The NHL draft was this weekend, and even though we had several weeks to get used to the image of Gavin McKenna in a Toronto Maple Leafs hat, the action in the rest of the top 10 was a good mix of unpredictable and intriguing. The Canucks, at No. 3, committed what has the potential to be an all-time goof-up by drafting their brand-new coach's son, Caleb Malhotra. (Anyone want to tell them how long coaches usually last in the NHL?) The Seattle Kraken, drafting at seven, ended up with a possible steal in defenseman Chase Reid, who surprisingly fell down the board after Buffalo swerved to draft Daxon Rudolph at No. 4 and the two teams that followed didn't change their plans. But of all 32 teams that added new blood, nobody should be more energized about their draft than the San Jose Sharks, who made a pair of major picks at No. 2 and No. 9 just as they're trying to shift into a higher gear. Oh, and also, they got a really really tall guy at the very end.
A few years back, the Sharks had sunk to rock bottom of their rebuild. But way down in those depths, they were gifted a glimmer of hope: Macklin Celebrini, the No. 1 pick of 2024, became their anointed franchise savior. He looked very, very good as an 18-year-old in the 2024–25 season, even as the team continued to lose a whole bunch of games, and in his second year, his skills exploded into the kind of fireworks show that gives suffering fans new life. Playing alongside a noticeably better, if far from complete, roster of developing youngsters, Celebrini finished top 10 in the NHL in both goals and assists, dragging the offense to something approaching league average even as the defense lagged far behind. The Sharks still missed the playoffs, but they improved on their previous year's mark by 34 points. The new core that Celebrini led already appeared promising, and especially after this weekend, these guys have earned the burden of genuine expectations.
By drafting the winger Ivar Stenberg out of Sweden at No. 2, the Sharks are hoping to get another attacking talent whose upside will be clearly visible right out of the gate. While McKenna's lightning-in-a-bottle quality with the puck on his stick made him Toronto's top choice, there's a general consensus that he's going to have to learn some lessons about the subtler points of the game if he'll ever make the most of that electric skill. Stenberg, on the other hand, feels like a very safe add, with SHL numbers that compare favorably to other prospects who've successfully made the jump. He's got the maturity to make the most of his talent, scouts say, and San Jose can provide him with an ideal situation for a brand-new wingman. Put him on a line with Celebrini, the Sharks hope, and he should get comfortable very quickly.
The one downside of the Sharks' weekend is that they had to part ways with winger William Eklund, a 23-year-old whom they traded to the Senators. San Jose may be betting that the No. 7 pick from 2021 has already hit his plateau, with goal tallies of 16, 17, and 15 in his last three seasons. What they got in return is nothing short of the foundation on which they'd like to build a respectable blue line. Keaton Verhoeff, a North Dakota product, is a GM's dream: a 6-foot-4, 215-pounder who can use his physicality to make up for his weaker points. Verhoeff projected as something closer to the very top defense prospect back around the holidays, when he featured for Canada at the World Juniors. Instead, he was the fifth defenseman drafted. But this was the Sharks' area of highest need, so as long as he looks decently capable, they might have to throw him into the deep end to see if he swims.
That's the biggest news out of San Jose's draft, except for literally the biggest. With the 201st pick, the Sharks took a chance on Alexander Karmanov, who at 7-foot-1 would become the tallest player in league history by four full inches if he makes it onto NHL ice. A Penn State commit who spent his early years in Moldova, a country with zero hockey tradition, Karmanov is an impossible-to-miss presence who requires special equipment because of his size. My own proprietary scouting report on him says this: He's big. Anything more about his future as an NHL player is basically blind optimism. But nobody else drafted past the third round is getting half this attention, so good on him.
Did you notice Karmanov in that clip? He's the tall one.
