News Article: Balanced prospect pool paying dividends for San Jose Sharks

HF Article

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Nov 16, 2005
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Last season, San Jose Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson spoke adamantly about how the team would be going through a refresh rather than a restart. He would add small doses of youth along the way instead of tearing down his veteran squad for a full-fledged rebuild.



It makes a lot of sense – you keep the puck moving and continue your winning ways without skipping a beat – but it is easier said than done and very few teams actually have the luxury to see a plan like this through.

The reason Wilson can actually go this route is because he and his staff have stocked the cupboards at every position.… read more



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slocal

Dude...what?
May 4, 2010
16,067
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Man, I wish Craig would be the OP. His articles are solid enough where he should get the initial glory.

That being said, I'm going to have to wait to read this till after the little goblins stop coming to my door.
 

ScottyDont

Registered User
Aug 30, 2010
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This sounds more exciting then Mueller:

Early on, Michael Brodzinski is making a case that he might just be the first player from the Sharks 2013 draft to make it to the show. The fifth round selection is an offensive-defenseman with boom-or-bust potential, and his first handful of collegiate games for the University of Minnesota have only perpetuated his legend. He is a scary player to watch when the team is up a goal, but down a goal, there are not many better options in the NCAA. If he can work on limiting his turnovers and playing more of a responsible game for the majority of the time, he is going to race up the depth charts.
 

sr228

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Sep 16, 2007
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Another good write up Craig!

I know you haven't been shy about being a huge fan of Brodzinski but the comment about him being the first from the 2013 draft to make the NHL is bold. I've been lucky enough to be able to watch 3 Minnesota games so far and while his offensive skills and instincts are undeniable he's a huge adventure everywhere else on the ice.

He's in a very good position to learn how to play sound, positional defense and how to pick his spots better playing for Lucia and I'm looking forward to seeing big improvements in that part of his game. Boom or bust is a very accurate description for him.

Joakim Ryan has taken a decent sized step forward in his all around play so far from what I understand. Not sure he's going to be an NHLer (or even signed once he's done with college) but I've been told he's been great.

Also, I really, really hope Gogol isn't in the org long enough to ever see a minute of NHL time.
 

sharski

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Jun 4, 2012
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I'm confused

I thought everyone said that we had the worst prospect pool in the league... some of this stuff is actually kind of positive
 

hockeyball

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Nov 10, 2007
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I'm confused

I thought everyone said that we had the worst prospect pool in the league... some of this stuff is actually kind of positive

People who don't know what they are talking about say that. The Sharks prospect pool has been consistently good even when it's been rated the worst in the league. It continues to produce NHL talent on a yearly basis, most players playing well above their draft positions. Guys like Demers and Braun paying FAR above their draft predictions. The Sharks consistently find and turn undrafted players into NHlers as well (Desjardins, Irwin, Tennyson). Hell even our first rounders lately have been great picks.

I think the pundits are just starting to come around and realize how good our drafting system is. Not implying Craig is among them, just we have been notoriously poorly ranked for years by the media.
 

LadyStanley

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Sep 22, 2004
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I'm confused

I thought everyone said that we had the worst prospect pool in the league... some of this stuff is actually kind of positive

1 - Craig is new writer this year.

2 - Sharks (organization) never hype their prospects. Ergo, those who rank the prospect are often very conservative in their assessments of potential.

3 - Sharks have traded a number of picks over the years so may not have **drafted** the entire prospect pool. In fact, there's a healthy list of undrafted free agents they sign.
 
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sr228

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Sep 16, 2007
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I'm confused

I thought everyone said that we had the worst prospect pool in the league... some of this stuff is actually kind of positive

According to many, no blue chip prospects equals a poor prospect pool.

Anyone who takes any time to watch, research, learn about the Sharks prospects knows that they have a good stable of prospects. However, the group as a whole still ranks below average when compared to the rest of the league (meaning they're probably somewhere between #17-#23 among the 30 teams depending on who you ask).
 

do0glas

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Jan 26, 2012
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Nieto and hertls stellar play this year if sustained will go a long way for us in the ranking.

Also if Demers cements a #4 spot and Braun continues to lead ice time. While they can't be considered prospects; I feel thus is where the HF analysis falls short. Graduation rate isn't really taken into account over like a 7 year period.

Many will argue the vlasic factor. But Braun is a late draft pick on the TOP PAIRING. He's not a number 1, but his two way play is undeniable against toughs.

Too much of the rankings are centered around potential.
 

hohosaregood

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Sep 1, 2011
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Nieto and hertls stellar play this year if sustained will go a long way for us in the ranking.

Also if Demers cements a #4 spot and Braun continues to lead ice time. While they can't be considered prospects; I feel thus is where the HF analysis falls short. Graduation rate isn't really taken into account over like a 7 year period.

Many will argue the vlasic factor. But Braun is a late draft pick on the TOP PAIRING. He's not a number 1, but his two way play is undeniable against toughs.

Too much of the rankings are centered around potential.

At this point, what would you say Braun is? #2-#3 defenseman? I know #2 is pushing it but he's gotten to a very high level of play right now.
 

sr228

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Sep 16, 2007
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Nieto and hertls stellar play this year if sustained will go a long way for us in the ranking.

Also if Demers cements a #4 spot and Braun continues to lead ice time. While they can't be considered prospects; I feel thus is where the HF analysis falls short. Graduation rate isn't really taken into account over like a 7 year period.

Many will argue the vlasic factor. But Braun is a late draft pick on the TOP PAIRING. He's not a number 1, but his two way play is undeniable against toughs.

Too much of the rankings are centered around potential.

To be fair, when it comes to ranking prospects their potential / projection is pretty much all people have to go on.
 

do0glas

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Jan 26, 2012
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To be fair, when it comes to ranking prospects their potential / projection is pretty much all people have to go on.

Depends on what you make the cutoff. What value do you give graduating prospects? I'd think that'd have the most value to a farm ranking. Why grade on potential when you can look at tangible results?

For instance, you can grade the most recent two or even three drafts on projection. But you also have the three before that where you could grade graduation. Especially since most projections are 3-5 years.
 

sr228

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Sep 16, 2007
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Depends on what you make the cutoff. What value do you give graduating prospects? I'd think that'd have the most value to a farm ranking. Why grade on potential when you can look at tangible results?

For instance, you can grade the most recent two or even three drafts on projection. But you also have the three before that where you could grade graduation. Especially since most projections are 3-5 years.

Because they are ranking prospects, not players who have cemented themselves in the NHL. Right now, Hertl and Nieto are both still considered prospects and what they're doing in the NHL will be part of the next ranking but including a player like Braun who's in his 4th NHL season doesn't make any sense to me at all.

The number of players a team graduates certainly tells you a lot about their drafting and developing but I don't think they should be included when looking at a team's prospect pool.
 

do0glas

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Jan 26, 2012
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Because they are ranking prospects, not players who have cemented themselves in the NHL. Right now, Hertl and Nieto are both still considered prospects and what they're doing in the NHL will be part of the next ranking but including a player like Braun who's in his 4th NHL season doesn't make any sense to me at all.

The number of players a team graduates certainly tells you a lot about their drafting and developing but I don't think they should be included when looking at a team's prospect pool.

The rankings just seem like nothing then.

This team has more prospects "projected" for a top six role, but a team that has actually graduated more prospects to the top six over the last five years has/had a worse prospect pool? That makes no sense lol. I know that they won't change it, but it does a lot of teams a discredit and takes out any actual analysis of what these prospects can do against their initial ranking
 

do0glas

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Jan 26, 2012
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At this point, what would you say Braun is? #2-#3 defenseman? I know #2 is pushing it but he's gotten to a very high level of play right now.

Sorry missed this.

He still hasn't shown the ability to qb his team at ES offensively. He has a job on that pairing defensively that he has been arguably better than vlasic at. I say that simply because he can turn a defensive steal into an offensive chance better due to his skating.

I don't want to label him. That pairing is different. A lot if teams would use Boyle as their number 1 and put someone like Hannan or Stuart next to him.

We have a legit two way number 1 pairing. Vlasics scoring pace is exciting, but unless Braun starts taking more of that load they will regress. So who knows, but I'm perfectly happy with him not scoring for now, or even at a 20 point pace as long as vlasic pushes 30.
 

bigwillie

Registered User
Jul 14, 2006
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Portland, OR
I'm confused

I thought everyone said that we had the worst prospect pool in the league... some of this stuff is actually kind of positive

The problem with prospect rankings is that they usually deal exclusively with mostly hype and some actual player potential, but very rarely do they ever actually correlate with results. Although the Sharks prospect pool rarely ever has the hype behind it and are therefore always ranked fairly low, they get results better than half the teams in the league. No one every goes back 5 or 10 years to look at how prospect pools panned out to rank them.

I also think the Sharks are ranked low because they draft for certain attributes that they value and feel can translate to the NHL level over the media's predraft rankings or anything like that. They march to the beat of their own drum, and the media tends to underrate them because of it.
 

sr228

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Sep 16, 2007
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The rankings just seem like nothing then.

This team has more prospects "projected" for a top six role, but a team that has actually graduated more prospects to the top six over the last five years has/had a worse prospect pool? That makes no sense lol. I know that they won't change it, but it does a lot of teams a discredit and takes out any actual analysis of what these prospects can do against their initial ranking

Looking at what a prospect ends up doing once they're an NHLer against what was expected of them would be interesting. But that shouldn't have anything to do with an orgs prospect rankings since the simple fact that the player has cemented themselves as an NHLer (usually by a specified number of games played) means they are no longer a prospect.
 

Led Zappa

Tomorrow Today
Jan 8, 2007
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Silicon Valley
Looking at what a prospect ends up doing once they're an NHLer against what was expected of them would be interesting. But that shouldn't have anything to do with an orgs prospect rankings since the simple fact that the player has cemented themselves as an NHLer (usually by a specified number of games played) means they are no longer a prospect.

I'm sure there's a mathematical equation that could be used to account for this. Everything regarding prospect rankings is a guess anyways. If they had an overall number that gave weight to success in addition to current rankings it would be worth knowing.

Anything would be better than continually reading "Though the Sharks are ranked fairly low in our prospect rankings they have an excellent record for prospects who end up playing in the NHL" lol.
 

sr228

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Sep 16, 2007
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I'm sure there's a mathematical equation that could be used to account for this. Everything regarding prospect rankings is a guess anyways. If they had an overall number that gave weight to success in addition to current rankings it would be worth knowing.

Do you mean giving an org a better ranking because of the players they've graduated in the past?
 

Led Zappa

Tomorrow Today
Jan 8, 2007
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Do you mean giving an org a better ranking because of the players they've graduated in the past?

Yes, kinda. I'm not saying that should be the official ranking, but a secondary number of drafting history vs projected ranking should be done. If we can do Corsi we can do this :laugh:
 

sr228

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Sep 16, 2007
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Yes. I'm not saying that should be the official ranking, but a secondary number of drafting history vs projected ranking should be done. If we can do Corsi we can do this :laugh:

A secondary ranking based on a teams ability to turn prospects into NHLers would be great, especially if it was weighted by their initial prospect rankings! I bet the Sharks would rank much better in that scenario.
 

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