How surprising is it Grier confirmed Sharks will select Celebrini at No. 1? | Jay on SC

How surprising is it Grier confirmed Sharks will select Celebrini at No. 1? | Jay on SC

the NHL draft just over a week away we’re about to talk to Craig Button uh about his final Craigslist here’s one to five mcklin celebrini remains at the top and look at tjla all the way up to third after starting the year ranked outside the top 32 and it was funny because on Tuesday San Jose Sharks GM Mike Greer the sharks have the number one overall pick and he had a pretty interesting comment about Macklin celebrini at what point do you make that decision well first we’ll meet with Macklin and his family and if it is mlin did I say mlin um um we’ll meet with we’ll meet with them and uh see mlin I can’t I can’t really tell if he did that to mess with the media or if he actually messed up and revealed I mean everybody knew who he was going to pick Craig does it really matter so you’re telling me he’s picking Macklin did he mention mlin Macklin it was great I think you there C it was great and I think Mike having a lot of fun with it that I mentioned Macklin Yeah you mentioned Macklin and you’re happy to be able to have Macklin I mean you’re looking at a player that’s going to be a Difference Maker for the San Jose Sharks Will Smith has decided to turn pro Will Smith led the NCAA last year in scoring at Boston College just down the road on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston the Hobie Baker winner was mlin celebrini I believe this Jay I think that mlin celebrini Will Smith can be what uh Crosby and malcin were for the Pittsburgh Penguins for the San Jose Sharks and certainly mlin celebrini isn’t Sydney Crosby Will Smith isn’t Danny malcin but those two players are Frontline players top players that are difference makers and their players that you build around in the center IED position so for the San Jose Sharks to get Will Smith last year at four and now to be able to draft Macklin celebrini at one did I say Macklin yeah I did uh is going to be tremendous not just for the Sharks but for the fan base out there because mlin celebrini played some of his minor hockey in the San Jose Sharks uh Amateur Hockey uh system Craig the big surprise or the big story of your Craigslist your final one heading into the draft next week is of course T Jin going all the way up to number three on your list after starting the year outside of the top 32 he was terrific for the Colona Rockets this year but how did he make such a massive leap in your mind Craig and for those who didn’t get a chance to see him play in Colona uh how would you compare T’s game to that of his Hall of Fame father Jerome yeah well I mean there’s a lot there I mean te shouldn’t have been in anybody’s top 32 at the start of the Season he had played in Seattle he was a first round draft pick but Seattle was the Western Hockey League champions in the 20 2 23 season and then they made some Acquisitions that pushed him out of the lineup but what teas was able to do was be able to practice every day against really good Defenders uh with and against really good forwards which really helped his development it might not have been seen and it might have been behind the curtain but there was significant development there then he ends up in Colona and building on that development where it was largely unseen he just took off and you can call it a medor rise but as you continue to watch te play what you saw was a Mastery of the game in so many different areas we drafted Jerome mcin when I was with the Dallas Stars in 1995 and it it took us a while to to Really gain that full confidence in Jerome because Jerome like te there was not a lot of Flash and Dash to his game there was massive substance there was massive competitive fire a a smart player that could play in any single area of the game and when we drafted Jerome MCA a lot of people thought that we reached I he was rated 26 by Central scouting uh that year we took him at 11 and we projected him to be a 30 maybe a 35 goal score a power Winger that’s a pretty good projection for an 11th overall pick we were wrong we underestimated Jerome and as I continued to watch te and then I went back and started to look at some of the reports on Jerome I still have them I’ll share them with you next Monday when I’m in studio uh it was fascinating to see some of the similarities in in their approach to the game I think they’re different types of players you know you’re talking about 29 years difference between Jerome being drafted and te being drafted but the elements that are really significant to success in the NHL don’t change hockey sense Drive competitiveness a willingness to pay the price to get involved in the hard areas yes te can score but when you start to look at how much he just continued to meet every single challenge along the way you got to pay attention TJ Gill might not be one of those players that catches your eye with a lot of Flash and Dash but when you watch and watch deeply he catches your eye because he’s a player that can help you win when it counts the most the Stanley Cup playoffs and quickly Craig another guy who moves up Cole Eiserman goes from nine to five on your list US national team development program why did he make the move up the list and can his goalscoring prowess translate to the NHL I I think his goalscoring prowess can extend to the NHL and I think he’s the best goal scorer in the draft he broke Cole Coffield scoring record at the national team development program we beat up by one 127 goals he did it by scoring a goal against Canada at the u8 tournament in the gold medal match Cole Eisman he when when you watch him play he’s hungry to score he wants not only to put the puck in the net he wants to put the puck through the net I heard a lot of different things over the course of the year Watching Cole play oh he doesn’t do he do not great defensively he doesn’t do this his detailed defensively you’re not drafting him for defense you’re drafting him for his offensive abilities and as I went through it and I continued to talk about it and really what I did was is I talked myself into what I feel is the right way because Mike bossy went 15th overall in the 1977 draft and the same things that were said about Mike bossy then are the same things I heard about Cole Eiserman Mike bossy was clearly the best player in that draft a brilliant goal score that’s what I see in Cole Eiserman and it was easy for me to say wait a second here Craig he needs to be higher up the list goal scoring is the hardest thing to do in the National Hockey League he does it better than anybody in this draft in my opinion

How surprising is it that Sharks GM Mike Grier confirmed the team will select Macklin Celebrini with the first overall pick in the NHL Draft? How did Tij Iginla rise-up the draft rankings and how does his game compare to his dad’s? Will Cole Eiserman’s goal-scoring translate to the NHL? TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joins SC with Jay Onrait to discuss.