A Deep Dive on the 2024-25 San Jose Sharks

A Deep Dive on the 2024-25 San Jose Sharks

right hello and welcome to episode number one of my offseason series offseason deep dab series uh today we’re starting with number 32 on my rankings and it is the San Jose Sharks and it this might be not surprising to a lot of people um the Sharks clearly have a long way to go but there’s definitely things on this team that I really like and we’re going to dive into that uh throughout this video but first of all thank you so much for uh first of all clicking on the video and watching it and uh hopefully you enjoy hopefully you enjoy the series um I also have a full explainer for my ranking system uh posted on Instagram so you guys can go check that out if you’re interested in kind of seeing the the methodology behind all of this but first of all let’s begin with San Jose’s offseason moves and it was a busy offseason especially the forward side for the San Jose Sharks first of all Will Smith and MN celebrini signing and presumably making the NHL roster that’s good like that’s a that’s a pretty big step for this team that’s kind of the the first move push of the the real youth movement obviously William eckan played last year but Will Smith M CBR are really like the main pieces of this core and it’s good to see them getting an opportunity and I think they’re going to fit in pretty well again we’ll dive more into the forwards more significantly in a minute but um they also go and add Tai Dandrea in a trade for a mid- round pick um I like the bet uh he hasn’t really proven to be anything significant in the NHL yet consistently but he’ll get opportunity so it works um they bring in Barkley good dra on waivers one to get them to the cap floor but also uh just as like a veteran to to come in um Carl granstrom and Alexander wenberg just kind of depth uh pieces there and then obviously Tyler Tooley who got the massive contract for the Sharks again to get to the C floor um but I thought that was a good buy too as for the departures Kevin leank who really fell out of favor with this team over the last couple years he’s declined significantly from where people thought he could be and it was just time to move on um Philip Zena as well was isn’t listed here but he’s somebody else who I was not qualified as an RFA who they brought in last year U Mike Hoffman um Alexander bar bonov and Ryan carp after just kind of depth pieces obviously Hoffman has brought in as a cap dump uh along with Mel gr last year and uh bar bonov and Carpenter just dep pieces similar to L Bank um so I think this forward cord has improved uh as you can see I think it’s significantly improved based on what they lost and what they’ve gained uh I don’t think there’s really much of an argument there uh I think it’s it’s significantly better than it was last season um defensively they add Jake wman and a second round pick in one of my favorite trades of the Seas of the uh the offseason really good value there getting Jake wman who’s really not overpaid it was very strange deal for AWA for Detroit eventually we’ll talk about Detroit and I’ll get into that um to their side of it but at least from the Sharks perspective it was a very good deal it made a lot of sense for them uh it gives them a stable body on defense didn’t cost them anything except for salary cap which they had to spend anyway um they lose jaob McDonald Cal baros and kayen Addison um Kaylin Addison I’d say this group is slightly improved and obviously Jake wman is probably better than all three of those guys combined but it didn’t really address their depth in a way I would have liked to seen I still think the B the back half of this blue line is very bad and so although it’s upgraded I don’t think they really did a good enough job upgrading it so they get slightly upgraded um obviously Jake wman is a pretty big addition but uh we’ll get into that again when we talk about the defense more in depth and fining goalies they didn’t really change anything they’re running the same tandem they did at the end of the year I guess I could have put VTEC vanich in here as was traded for at the deadline um for cop cochan I think that was an upgrade so they get that but it wasn’t an offseason move so it doesn’t fall into this one um so let’s begin talking about the coaching staff um Ryan rovski I have rated as a d and it’s hard for me to really rank him fairly uh obviously doesn’t have a ton of NHL um experience before this and the team he had last year is brutal so there’s not really uh a ton here for me to to grasp onto and say like this is why he’s a great coach this is why he’s a bad coach so I think D is kind of where I need to put him for now um this year I think it’s going to tell a lot more just because you’re going to have celebran and Smith in the system and that’s going to be uh a significant upgrade talent-wise he’s going to have you know competent NHL players this year instead of just like replacement level players all throw his roster so I think that’s going to help but uh overall I couldn’t really give him more more than a d which does add a multiplier to this steam it’s not just an F but I don’t have a card for this obviously um but again this is all it’s explained how much it weighs and stuff in the in the full explainer thing that I post on Instagram if you want to check that out but yeah uh it’s kind of like the lowest tier that adds a multiplier to this team um this year is going to kind of determine where where he sits more more or less than that but coaching’s fine I don’t really have much of an issue with it this team doesn’t need like a John torella right now um they just need somebody who’s competent who can help develop these kids so we’ll see if that happens this year so now we move on to the forward core and this forward core ranks 32nd um overall in the NHL and the main reason for that and I need to kind of this is the caveat that I need to put over that because I don’t actually think they’re the 32nd uh worst their best forward core I actually they’re slightly better than that um but there’s three players on here that aren’t that don’t factor into giving this team a rating and that’s their three prospects um mostly Will Smith mckin celebrini who uh obviously are going to be or at least they hope are going to be in the bees by the end of this season um but they just they haven’t played in the NHL yet so I can’t rate them um the whole thing is rating them based on on like what they’ve done in the NHL over the last couple years there’s nothing there so it’s hard for me to to give them like a projection because it’s supposed to kind of be uh like the worst case scenario basically and the worst case scenario is that neither of them make the team and they they don’t factor in at all so that’s what you see at the moment um but obviously Amy ma celebrini is my number one overall pick um in this year’s draft uh as he was for pretty much everybody people have talked about his his hockey sense his two-way ability it’s it’s all been documented very well um I think he’s a much needed spark of um two-way ability on this team and it’s going to be a big help uh Will Smith same thing I had him a bit lower than where he went in the draft I still think you know mitkov was the better pick um in that spot but it’s fine like I I still really like Will Smith and again I think he’s kind of a very good match for for mlin celebrini he’s going to kind of add that that extra spark of offense and give them a good running mate for for the next like decade they hope um and then Tyler is the other player I’ve kind of highlighted here uh the big free agent signing for this team their most expensive free agent signing very good veteran pce who’s still a super competent hockey player obviously we saw that in Winnipeg we SE that in in Montreal a couple years ago he’s you know the the Calgary New Jersey experiments were um not as productive even though Calgary wasn’t bad but it just didn’t work out as well as as they probably would have hoped but he’s still a super good player I really liked how fley B+ for me is their highest rated forward um and yeah I think you know putting him beside celebrating and Will Smith gives them uh you know that veteran kind of guy that they need and the thing that I like the most about what San Jose did here offensively is they’ve placed not just veterans but they’ve placed like veterans who can eat minutes around these guys and that’s important because like if celebrini steps in and he can’t be your number one Center eating 20 minutes a night you have somebody like Mel granin there you know if if Will Smith can’t eat 20 minutes a night you know you have Tyler Tooley who can do that right like um even Willam Eckland who proved that he could take that jump next season uh or last season so that’s kind of the the thing I really like about this team is that they’ve put guys around them that maybe aren’t first liners right CU like I don’t think anybody’s going to see and say Mel grin TI ful are first line players but they’re guys who can play in your first line and just eat minutes right they don’t have to be like Elite at it they just have to be able to do it and not completely fall apart right like they don’t have to they can do it and not have their confidence get shattered because they suck um and you know that’s what and even Logan Kure right if he plays um this year that’s that’s a big that’s a big addition too right that’s another veteran that you can throw in there um who can play in the top six if you need to if you need to give one of these young guys a break you know throw them on a third line for a game you can do that and I really like that about this sharks offense um obviously f um Willam Eckland took a big jump Blaster he finally got that fulltime NHL role and he looked pretty good in it um we still have a B minus expect him to get a bit better than that this season um Mel granin was like the real standout performer for me for this team last year um obviously he was traded as part of the Eric Carlson trade just as like a cap dump and man like they kind of just threw him to the wolves on that first line and and he he showed up like if he was if this was the last year and I was doing this he probably would be like a c right like he’d be a full letter grade below where he is right now but he had a really strong season um and I expect maybe not the same production but I expect a similar um like output in terms of of play and and kind of more of the underlying stuff uh obviously his his role is going to be diminished a bit with celebrini and Will Smith coming in but at least offensively but I do expect him to to still be a very competent top six um forward and it’s unfortunate because I think that he would be a pretty trade Target um at the deadline but sound as they can’t eat any contracts so that’s kind of out of the question I don’t think anybody’s training for his full salary but he he’s going to be a very good veteran kind of guy for this for this team too and he’s proven that he can play in that top that Top Line role and make it work um f be souland is kind of the last piece of that Top Line um that is is there and he’s shown strides tooo of grow of development it hasn’t been as fast as maybe some people would have liked to see but I don’t think you know I think he probably grades at the most at like a BB Plus anyway so yeah I mean he’s he’s he’s good in that role and he’ll fit into this top six as kind of a really nice complimentary player and especially now the the core is really starting to come up I mean eckan Smith and celebrini is really the the top of this lineup phoe and Southerland can kind of like move into almost that Tyler tooles role where he can be kind of a really good secondary option and make that work pretty well um other than that I mean Alexander wenberg I like is kind of a a bet to throw in your in your bottom six and again like wiberg’s another guy who if they need him to can move up into this top six and play for a bit right like he gives that security blanket um Behind these young players and I think for for what he’ll be used for it’s a good fit um Barkley good even is somebody who can you know maybe maybe not move up into a top six but can play on your third line um if you need to shift guys around he can play you know he can eat some minutes and not be completely useless um at least not in terms of on a bad team right obviously if you if like the Rangers might have a different um opinion of him and obviously he’s the only deal on this roster and I think that’s kind of the the the overall thing here is I actually I actually think this team is pretty deep um and that they have some good pieces it’s just a lot of their young pieces are unproven and that’s a ways down their their overall um obviously Nik stm’s there I love Niko Sturm um one of the better defensive centers at least he was a couple years ago obviously he’s he’s not entirely there yet or there still but as a fourth line Center I like it um and then tidal Andrea uh as I mentioned before is is kind of the guy they took a bet on and took a flyer on and he’s somebody else who might creep up into this top six at some point right and it’s good like I like the direction of where this defense is going or where this offense is going rather and yeah they’re ranked 32nd and a lot of that’s because of having three players in your top nine who aren’t getting rated um and two in your top six uh and that obviously is going to weigh down your your overall but I like the direction of this team I think it’s significantly better than it was last season and it’s going to be fun like I think San Jose’s offense is going to be fun to watch I think they’re being a lot of high scoring games for reasons that we’re going to talk about soon and I think this offense is going to have a chance to really prove itself and to really see if they can take that next step and uh I’m I’m here for it I think at the end of the year we’re talking about a team that you know is going to be in the maybe the mid 20s offensively by the end of this season right so that’s kind of my my ceiling for them maybe is that they end up like 25 26 by the end of the year um and I think that’s a that’s a positive movement obviously right like they significantly upgraded their offense and they’re still the 32nd best offense in the league so that kind of tells you how bad it was last year and how disastrous it was last season um last year when I did my um my season predictions I said that they’d be a really fun lovable loser team they weren’t they were just bad and I think this year you know try not to make the same prediction twice but I think this year could be the year that we see them be the fun lovable loser team where they’re super entertaining um but they’re going to lose a lot of like four or three games and this offense is going to be a big reason for that at least on the fun side so moving on to the blue line um it’s also ranked 32nd I just have less nice things to say about this blue line um we’ll start with the good and the good is Jake wman who they got for free and immediately becomes what I believe is their best defenseman um he’s somebody they know they can put on the ice for 25 minutes and just let them eat minutes up um and maybe not be very good at it but be good enough and you saw that in Detroit couple you know over the last couple years is that he can do that it might not be you know at playoff level but he’s somebody they can just throw out there know he’s not going to completely fall apart and be fine and Mar Ferrar is kind of the same boat right he’s another guy who they can throw it for 20 25 minutes and just let him eat minutes right like he doesn’t have to be great he just has to be competent and they have two of those right and I think splitting them up is is a good decision that’s how daily face off has it right now and I agree with that I think keep them apart as much as possible because you need guys who can eat minute right if they eat both eat 20 minutes a game that’s 40 out of 60 Minutes that you have covered already with you know somewhat competent defense on the ice um the problem is everything after that um you know you look at this this blue line and their next two best defenseman are Mark Edward flask and Yan Ruda and that’s tough that’s not very good and that’s really where the problem is here because we talked about the offense and you know how how a lot of the the offense was filled with young talent that I was really excited for right like Will Smith and celebrini and and even Eckland and zerland and you had all these guys in your top six that were just super energetic guys who could take huge leaps this season that doesn’t really exist on this blue line there’s nobody here that I’m looking at and saying yeah that guy he’s going to be the next first line defenseman on this team right like he’s going to be their their their anchor for the next 10 years and it’s not there yet maybe Sam Dickson becomes that but he’s not playing this season so this blue line is going to be kind of a disaster and this is why I only said it was slightly upgraded because like obviously Jake wman makes it significantly better but I mean everything else around him is just like Henry Thorne shouldn’t be a number there shouldn’t be an everyday defenseman Ty emberson shouldn’t be an everyday defenseman Mark Edward vasic maybe shouldn’t even be an everyday defenseman he grades the C minus cuz I think he’s slightly better than that that D tier but like we’ve seen him decline massively over the last couple years that decline probably continues this season right like Yan Ruda even like if he’s your your sixth defenseman or your fifth defenseman even you know maybe you’re you’re looking at this team as a lot better right but you know if if Ruda and vasic is kind of your bottom two defenseman then sure like there’s there’s something here but there’s just there’s too many holes on this blue line for me to to believe that they’re going to be significantly better than this I don’t think this team moves up much from from 32 and there’s going to be a defense we talk about pretty soon that’s ranked very lowly or ranked very low that has all those um young pieces and that you know that excitement there’s really no excitement here there’s nobody on this blue line that I’m like I’m really I really want to see what he does this season outside of maybe Jake Wallman because it’s a new situation and it’s fun but there’s not much else here that gets excited about this team and that that worries me and obviously they tried to address that with you know their second first round pick this year but this team definitely needs defensive help um I actually wonder if there’s a possibility that they could orchestrated trade with like a Montreal and acquire one of Montreal’s defensemen um because the Canadians are just overflowing with young defensemen that’s kind of an intriguing thing for me but other than that like there’s really not a whole lot here that I’m super excited about and you know wman struggled a bit last year I think his his underlying numbers are probably going to go down even more because he’s going to be asked to play Such extreme minutes with really no help around him um but yeah I mean marro has been good for a while but he’s somebody else who they could trade at some point this season right so he’s been kind of involved in trade rumors for a bit so yeah I don’t see his buan getting much better anytime soon and finally we jump into the goalies and this technically is their best ranked position group so it’s the the strength of this team um which I L as the forwards but the goalie tandm isn’t bad like I don’t think it’s it’s terrible and it’s serviceable for what they’re trying to do right now Mackenzie Blackwood and V van um Blackwood really had a kind of a Resurgence last season where he had flashes of being like a competent starting goalie um and there was flashes where he just wasn’t and like a lot of it has to do with the team in front of him um at least a good chunk of it has to do with the team in front of him and I don’t see that changing a whole lot over the next like year um because this Blue Line’s kind of a disaster as we just talked about uh but C+ from Mackenzie Blackwood um is fine it’s like a really low-end starter kind of like better as like a 1B solid backup kind of role um and Tech vanage is a fine backup um I think a lot of you know teams would be happy with him as their their backup option but I mean there’s not there’s not a whole lot to talk about here the neither of these players are in the long-term future of this team um they’re just kind of here to to fill the fill the slot up and they’re serviceable for that right like I don’t think this is a like it’s obviously not the League worst tandem um that I have ranked and it’s fine right like it it it does what it it’s supposed to do and I think that’s kind of the theme with the San J sharks this year is that for the most part the team is set up to do what they’re going to do they’re going to be bad they’re going to be a bottom five team it’s going to get them another top pick and hopefully they’re more fun than they were last year right like you let the kids develop at least up front and that’s kind of the focus on this season right the defense and goal tending just it is what it is and we go from there and I I appreciate that that’s the role that they’re going into you know like they clearly they do not care about winning this season and that’s that’s fine right like not every team it starts the year looking to win a Stanley Cup right like the goal for the S sharks this year is to not lose not have two 10 game losing streaks and to develop the forwards that’s it right like the defense and goal tending will deal with later that’s basically what this team said and yeah the tandem’s fine and I think you know like maybe there’s a chance that Blackwood gets moved um at some point and you know we see one of the the younger goalies come up uh for the Sharks possibly um we’ll see I think there there might be a market for Blackwood especially if he has another strong start to the season but yeah I I mean that that’s kind of the Sharks uh you know overall 32nd in both forwards and defense 27th in goal ending it’s not a good team that’s that’s pretty much it right like this team has no Stanley Cup observations this season um as for a prediction I think last in the Pacific is pretty strong I could see them maybe sliding up to second last um if we see a huge jump from the forwards um I think saying sixth in the the Pacific might be a little strong I think there’s too many good teams ahead of that but like sixth would be like the absolute cap for this team I think in in the Pacific they’re most likely a bottom five team most likely a bottom three team and uh it’s going to be another tough year but hopefully the kids can come in and develop and play well and it’ll be a little bit easier for the fans because they’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel or at least start to see the light at into the tunnel there go that is the Deep dive on the San Jose Sharks um yeah hopefully you enjoyed hopefully you’re excited for this series if you did leave a like let me know what you think of the San Jose Sharks roster let me know if you think they are the 32 ranked team in the NHL because I’m interested to kind of see how your um rankings would match with with mine and yeah thank you for watching and stay tuned for number 31 cuz it’s coming soon have a good one

A full explainer of the methodology behind my rankings can be found on Instagram.

timeline
0:47 Offseason moves
5:39 Forwards
15:05 Defence
19:33 Goalies