San Jose isn't even top 2 in California.

In my opinion, they are not. Ottawa, Detroit, LA, Anaheim, Edmonton, New York Rangers etc all have a better prospect pool.

Detroit, Carolina, NY Rangers, Anaheim, Los Angeles, Ottawa all have better prospect pools than this. It's getting better, but they need to rebuild to properly build it back up.

Shows how little you know about prospects...

I like 4-5 guys. After that it’s really meh . Huge fan of Eklund tho he’s gonna be a star

Keep in mind how good the sharks are at drafting in rounds 2-7. No team has more NHL games played than SJ in these rounds going back 2 decades.

Well let's just go through Sharks team rankings prior to this draft from well respected prospect pundits throughout the league.

San Jose Sharks - 29th - Dobberprospects
https://dobberprospects.com/organizational-rankings/
San Jose Sharks - 28th - Athletic - Pronman
https://theathletic.com/2005045/2020/09/11/pronman-2020-21-nhl-organizational-rankings/
San Jose Sharks - 24th - TheHockeyNews
https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-farm-system-rankings/
San Jose SHarks - 22nd - Athletic - Wheeler
https://theathletic.com/2229558/2021/02/09/nhl-team-prospect-rankings/

Dude, Kings have been rebuilding for 3 years of course I'm following prospects.

San Jose is pretty middle of the road in draft success

https://theathletic.com/2499520/2021/05/31/which-nhl-teams-have-drafted-the-best-and-worst-since-2005/

This is what happens when a team like the Sharks have been dominant or at least in Stanley Cup contention for so long. They end up with draft picks that are at the bottom and pick from the remaining bunch after so many teams had already taken their turn. They were in "win now" mode for the longest time, hence, the long-term contracts with past stars that have now shown their performance regression (bad side of the contracts). They were also trading their first round draft picks in the hopes of getting players that would push them to win the Cup. It was a gamble. General Manager Doug Wilson gambled. It just didn't work.

The Sharks are in purgatory. They're stuck with long-term contracts (Martin Jones was just bought out) and trying to build the next generation's core players i.e. Bordeleau, Eklund, Wiesblatt, etc. It's going to be a while before the Sharks are relevant again.

Ideally to me, I would get as many overall top 5-10 draft picks as possible, let them be farmed and simmer in the Barracuda/minor league level of hockey play until they're ready for the big leagues. The face of the team will change in a few years... probably the latest being after the 2027 season when Couture's and EK65's contracts are expired. We'll see how they do and how they're developed by then.

Is it wrong for me to want the San Jose Barracuda as a top notch AHL team in the coming years than watch having the Sharks be stuck in mediocrity/bottom of the league?

The Sharks' prospect pool isn't better than the Kings' and the Ducks' but it's good. I wouldn't say Top 5 but definitely Top 10. I'd say somewhere around 7-9.

I would put the Sharks firmly in the early teens. Somewhere between the 11-15 spots. Strait up middle of the pack. They'll need at least another 2-3 drafts in the top 15 before they crack the top 5.

The poster is also likely referencing a article from a guy using analytics to rate the sharks prospect - Its not a terrible graphic when you look at it:

All 3 California teams in the top 5 of this prospect pool rankings. I’ve been saying it…California hockey will rise again soon ⭐️😤 https://t.co/P0HPM1MJmv

— Annie OD⚡️ (@sweetannieod) July 30, 2021

(i just took the first tweet i found of the graphic)
Its not a perfect system - Like personally I would not rank CBJ that low.

I do think the Sharks have a top 10 pool but I mean

LA
OTT
CBJ
NJD
NYR
MIN
(not in order)
with SJS CAL ANA looking in IMO.

The system ranked the Sharks G prospect #1??? like thats a huge boost (so was Eklund).

Gaudreau is great and Melnichuk is good but #1? no shot. Dont even mention Chrona or Emond. (ALSO I believe I read this also counts Hill as a prospect??)

Sharks aint #1 and thats why the graphic kinda sucks or a better way of saying it is thats its a little misleading cause thats what jumps the Sharks into the top 5

I do think we have a amazing draft/ scouting team and a better pool than people think and as the poster said; our history of rounds 2-7 have been unreal.

I love my Wild, but there isn't a chance we're top 3. There could be an argument for squeaking in at #5... possibly.

There's also zero chance Toronto and Calgary are better than the NYR's.

That list is wack as f**k. Can't say I agree with it.

Edit: I would personally put the Sharks at 11 or 12. Eklund is your Kaprizov, and we only managed to crack the top ten once we added Rossi, Boldy, and Addison to our pool.

Yeah the ranking is solely analytics based which idk if that's ideal for prospects - imo its not the best way to evaluate kids with potential

I don't think we are top 5 YET but after the 22' draft I say we are. People will soon start to come around on the sneaky good later round drafting DW2 has been doing

@yikes The Ducks have a better prospect pool than CBJ, NYR, NJD, MIN and maybe OTT imo.

Because Zegras and Drysdale are both still rated as prospects since they're calder eligible.
Rangers Top prospects have graduated (Laf, Miller, etc.).
CBJ isn't better but they did have a good draft.
Devils is very good but Zegras > Holtz and I'd say Hughes and Drysdale are similar (+McTavish is also in that top prospect category) if we're looking at the best prospects. Minnesota does have a great pool tho and I think they're lower than the Ducks. Zegras > Rossi (imo), McTavish and Boldy are similar, Drysdale > Lambos, Wallstedt > Dostal but the Ducks have more depth after those (Perreault, Pastujov, Zellweger, Thrun, Groulx).
Ottawa has had a few graduates this season as well (Norris, Stützle, Zub and Batherson is definitely not a prospect anymore) but it's still a good prospect pool with guys like Pinto, Sanderson and Bernard-Docker.

So OP is referencing a random individual’s made up analytics to say SJ is a top 5 prospect pool. Makes a ton of sense and is also why analytics need to be taken a horse lick of salt. Laughable dropping Detroit 2 ranks below their prior ranking and having them behind SJ.

I think L.A. and Detroit are the only ones with a better prospect pool than Anaheim but maybe I'm biased.

wasnt rating really just a rough example - dont read into too much i gotchu!



i dont think its the OP's fault or anyones. I think its just a interesting ranking system - I don't believe the creator would even thinks its 100% accurate ( I mean prospects a very subjective at the end of the day )

Those stats are hugely inflated thanks to Pavelski's rise from the depths, as it were. I mean, yeah, historically we've done better in the late rounds than a lot of teams, but not *that* much better and it's not exactly going to balance that until DWJR took over we weren't exactly drafting super well in the first three rounds.

Ducks prospect pool is stacked

I wish they took Eklund over McTavish though

Bottom 3

Objectively and subjectively wrong

You will never get casual NHL fans to admit the sharks have a top prospect pool. Only prospect experts will know that because the media

I do agree that you guys have a good history of drafting in the late rounds, but I do not agree with this guys list what so ever. There is no way Toronto, Calgary, San Jose, Minnesota etc have as good of a prospect pool as some teams. I do think they have a decent one, but saying theirs is top 5 is a stretch in my opinion. Possibly top 10, but I would have to thoroughly look at all the teams prospects in order to say. And yah, sharks goalie prospect number 1 is laughable honestly. There are so many prospects that are better, but yah, it’s all opinion based. All the California teams have good prospect pools, and they all should have a bright future.