How would you rate the Sharks' draft?

[hockeyball]

I'm surprised. From what I've seen from both (I watched an entire game of Meier and Roy each the other day) Meier looks like the clearly better prospect. Goldobin is good, but seems to be unsure of himself when the play turns the other way, or he doesn't have the puck. I don't see that in Meier. He isn't a two-way force, but he doesn't seem to have issues knowing where to be or what to do when the play breaks down. Basically they both read the play well, but Meier seems like the smarter player (a little more Pavelski in Meier than in Goldobin I guess is what I'm saying).

Roy is far and away the best defensive prospect we have, and easily the best offensive prospect we've had in the last decade or more. There is a very decent chance he becomes the best over-all defensemen the Sharks have developed. Bergman is at best likely a 2nd pairing power play specialist, and that's really pushing it.

Right now I would rank our prospects at each position like this (prospects meaning players who have not yet fully matured, so including Hertl and the rest, NHL potential only):

Center: Hertl > Tierney > Chartier > O'Regan > Carpenter > Rod
RW: Goldobin > Donskoi > Lablanc
LW: Meier > Nieto > Karlsson > Jevpalovs > Hewlewka > Emanuelson > Balcers > Galimov
D: Roy > Mueller > Bergman > McNally > Stollery > DeMelo > Albetshauser > Ryan > Cukste > Parsells
G: Grosenick > Bergvik > Robinson > Dell > Kupsky

Bolded the top-6/ top-4, #1 goalie likely-potential players. So the Sharks still need a #1 center, but at least have 2 players who could fill that role. They have high-end to elite propsects at both wings, and now have multiple high-end to elite prospects at D. The only place they are currently devoid of high-end talent is goal.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Columbus GM confirmed they called DW to try to get the #9 pick.

 

[Sharksrule04]

Barzal.

I would have taken Connor and Rantanen over Meier as well.

Barzal is the player I would have taken. I would have considered Rantanen but I think it's a coin flip between the two.

I think Meier is arguably the best player available at that spot though so can't complain too much. Mostly just wish we had traded up.

I am happy with Meier over Connor though.

 

[sr228]

Columbus GM confirmed they called DW to try to get the #9 pick.

NJD's beat writer said yesterday that DW tried to move up to #6.

 

[Bowie22]

Maybe he was pursuing Zacha?

 

[sr228]

Maybe he was pursuing Zacha?

I would imagine he wanted Provorov but maybe it was Zacha.

 

[Sharksfan83]

I just find it odd that both Barzal and Connor who I read alot of good things about before the draft, teams like Florida, Dallas, Bruins (3 times) all overlooked these guys also. So it wasn't only the Sharks that didn't like them enough to draft them before someone else.

I think it was a weird draft though, I think because the depth of talent involved it caused a lot of people to slip down the draft, guys like Konecny, Roy, Kylington, Sprong, they were all seen as high end picks that for some unknown reason dropped alot further than expected.

 

[Mattb124]

B

I thought there were better players available than Meier at #9, would have been more happy with him at #12-14. The FTF article hits on some of the points of why I am not so high on him (old for draft year/not a great D-1 season, disproportionately high % of his goals were on the powerplay which skews his stats a bit).

Good (and could be great) on Roy, he could end up being the best player we selected in this draft.

Time will tell for the others.

 

[hockeyball]

NJD's beat writer said yesterday that DW tried to move up to #6.

Good to know he tried. Provorov would have been amazing, but who knows what the cost would have been.

Let's say it was #9, Tierney and our 2nd, just for value's sake.

Would you rather have Meier, Roy, and Tierney, or Provorov? Because I think that choice is easy and as much as I liked Provorov, I would have done the same. Even if it was just our 2nd, which is likely not enough, would you rather have Provorov or Meier and Roy? I'd still probably go with Meier and Roy.

 

[Alaskanice]

Good to know he tried. Provorov would have been amazing, but who knows what the cost would have been.

Let's say it was #9, Tierney and our 2nd, just for value's sake.

Would you rather have Meier, Roy, and Tierney, or Provorov? Because I think that choice is easy and as much as I liked Provorov, I would have done the same. Even if it was just our 2nd, which is likely not enough, would you rather have Provorov or Meier and Roy? I'd still probably go with Meier and Roy.

Yes, good to know he tried. Wilson also said he tried to get Reinhart. Why we didn't consummate these deals is unknown but DW seems to get shafted for not getting these deals done. I credit him for trying.

 

[sr228]

I just find it odd that both Barzal and Connor who I read alot of good things about before the draft, teams like Florida, Dallas, Bruins (3 times) all overlooked these guys also. So it wasn't only the Sharks that didn't like them enough to draft them before someone else.

I think it was a weird draft though, I think because the depth of talent involved it caused a lot of people to slip down the draft, guys like Konecny, Roy, Kylington, Sprong, they were all seen as high end picks that for some unknown reason dropped alot further than expected.

I'm gonna skip Boston because I don't know what they were doing but it's pretty easy for me to see why the other teams passed up on Barzal.

Those 3 players were just my personal preference based on several viewings (over the past two seasons) as well as multiple scouting reports.

The Sharks prospect pool, while good, was still lacking everywhere in high end talent. All of 4 of the prospects (Barzal, Rantanen, Conner, Meier) would fill an org need, I just think that the first 3 guys have higher ceilings than Meier.

 

[T0uGh C0oki3]

Given how we moved up to pick Roy, I think DW originally wanted Provorov or Werenski (and Zacha as a consolation).


All 3 defenseman going off the board was "worst case scenario" for DW.

 

[hockeyball]

Given how we moved up to pick Roy, I think DW originally wanted Provorov or Werenski (and Zacha as a consolation).


All 3 defenseman going off the board was a "worst case scenario" for DW.

I agree, though I still had reservations about Werenski. I'm betting he turns into a Wiznewski/Shattenkirk type player, and that's not really what we need (not bad, just not really the player we are looking for). Hanifin and Provorov were the mold for the type of player we really need (two-way top-pairing guy) and once they were gone, Roy would honestly be my next choice for that kind of player.

Reinhart isn't really what we need either, he's going to be another defensive specialist, we've got those coming out of our ears. Hamilton would have been ideal, but it would have cost us Meier and Roy+, and we were not even allowed to bid, so cannot really blame DW.

 

[Led Zappa]

Meier is a B+ and Roy is an A+ all things considered. Since, as hockeyball pointed out, the rest of the picks combined barely rate i don't see how anyone gives our draft anything below a B.

 

[SactoShark]

Quite a few of you have the Sharks dialed in, because they did almost exactly what a lot of people thought they'd do.

1. Safe-side, complete forward, further along in development.
2. Puck-moving / 2-way defenseman
3. Goalies
4. Long-term projects

It really went in the fashion and order expected.

 

[sr228]

Meier is a B+ and Roy is an A+ all things considered. Since, as hockeyball pointed out, the rest of the picks combined barely rate i don't see how anyone gives our draft anything below a B.

I absolutely accept people looking at the draft that way.

That said, the reason I rated last years draft so highly (which would have been a B/B- based on the first two rounds) was because of what they did in rounds 3-6 so for me, what they did this year in rounds 3-7 lowers their grade a little bit.

 

[Le Rosbeef]

B

Meier and Roy look to be players who have the potential to be a top 6 winger and a top 4 (offensive) Dman.

The rest? Well, if they work out, so be it...

 

[Nolan11]

You want to know why DW wasn't in on Hamilton? He, like 24 other gm's had no idea he was being shopped. Arizona, Edmonton, Colorado and Calgary were the only teams aware and the ones Boston reached out too. Friedman said as much in his column yesterday. So you can imagine there were quite a few upset teams and Sweeney limited his market.

Nonetheless it is still his job to find out and potentially get in on the bidding. DW should have asked the bruins about Hamilton and express interest in trading for him. Did he? We don't know either way. From his actions last season, trading Freddie and our 2016 3rd, I suspect Hamilton was not even on his radar. If he planned to offersheet anyone, trading our third was not the way to go. So no sheet for a big ticket young player. Maybe one for our second.

So targeting bieksa and not Hamilton is just a sign that DW is still not looking out for our best rebuilding interests. We shall see what big moves he makes on Wednesday. Hopefully no more fourth line vets are our top targets. Please.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

Nonetheless it is still his job to find out and potentially get in on the bidding. DW should have asked the bruins about Hamilton and express interest in trading for him. Did he? We don't know either way. From his actions last season, trading Freddie and our 2016 3rd, I suspect Hamilton was not even on his radar. If he planned to offersheet anyone, trading our third was not the way to go. So no sheet for a big ticket young player. Maybe one for our second.

So targeting bieksa and not Hamilton is just a sign that DW is still not looking out for our best rebuilding interests. We shall see what big moves he makes on Wednesday. Hopefully no more fourth line vets are our top targets. Please.

Freddie has nothing to do with his brother.

 

[Timo Time]

I graded them with a B.

Great value in first 2 picks and also liked they went after some big goalies.

 

[Led Zappa]

I absolutely accept people looking at the draft that way.

That said, the reason I rated last years draft so highly (which would have been a B/B- based on the first two rounds) was because of what they did in rounds 3-6 so for me, what they did this year in rounds 3-7 lowers their grade a little bit.

So, what grades would you give Meier and Roy? The way I see it they are a combined A. I just can't knock it down 2 out of 5 placements based on the 3rd though 7th round picks. 2 are goalies, which they need and can't be assessed for years. They aren't top 15 picks . Even if the rest could be seen as C picks I can't knock the whole draft down to a C.

 

[sr228]

So, what grades would you give Meier and Roy? The way I see it they are a combined A. I just can't knock it down 2 out of 5 placements based on the 3rd though 7th round picks. 2 are goalies, which they need and can't be assessed for years. They aren't top 15 picks . Even if the rest could be seen as C picks I can't knock the whole draft down to a C.

I'd give Meier & Roy a B+.

Goalies are a crapshoot & yes, they needed to draft at least one and I'm good with picking two. The rest of their skaters as a whole, I just wasn't very impressed with.

 

[hohosaregood]

I'd give Meier & Roy a B+.

Goalies are a crapshoot & yes, they needed to draft at least one and I'm good with picking two. The rest of their skaters as a whole, I just wasn't very impressed with.

I think this is a good assessment of the situation. Beyond the first 2 rounds, the talent drafted was kinda suspect. They're almost all likely to be long term talents.

 

[Sandisfan]

C+ or B-

Of the choices had to go with C by a hair.

 

[Grave]

Hard to rate a draft, gave them a B since they filled some holes if the players pan out.

Hopefully we can just not trade these players.