The San Jose Sharks have themselves a star, or so they hope. With the first pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, the Sharks selected Macklin Celebrini, a well-rounded forward who is viewed by many as an elite talent.
It's a return to San Jose for Celebrini, the son of Warriors director of sports medicine and performance Rick Celebrini. He spent 2019-20 playing with the 14U junior Sharks, where he racked up 94 points (49 goals, 45 assists) in 54 games as a 13-year-old.
Celebrini, among many accolades, won the Hobey Baker Memorial Award last season -- given to the top college player in the country -- becoming the fourth freshman to ever win it.
In his 38 games for Boston University (the runners up to Denver University for the DI championship), Celebrini tallied 64 points (32 goals, 32 assists) with a +25 plus-minus. He was second in points only to... Sharks 2023 first-round and fourth overall pick Will Smith (71 points), who played last year at Boston College. Smith, 19, signed his NHL contract earlier this offseason.
With Celebrini and Smith, the Sharks have a tantalizing tandem.
They also acquired the 11th overall pick after trading the 14th and 42nd overall picks to the Buffalo Sabres. This came after the Detroit Red Wings sent them veteran defenseman Jake Walman and the 53rd overall pick for what appears to be nothing in return, giving them effectively a free second-round pick.
With their next three picks at 11, 33 and 53, San Jose got outstanding value.
At 11, and in dire need of help on defense, they selected elite defenseman prospect Sam Dickinson. Dickinson a 6-foot, 3-inch who is viewed as having elite skating ability and massive offensive upside, especially on the power play. The 18-year-old defenseman played for the London Knights of the OHL in Ontario, Canada. He was NHL.com's seventh-ranked North American skating prospect.
But they didn't stop there. At 33, they took Russian left winger Igor Chernyshov, the No. 9 international skating prospect from Dynamo Moscow. The 18-year-old was a consistent roughly top-20 prospect by many NHL prospect boards. He tallied 28 points (13 goals, 15 assists) in 22 games last year for MHK Dynamo Moscow before spending 34 games with the pro team in the KHL, adding 3 goals and an assist.
At 53, the Sharks went back to the international well, selecting another highly-touted defenseman prospect in Leo Sahlin Wallenius, who sounds similar in many ways to Dickinson. He's an outstanding skater with offensive upside and reliable defensive talent. The 18-year-old was the seventh-ranked international skating prospect by NHL.com.
With their final four picks, the Sharks drafted the following players:
- Round 3, Pick 82: Carson Wetsch, RW (Calgary, WHL)
- Round 4, Pick 116: Christian Kirsch, G (Zug Jr., Swiss Jr.)
- Round 5, Pick 131: Colton Roberts, D (Vancouver, WHL)
- Round 5, Pick 143: Nate Misskey, D (Victoria, WHL)
- Round 7, Pick 194:
Most Popular
Comments / 0