. We could improve dramatically in every way, be 20 points better in the standings, and still be bottom-2 in the league.

Besides, this draft is full of “good but ultimately flawed” defensemen. Literally, every single one of them has significant questions. Pining for Levshunov or Buium or whoever when we have Macklin is batshit insane.

 

[Zarzh]

Agreed, and Grier has already acquired a good amount of prospects that will hopefully provide depth around Celebrini, Smith, Eklund, and the 2025 top-3 pick. Between Musty, Mukh, whomever they draft with the Pens and Vegas 1st round picks, Edstrom, Bystedt, Haltunnen, Cagnoni, Thrun, Graf, Lund, and Havelid (+ three 2nd round picks in 2024/2025 at this point), hopefully they can produce a solid bottom-6, maybe a few middle-6 wingers, and 3 bottom-4 defensemen.

We've talked about how Grier has done a great job tearing this team down, dumping a bunch of bad cap between the Hertl/Karlsson contracts, and tanking for Smith and Celebrini (+ 2025 incoming), but now we'll see how his staff does developing the depth around the core.

I find stuff like this super depressing, although flawed teams have won the cup (especially post-expansions). The idea shouldn't be to create a perimeter team with small defensemen like so many in this thread are touting, the odds of that working out are extremely low.

Trading up for a defenseman is almost guaranteed to be a minor win, with potential to be a major win. You add a piece instead of hoping EJ Emery falls to 33 and turns into Faber. Or support Schaefer/Hensler if they're our pick in 2025 instead of expecting one defenseman to match Makar's impact.

 

[hohosaregood]

It's probably not a huge issue if we don't get a d-man this year. As it stands, we likely have the foundation pieces up front between Smith, Celebrini, Eklund, Musty, Bystedt, and Edstrom to build a potentially great top 9. If we don't get the d this year, we'll get another forward to solidify this and we'll still have the next couple years to take swings for the #1 guy on defense.

 

[Shark Finn]

Just go BPA and keep throwing those darts.

 

[sharks_dynasty]

It's probably not a huge issue if we don't get a d-man this year. As it stands, we likely have the foundation pieces up front between Smith, Celebrini, Eklund, Musty, Bystedt, and Edstrom to build a potentially great top 9. If we don't get the d this year, we'll get another forward to solidify this and we'll still have the next couple years to take swings for the #1 guy on defense.

Totally agree. We shouldn’t rush the process. Let things evolve naturally and be opportunistic when good trade or free agent options come into play. In the meantime, bring in the best talent from drafts and use any extra players as trade assets to fill gaps over time. Slow and steady. Let’s not go all-in just yet. Celebrini is 17 and Smith is 18. Our window won’t even open up for a few years.

 

[mogambomoroo]

I almost kind of wish we didn’t get Celebrini this year. Like he’s a great player, but looking at our pieces, I just don’t think we are there yet. We still need a franchise defenseman.

I think Macklin, Smith and Eklund are eerily comparable to Mathews, Marner and Nylander. We’ve all seen how that goes. GMMG has been focused on defense with his trades but franchise caliber defensemen are almost impossible to get like that. It’s gonna have to come from the draft and that means another bad season.

The last thing you want to do is build around a good, but ultimately flawed defenseman like Darnell Nurse or Morgan Reilly. That is where moving forward puts us.

Even the cluster with Silayev, Parekha and Buium from 6-8OA has some warts if we were to trade up. Yakemchuk too.

I wonder what it would cost to get 4OA from Columbus. Trades almost never happen that high up though. Ugh. We need another tank season.

Getting Celebrini was more than just getting a potential 1C, it's about the hype and excitement that he will bring around the team. He will help the whole organization be better by just being the one to watch.
Sharks will get new fans + old fans that didn't care for the rebuild will be back. The Tank will be one step closer to being as electrifying as it used to be before. And after all that he has potential to be a top 5-10 center of the league in the future that can help the team progress to the level that it needs to. MG will have an easier job building a team now that he has the main piece locked in.

Defence is still in progress and will take time to be complete. MG has done a good job with taking low cost defencemen to have a chance to play (Thrun, Addison, Emberson) that meaning that he is very aware of the blueline problems.
I trust he will be very busy this summer on getting the best supporting pieces on that blueline for Celebrini and Smith. It's going to take time, but we got a major obstacle out of the way by drafting #1 this year.

 

[Jargon]

Getting Celebrini was more than just getting a potential 1C, it's about the hype and excitement that he will bring around the team. He will help the whole organization be better by just being the one to watch.
Sharks will get new fans + old fans that didn't care for the rebuild will be back. The Tank will be one step closer to being as electrifying as it used to be before. And after all that he has potential to be a top 5-10 center of the league in the future that can help the team progress to the level that it needs to. MG will have an easier job building a team now that he has the main piece locked in.

Defence is still in progress and will take time to be complete. MG has done a good job with taking low cost defencemen to have a chance to play (Thrun, Addison, Emberson) that meaning that he is very aware of the blueline problems.
I trust he will be very busy this summer on getting the best supporting pieces on that blueline for Celebrini and Smith. It's going to take time, but we got a major obstacle out of the way by drafting #1 this year.

I’ve even noticed how many more people are on this board, new names liking posts, etc. Finally @Sandisfan has some help! Thanks Celebrini!

 

[Le Rosbeef]

Just go BPA and keep throwing those darts.

Yup.

We all know a high end Dman would add some balance to our pool but at 14 you just have to take the BPA. That could still end up as a top 6 forward and they don't grow on trees.

14th overall is - outside of Eklund and Smith (and obviously Celebrini) the highest we've picked in the first round since Meier in 2015 and before that, Couture in 2007!

 

[Gecklund]

To be honest, I think Buium will be gone by the 6th pick. So if the Sharks trade up to a 6th spot, why not just grab Cole Eiserman?
Let's me see what former team known as the Coyotes needs is. They need #1 defensemen and a starting goaltender. They have Cooley and Josh Doan. Arizona, I meant Utah, only have one 1st round pick and three 2nd round picks. I don't think they will trade.

On the side note, The Bruins is in a log jam at goalie position. They must move one of their three goalies this summer. If the Sharks can pry MICHAEL DiPIETRO from the Bruins, who is relatively young at 24 and cheap with a save percentage at .914, would be great.

DiPietro isn’t even the Bruins third best goalie. He’s their fourth. Their goalie depth goes Swayman/Ullmark, Bussi, Dipietro.

I’d love to try to pry Bussi away from them.

 

[Hodge]

When Toronto drafted Matthews they already had Kadri, JvR, Bozak and Rielly as established top half of the lineup veterans. That allowed them to hit the ground running when Matthews, Marner and Nylander joined the team. As a result they never had another lottery pick.

Grier wisely dumped our version of Kadri, JvR, Bozak and Rielly which means that even if Celebrini and Smith make an instant impact comparable to Matthews and Marner, there's no chance it improves the team enough to escape lottery territory. We simply don't have the infrastructure around them. This is a completely different situation than the Leafs were in.

 

[LadyStanley]

Post-lottery mock for the 2024 NHL Draft

The NHL Draft Lottery has passed and the first round of the playoffs is in the rearview, so it's time for another mock of the 2024 NHL Draft.

nhlentrydraft.com

Suggests sharks pick winger Senneke at 14

 

[anthonyyy]

Post-lottery mock for the 2024 NHL Draft

The NHL Draft Lottery has passed and the first round of the playoffs is in the rearview, so it's time for another mock of the 2024 NHL Draft.

nhlentrydraft.com

Suggests sharks pick winger Senneke at 14

I'm so down for Sennecke. Small guy skills in a 6'3" frame because he grew 5 inches in the last couple years.

 

[Jargon]

I'm so down for Sennecke. Small guy skills in a 6'3" frame because he grew 5 inches in the last couple years.

Yeah, he sounds super fun. If we can’t trade into the top 10 and Sennecke is available, he’s a really fun piece.

 

[OrrNumber4]

Yeah, he sounds super fun. If we can’t trade into the top 10 and Sennecke is available, he’s a really fun piece.

Very Steve Bernier vibes...

 

[67 others]

To be honest, I think Buium will be gone by the 6th pick. So if the Sharks trade up to a 6th spot, why not just grab Cole Eiserman?
Let's me see what former team known as the Coyotes needs is. They need #1 defensemen and a starting goaltender. They have Cooley and Josh Doan. Arizona, I meant Utah, only have one 1st round pick and three 2nd round picks. I don't think they will trade.

On the side note, The Bruins is in a log jam at goalie position. They must move one of their three goalies this summer. If the Sharks can pry MICHAEL DiPIETRO from the Bruins, who is relatively young at 24 and cheap with a save percentage at .914, would be great.

Because you can probably get Cole eiserman at 14?

His red flags are huge, which is why his draft stock has plummeted

 

[GRANdSharks]

I honestly don't think sennecke will be at 14 on draft day someone is gonna take this kid way higher then expected. I have him 12th on my board rn he is climbing. That said that just means someone unexpected could fall to us like a catton or helenius like Benson last year which would be amazing.

 

[Lebanezer]

Very Steve Bernier vibes...

How so?

 

[YouJustGotPavelskied]

We could probably trade the 14th pick and Luke Kunin to Chicago and get the #2 pick right?

 

[Jargon]

We could probably trade the 14th pick and Luke Kunin to Chicago and get the #2 pick right?

I mean they’d have to add but yeah

 

[Bizz]

Because you can probably get Cole eiserman at 14?

His red flags are huge, which is why his draft stock has plummeted

I'd be fine with going after a high risk, high reward player at 14. Should be a no-brainer.

 

[Star Platinum]

Sharks will get new fans + old fans that didn't care for the rebuild will be back.

I resemble this remark. Not that I "didn't care for the rebuild", but this franchise has had zero hope for quite a while. Now there's something to get excited about again.

Very Steve Bernier vibes...