Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith vs Everyone. Who Would You Rather Have?

Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith vs Everyone. Who Would You Rather Have?

with Will Smith and M celebrini locked into San Jose Sharks for next season who would you rather have looking at other young forward combos around the NHL you’re locked on sharks your daily podcast on the San Jose Sharks part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello welcome to locked on sharks the premier hockey podcast covering your favorite team in the Bay Area my name is JD young caretaker at The Reef also the co-host of Western Conference Tuesdays on locked on NHL Network want to thank you for making locked on sharks your first listen probably part of locked on network recover your team every day if you want to be an everyday or all you have to do is just follow on wherever you get Podcast or you can watch this on YouTube as well and today we’re going to uh look around the NHL to try to find which young forward combos you would rather take over mlin celebrini and Will Smith uh so we’re going to start out with some kind of rules and kind of the thought exercise look at you know every team and see what who has players that qualify uh who which player teams maybe just don’t have enough guys to kind of make the cut and then kind of other teams where you can make the case uh for it so before we get to all that do want to let you guys know that today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more as playoffs are now finished uh the Sports Stop sporting like we want them to but this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long visit fanduel.com to get started all right um idea I’ve been kind of cooking up for a little bit here and you know with mine celebrini who’s going to be 18 uh when the season starts or who’s 18 right now and Will Smith who’s 19 sharks have one of the best young young uh forward groups you know at least Duos combos whatever however you want to kind of pairings however you want to put it um in the NHL and I thought well who who’s got it better than us um right now and looking around the NHL like I I kind of wanted to to stack him up and put him in tears and um kind of see who you would want and there’s players a lot of the players we’re talking about are going to be better players this season than mlin celebrini and Will Smith and that’s to be expected as two teenagers make their first ride into the NHL um but you know like it it helps you kind of see I think how special the Sharks Duo of of celebrini and Smith could be so some rules I kind of tried to go by was um only looked at forwards again right I didn’t do like a forward defense pairing um you know it was forwards only um guys who I expect to play in the NHL this season right um so you know if you just drafted like like Montreal right just drafted Ian demov demov is not gonna be playing the NHL this year right he’s going back to to Russia um you know like Columbus you know t K lrom right K lrom is probably not GNA be playing in the NHL so I was looking at guys who I expect to play in the NHL this year and I had to pick a a a cut off age right and I picked 23 and under so if you’re 24 and over like you’ve probably already established yourself um like you’re you’re not like you’re you’re going you know we kind of know what you’re going to be expected to be so those are just some rules they’re very arbitrary um you know when I first was doing it it was like elc’s only but then it was a lot of teams were getting not qualified etc etc so it kind of went to age 23 right I figure that kind of gives you a nice like grouping of the Young Guns uh at least when it comes to the forward so let’s start by looking at teams that just didn’t qualify because uh right they’re just don’t have enough young players so you have the Canucks the Bruins the Kings which I was a little surprised uh you have Byfield but then it’s a lot of older guys who kind on in the Ford Department the lightning of course um the blues which again they’re kind of in a little bit of a they have a lot of younger Fords but guys who are just kind of over the cut off H the Jets the Avalanche the Penguins the Islanders who don’t let anybody under the age of 30 play with them uh the Panthers and the Oilers so these guys um none of the they didn’t really have enough guys to kind of qualify for this exercise and if you notice a lot of these teams are teams that you either competing for Stanley Cups or you know usually kind of very good teams right um I think everybody in this group with the exception of the Blues and penguins made the playoffs last year um and thank you for the Penguins uh for that 14th overall pick so in the blues if they had beaten the Sharks once twice couple times uh they make the playoffs but those are the teams that just don’t qualify so let’s get to kind of my next tier of guys uh and these are they qualify but come on uh so you have the PRS with Luke Evangelista and yok Kimmel like they’re nice young players you know but like we’re not anywhere in this same ballpark here right Maple Le Matthew n Nick Robertson uh the Nick Robertson experience might even be over with with Toronto and right there their core their core four is a whole different thing so um the golden knights you have Brendon bran and Alexander Holtz who the knights just got Holtz from the New Jersey Devils but Brenda bran has been kind of a guy who hasn’t really been able to establish himself as a NHL type player and then you have the Caps uh with pus and McMichael again all these guys are nobody’s really kind of in the in the same ballpark as what we expect maon celebrini and Will Smith to be with with those groups there so um you know it’s it’s very much seen you know that’s that’s basically half the league here right um between the guys who don’t qualify um so you have one two three four five six 7 8 nine 10 11 uh 12 13 14 15 so almost half the league here it’s kind of already just wiped out because one they don’t have enough young guys to qualify um and two they are if they do have young guys like these guys are kind of not really in the same sphere but if you look at a lot of these teams right these are a lot of these teams are teams who are kind of playoff caliber teams uh you look at a team like the PRS who are kind of pushing all their chips in right now to to try to win they’re very aggressive in free agency uh the Maple Leaves who you know drafted really well but never been able to kind of get over the hump uh the golden knights who trade away all their young players right um you know this this pick that they picked in the the 2024 draft with Trevor Connelly this is their only first round pick in a a four-year span right if you go back to David edstrom who they drafted last year they traded for Tomas hurtle and then they traded away their next two picks one to the San Jose Sharks um and then the next one to the Calgary Flames so they they are a team who’s going to not have um you know basically any of these young players kind of coming up through their pipeline but that’s just how they operate right they are a win now type of Team they’re going to continue to be aggressive with trades trying to acquire top tier talent and then hopefully figure things out as they go along and shed guys as they kind of become not useful right um and then the Caps who are in a weird state of uh they’re just a weird team right because they are going to do whatever they can right now to get Alexander oetkin his scoring title and then I think after that happens and once he retires then they’re GNA probably blow things up and probably rebuild for real but right now they’re they’re if they get to the playoffs they get to the playoffs but right now they the whole thing is just try to be competitive enough for Alexander oetkin to to kind of be a uh at least a th you know a threat every night to score so um yeah really interesting kind of going through this and just it was a good opportunity for me as I went through this whole process to kind of see where where teams are kind of at and which teams are kind of rebuilding where they’re kind of at in their their life cycle so uh we’ll get to kind of some of the teams that uh my two I have a okay maybe kind of group and then I’ve got a you’ve got one group so we’ll look at some of those teams and then we’ll look at finally we’ll look at the teams who can make a legitimate case and we’ll kind of go through through those here in a little bit more in depth so um but before we get to that let’s go ahead and take a quick break I love sports I love them so much I never want them to stop but as the playoffs wind down we get fewer games and the sports aren’t sporting like I want them to but FanDuel lets me keep the sports going whenever I want all I have to do is open the app dream up bets anytime I’m in the mood this summer FanDuel is hooking up customers all summer long um you get boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long to head over to fanduel.com and start making the most of your summer FanDuel official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball all right so we kind of looked at the teams right they’re just there’s aren really a chance these teams are kind of uh like they’re they’re in a different part of their life cycle um which is fine so this next group was a really weird group and it’s there’s only two teams on it but they’re really weird teams um to be honest and we’ll look at the okay maybe group um and that’s the wild who’ve got Matt baly and Marco Rossi and then the Sabres we have Zach Benson and JJ petka so both these guys both these teams are kind of in that like creamy middle we might make the playoffs we might not make the playoffs um Baldi and Rossy are both like good players you know um but you’re easily taking celebrini and Smith over both of them right um if you just stack up all four of them right you’re taking celebrini Smith before even before he get to Baldi and Rossy and right now I know Baldi like these players are both better players than than the uh celebr and Smith are right now but like you’re banking on the unta potential with with with celebrini and Smith and what you’re expecting them to be um over baly and Rossy and again I love I love both those players I think they’re both great players I love to have them on my team um but like nobody like if the wild called up and said we’ll offer you baly and Rossy for celebrini and Smith micer is going to hang up the phone and just laugh for the next like 20 minutes so um the Sabres you have again kind of that Eternal rebuild team are they ever going to make the playoffs type of scenario with Zack Benson and uh JJ PKA as their two guys I love both these players right um Zack Benson I know um a little bit smaller but like made an impact last year in the NHL and JJ petka uh who I thought the shark should have drafted in 2020 instead of ozie weisblat has had a really solid start to his NHL career and again kind of the same thing right both these guys are better players I think than than celebrating and Smith right now just because they have NHL experience but again if the sabr caught up and offer uh both them for celebrini and Smith my career again you know he’s he’s going to put down the phone and laugh for the next 20 minutes so um yeah those guys are good players and again with the Wild and and the Sabers are just kind of weird teams that you’re just trying to kind of figure things out with what they’re they’re they’re trying to do and what their future is and um you know you look at like they have stars you know like C Kil capris off legitimate NHL Superstar right um and you look at like the defense from the sabes right they have a bunch of great pieces there but again just looking at the forwards uh who are under 23 and who expected to play in the NHL I’m going to take I’m gonna take the Sharks guys here right now so uh the next next group of players are is like you’ve got one guy but maybe kind of missing out on on the other guy so hurricanes have Seth Jarvis and Bradley NAU uh n had a really really nice seat for you know kind of freshman season College a bit of a surprise for him to come out but Seth Jarvis is like amazing you know um Seth Jarvis is going to be you know like a potential 40 goal scorer every year and has really established himself kind of from the GetGo as as a legitimate scoring threat and part of this Hurricane’s next core or kind of as they’re they’re continuing to to figure things out and they’re in their kind of I guess Championship window who knows with with this team they’re kind of going through some changes right now but Seth Jarvis is a you know he’s going to get paid a big contract for a lot of money for the next you know seven to eight years and expect him to live up to that contract because he’s really really good prob NATO do um you know he’s going to be a potential AHL NHL guy kind of gave him the benefit of the doubt just for this exercise that he gets in especially with kind of all the changes and the way the Hurricanes draft and develop I’m sure he’s going to be a really good player but um you know even if like you just kind of compare right celebrini and Smith to Jarvis and they do like it’s it’s pretty easy there um the Rangers Alex say lafer and cppo kako which you know both these guys were very highend you know uh first or second Pi first or second overall picks in their drafts um and lafin has has figured things out and Capo cako just doesn’t seem to be able to kind of yeah right like you’re kind of waiting like you thought it was he had his breakout season a season ago and then he kind of took a step back this year and now he’s potentially trade bait as a kind of dangled out there and you know like you can kind of make the case okay like even if if lafer was was you know like as a first overall pick would you rather have him or melini I think with cini’s allaround game I’m taking celebrini and would you rather have cppo kaco or Will Smith I’m taking Will Smith right now just because again like we we’ve we’ve seen kokako you know have a really good season kind of maybe start to have that breakout process but it just hasn’t kind of come together for him so uh with the sends you have Tim schel who’s like on his way to be a legitimate NHL Superstar and then Shane Pinto who’s put together some nice Seasons but also you know um got into some trouble here and like again you could take like say stel and you know like between the two like okay St and versus celebrini I mean I would personally take celebrini but like you can at least make an argument between the two and you know as a third overall pick from the S but Pinto vers Will Smith like I’m taking Will Smith every day all day so um you know and and then the Flyers here kind of the same thing right M Mitch crau is in the same boat as we expect what we kind of expect from him um you know we expect him to be really really good but Tyson Forester right solid kind of start and I think the the Sharks upside here is just way way too good so even if if mitchoff who was the seventh overall pick in last year’s draft Will Smith was you know a lot of sharks fans wanted mitchoff over Will Smith um and that’ll be a tightly debated thing between the next between here and Eternity and especially if uh mitchoff turns into a superstar and Will Smith has you know just doesn’t turn into a superstar um you know there’ll be a lot of shks fans who said they should have picked mitchoff um but again you you that’s who knows with with Mitch coff and behind the scenes stuff and if he just said I didn’t want to go to San Jose um etc etc but we can let that we’ve we”ve had that argument a thousand times but just comparing the two right um even if Mitch covin uh if you compare mov Will Smith and you give the edge to will to mitkov there um you’re taking celebrini over Tyson Forester every day uh every day of the week like it’s it’s not close so and nothing against Forester he’s had a great start to his NHL career but like the Sharks just again and this will be interesting too because with mitchoff kind of H the ground at the same time as Will Smith um both in the same draft class to kind of compare those rookie Seasons to see how how they go um I think the Flyers are going to be a better team as we you know they definitely exceeded expectations last year but um you know I think though like still you’re taking celeb and Smith and um like it’s it’s not particularly close like you could you could give me the the Mitch COV over Will Smith but I’m taking cbrady over whatever else you can come with up with with the Flyers so um we’ll get into kind of teams and um who can actually make a legitimate case here and so these will be really fun we’ll kind of go through some of these guys and you know kind of make a case of who you would rather have and yes a lot of these guys have played NHL games right now um they’re probably NH better NHL players but looking long term as well you know we’ll kind of make the argument for for each one so uh we’ll get to that here in just one second all right let’s finish up with the you you can make a case so there’s actually several teams here who uh so it’s exciting to see a lot of young teams uh with a lot of young potential uh on their on their roster so let’s start with Utah who has Logan kie and Dylan Gunther um both these guys top and picks um kie and Gunther but you know uh kolia kind of bit of a it was bit of kind of a back and forth with him coming out Gunther who kind of originally made kind of like uh eckan made the team out right out of uh his draft here end up going back and playing um in the W for a little bit but um both these guys are are young exciting Dynamic players um you know and I think there’s been a little bit even the verse you know y like like sovi debate um that happened from a couple years ago like kulie is still really like these are both really good players um I would give though you do have the nice like Dylan Gunther as a wing uh while both the Smith and celebrini project project project to be um centers um so you might give a slight Edge this year but like in two years it’s probably going to be celebrini and Smith just because again if they both pan out to what we expect them to be um the Blackhawks of course Conor Bard and Frank Nazar um so this one’s really interesting because Bard who was the number one pick last year generational Talent right um so you’re gonna give him the slight Edge compared to sabrini right and cini is thought to be a franchise player maybe not a generational Talent like Conor Bard but Will Smith versus Frank Nazar like I think that’s pretty easy Will Smith between the two and I do like Frank naar a lot um so like you kind of want now if the Sharks and now if and if the Blackhawks had gotten demidov and they demov was coming over and you had Bedard versus demidov versus celebrini vers Smith that would have been that would have been a very interesting one so um I still like Nazar probably still is like a really high-end three like a really highend 3C or a good 2C I still think Smith has like a really highend 2C potential especially if celebrini is the onec that we expect him to be so um the Anaheim Ducks this was actually had to kind of make a choice here between um there so I went with Leo Carlson and cutter goer because I thought the comparison was more interesting so you have Leo Carlson who was the second overall pick in last year’s draft the same draft as Will Smith and who played last year you know dealt with some injuries so we didn’t really kind of get the full taste of it um but you know like a lot of people would like you would have an interesting conversation between Carlson and um celebrini if they were in the same draft class I would still go um I would still personally go celebrini of course I’m going to be 100% bias here as I’m a sharks fan uh but I really liked Leo Carlson of last year right he was one of the guy like if the sharks had gotten Leo Carlson I would have been super happy with him um you know kind of come getting the getting him at number four then you have K go um who is played with Will Smith um put up a bajillion points uh I know K go had a but better um you know scoring like he scored more goals he’s also playing kind of firstline minutes maybe not the same Talent around him um at uh Will Smith a former fifth overall pick like it’s really close between those two guys and I think that’s again that’s why the sharks have that’s why I always I’ve been saying like the Sharks need to kind of build to compete with the Ducks because the way the Ducks are putting this thing together um especially down the middle and this has even include Mason mavich who you could also include into this argument um like this is why the sharks they they’ spent a lot of time put getting quality pieces kind of in the in their program here um so it’s pretty close um you could like I I slightly lean sharks just because I think celini is going to be a touch better than Carlson especially at his 200 foot game like a full his all-around game but you could see like cutter Go versus Will Smith if that’s a draw um that’s what you’re hoping for so uh yeah that that’s a again and that’s in your own division that’s in your backyard right there with with the Ducks so um Red Wings you have Marco Casper and Lucas Raymond uh Raymond who’s gonna get himself a fat contract this year um is already on his way to being a a great great player Marco Casper I think he’s gonna be a really really good player but I don’t know if he he’s got like that next level potential that I think that you you could see um with celebrini Smith I’m I’m going San Jose between those so Blue Jackets Ben Tilly and Kent Johnson so fentii versus celebrini that’s hu that’s right that’s that’s been a big thing is who uh who gets kind of the nod between those two that’s going to be very interesting because they’re kind of very very similar players so we’ll just say for the sake of the argument we’ll say it’s a wash Ken Johnson and Will Smith kind of similar players I think Ken John’s a little bit more um like I don’t want to say Dynamic but a little bit more kind has a little bit more Pizzazz I think but I think uh Will Smith’s game but he’s also struggled to you know kind of stay in an NHL lineup and yes I know the Blue Jackets have been a bit of a mess um not that the sharks are in a much better spot as of right now but I I do think that uh like you could make a really solid argument here but I do think the Will Smith versus Kent Johnson I think is Will Smith’s kind of a little bit of the the difference there between the two so uh well if antii and um celebrini kind of cancel each other out I think the Smith vers Johnson um slight Edge to to Smith here so I’m gonna take that and you have the Kraken with MD baners and Shane Wright now matd bers and uh you could say MD B and like mat bers has had a really great start to his career um you know won the cder his rookie season I think a little bit of a step back as a team took a stepb last year um you know but has played his way into being a full 200 uh foot first line Center for for the Kraken and kind of you know much like what you expect celebrini to be I think Matty bers is is kind of done that I still think CBR has a higher ceiling than bers but Matty bers has become everything you’d want from him and more right Shane Wright is an interesting player because of right expected to be the first overall pick slid down to Fourth um has he’s had a bit of a weird development path right with playing in the OHL and then playing in the AHL and playing it like he’s played on what four teams in one season um was able to play in the AHL was awesome in the AHL last year and I think is going to make that full jump to the NHL next year um you know and again this is right in your backyard with the the tracking and what they’re building um and both these guys project to be centers like bers if bers is your onec and Shane W’s your 2C like that’s re like you can that’s a really nice comparison to what the sharks have with celebrini and Will Smith um so yeah I’m gonna kind of go with a draw uh right there uh between those those ones so um yeah it’s kind of a draw so then the Canadians you have EUR slavkovsky and Co Coffield Coffield kind of barely makes the cut uh Sosi who was the first overall pick in his draft year but if sovi and cini were in the same draft CBR goes first um Co Coffield though like um the Coffield versus Smith like comparison is gonna be interesting I think Coffield is a much much better score but I think Will Smith is probably gonna be a little bit better player so again I’m leaning sharks there just because I think SOS savovi ver the gap between savovi and uh the gap between um celebrating I think it’s that you’re you’re going celebrating so um stars you have Wyatt Johnson and Logan stankoven so this one is interesting because both these guys were kind of late first round picks but like why Johnson blew up last year right and and turning and you saw in the playoffs just kind of turning into like an absolute Superstar um for uh for the Stars but like both these and logus SE koven like had a really nice AHL season played really well in his kind of NHL season quiet in the playoffs which just kind of to be expected with a 21y old making his F like kind of NHL you know he kind of hit that wall I think of playing NHL games and kind of playing that many games but um I would be you’re still betting on like the draft pedigree and stuff like that why Johnson Logan say Co have had you know really great developments and you know if you rid those drafts those guys are going way way higher but I’m still picking uh picking picking the Sharks guys so uh one team I did forget to kind of put on the list that’d be the New Jersey Devils um and they have Dawson Mercer and Jack Hughes and Jack Hughes is like awesome and you will Smith is is very much like that is kind of the what you expect you’re hoping him to turn into is a Jack Hughes like player um and then Dawson Mercer has been awesome as well um with celebrini and you know like that I think you go slightly slight slight lean towards um The Devils just because of Jack hughes’s You Know Jack Hughes is the like Will Smith ceiling that’s like what you’re hoping him to be in while I think celebrini is better going to be better player than Dawson Mercer um again there’s just so much uh so much you’re hoping on for Will Smith to kind of Be Jack Hughes Jack Hughes is already Jack Hughes so um yeah that’s it’s that was a tough one there and that team is drafted and and developed a lot of young young players and stuff but I think though this gives you a good look at like I think how special the Sharks young players are between Will Smith and M CBR what you’re projecting them to be him yes most these players are going to be better players than celeb and Smith their first year but in the next couple Seasons um you can see where where you expect these guys to kind of rank among the NHL’s Young Guns you know and with them being 18 and 19 PR time they get that 23 age 23 that’s four or five years for four years basically for these guys um they’re going to be on their second contracts by then like they’re easily I think going to be in the upper upper echelon of anybody in the NHL let not you know let alone Young Guns but just anybody in NHL I think no you’re GNA be celebrini and Smith com to compareed versus everybody else like you’re you’re GNA take those two I think on most nights so um that’s going to be it for me today we’ll be back tomorrow of course we’re going to do uh look at some goalies at sometime this week try to find a a third goalie for the Sharks a guy who can kind of play those play AHL minutes if you need to play some NHL games here so look at some potential options there uh we’re going to do some winners and losers of free agency here as well then we’re going to start diving into some of these sharks uh new draft Pro uh prospects and kind of get to know their games a little bit more uh so make sure you follow along wherever you get Podcast and of course you can watch on YouTube as well follow the show on Twitter Facebook and Instagram at lockon sharks follow me on Twitter at my fry hole till tomorrow bye friends [Music]

With Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith signed, which National Hockey League teams have a better duo of forwards than the San Jose Sharks? Start by setting the rules for who is eligible for the exercise, which teams do not have qualifying players on their roster, which teams can’t compete, and how most of these teams are viewed as playoff-caliber teams. Then, look at how some teams have players but nowhere near the caliber of Celebrini and Smith, or they can only put up one player worthy of competition. Finally, the teams with players of the same draft stock and skill in the NHL this year, and if the Sharks have a better tandem than their best young gun forwards?

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