Dickinson on Why He’s 2024 Draft’s Best D-Man + Our Sharks’ Free Agency/Prospects Scrimmage Reaction
welcome to the San Jose hockey Now podcast I’m Shang Pang editor and chief of San Jose hockey now you can also find my work at MEC shs and on Twitter at Shang Pang and I’m keeg MCN you can find me on Twitter at hallor hockey at my website half-wall hockey.com or at San Jose hockey now this week the good vibe sharks are back we have uh a very special guest joining us on the podcast or joining Shang I I should say we have a player interview from the Sharks development Camp Shang sat down with San Jose’s recent number 11 overall pick Sam Dickinson of the London Knights you should stick around to find out why Dickinson thinks he’s the number one Defender number one from this draft class the best defenseman from this draft class um but it was a huge hu huge week for San Jose that’s the the headline um we have our free agent reactions uh the opening week of free agency we um talk a little bit about uh some of the signings including grundstrom and delandria we um talk about what the Sharks might still be looking for in free agency um I’ve heard some stuff Chang has some thoughts and some sources um and we also talk about the um recent hirings of assistant general manager Ryan CL the uh coaches dug Huda and Jeff hmer new coaches new assistant coaches our Dev Camp Prospect scrimmage reaction which is the meat of our episode I imagine we’re just going to talk about hockey for probably 30 45 minutes so but I’m most excited that I don’t have to talk like this for the whole episode yes no more Chang is not on an airport bathroom anymore sure was very exciting it was airport lounge it was airport lounge it was an airport bathroom mhm it was um the weirdest episode we’ve done in a bit so I’m happy that it’s back to normal I’m also don’t sound as awfully sick as I did then so what a what a strange episode and also a pain to edit but that’s a different story anyway yeah exactly the the Vegas really got to both of us all right so the sharks made a few um free agent signings this week and um to be honest to be perfectly honest I was shocked by one of them I just did not see Tyler tooli coming to San Jose I don’t know why it was just not on my radar what did you think sh same thing we did sort of a mini frequency preview in our ASMR airport lounge Keegan stuffy sickness episode yeah and we didn’t even mention Tooley and I never put him on my list because I just thought why would this guy want to come here and it turns out that he has obviously moved around a lot the last couple of years I think he’s been on like five teams the last two three years right something like that MH and so he was looking for looking for a home and it turns out that his wife cat her her family her parents are still living in Monteray so so home is really home and he has w sing cups obviously with the kings in 2014 and so he’s not chasing the cup maybe like somebody who has not won a cup and so it just kind of worked out perfectly and he’s a guy that is really everything that the sharks need he can score he from everything I understand I wrote an article and you I don’t always write articles this glowing but everybody I talked to about Tyler was absolutely glowing about him and about his the standard that he’ll set the example that set for the kids on and off the ice how he is in the room and obviously he can score he has scored over 20 goals eight times he scored over 30 goals three times and two of those 30 goal seasons two of those three 30 goal seasons have been the last two seasons and so he’s pretty much everything that the Sharks needed um and I the only guy that I thought could be better in terms of that combination not just scoring but leadership was stamp Co and I don’t think that was ever a realistic tget for the Sharks and I reported I don’t think the Sharks even reached out on Stam coast and I I’m sure they did some kind of fillers and like okay this guy’s not going to come here so there’s no reason to really really make an effort for him so anyway so really as perfect a free agent that the charters could assigned I know there’s some drawbacks right the contracts a little long and there’s no no movement clause for four years there you don’t love that for a 32 year old but Bakers can’t be choosers here right like nobody is signing a no nobody is is is signing or he’s not signing a shorter contract with San Jose he can get a better contract elsewhere that is shorter and whatever right but if you want to lock lock down a guy like this you got to give him I think I don’t know what you thought I I thought maybe it was like a year more and maybe a million aav more than he would have got elsewhere and he got the no movement here but I think that it’s a worthy gamble the I guess the last year he’s he’s at down to a no trade with like a 15 team or 15 team trade list that was a complete no move every year that’s what cap friendly has in the the waning hours of our cap friendly usage um so so it’s it’s three years of no movement yeah and then the last year looks like it’s a 15 team tradeit list so okay get a little bit of flexibility the end there to try if you feel like you can move him um but yeah I do wonder how effective he’s going to be in that last year given his age and everything he’s not super old but getting up there yeah umild with this game though that he is not a great skater and he’s never been and so he makes it a lot with with smarts and being in the right position right he’s got a great shot too and so those are things that might survive a couple years from now yeah it’s kind of like the pavelski model right where you good shot smart obviously but yeah um and you’re not not a burner so you’re hoping that it’s just going to carry you through from your to your later years until you drop off like jumbo where it’s like you can no longer be on the same you know level yeah or even like with pavelski right in in the playoffs recently yeah but I did love the signing I think it was what they needed um to inject a little bit of Veteran leadership and not just like veteran fourth line leadership like veteran top six player leadership which is something they didn’t have um coming into last year really um other than like grandland and and all that so there’s um and and he plays the right way it’s not like we’re getting another Hoffman not like we’re getting a you know Kevin lank it’s like you said it’s a guy that people respect in his game so I liked it I was not uh disappointed with that I just was surprised mostly yeah I just was surprised that he would choose to come here but like we mentioned there was they they kind of got lucky I think with number of circumstances also too that he is represented by Pat bran CA who also represents celebrini and so I think that there was a little bit of sort of okay I I don’t know this for a fact but it makes sense that there sort of the idea of okay that I can be a mentor and I can be a mentor for the number one pick I’m not just being asked to be a mentor for a bunch of random younger players but specifically for the number one guy there’s there’s a certain I think how do you say it uh there’s a gravity to that to that job right and so I think I I think that that could have been appealing to to Tyler and um yeah we we’ve been saying for a little while they needed to add a scoring Winger and um this was the one of the better ones that could get on the market so right but not only is he one of the better scorers but he’s also one of the better room leader type guys too and I think that’s that’s what’s really important I did an article I think a couple weeks ago about bio candidates right and I the number one thing on my list wasn’t how many goals a guy could score or how good a player he was but what he could add to the room and so to find a guy that does both is I think so important for the Sharks team that was missing that last year um and we also mentioned that the Sharks might be I think we did this not not last week but the couple of weeks ago we looked at the free agents um before the draft at some point um that they might be interested in kind of like a um some more Center um Insurance oh insurance right yeah I think uh what I wrote a couple weeks ago the or I also wrote another article about sort of positions that the Sharks should be looking at and they they filled a couple of them one was to find scoring second was to I think it was fine oh no actually you know what I think one thing we’re a little bit wrong on was we said kind of a gritty scoring Winger but those went off the market quick Dakota Joshua never hit open market y I guess they weren’t that interested in Stephan n they but I didn’t know that Tyler to fo was available to them so yeah you know we did suggest sort of like a Steven stos type where you give stos like two years and like 10 million right and just come and lead the kids right and toi is is not quite Stam close but sort of a version of that where you overpay for a guy but he’s the right guy and I think Toole is the right guy even if he’s not quite as good at Stam Coast he’s a little bit younger than Stam Coast so there’s a there’s a plus there but so he’s definitely the right kind of guy there and I think the second thing we we talked about was well a defense right which we’re going to talk about yep and another thing we talked about was a cure Couture insurance guy and and the Sharks delivered um so guess it’s worth mentioning the to fly contract I think we already said it was 6 mil by 4 years uh we also signed um 29-year-old Alexander wenberg to a 5 million by two-year contract uh which is a little rich but he is a center and he does play PK and he does a you know he has a little bit of scoring offense so there’s scoring upside I should say so I think there was a little premium but it’s just two years though so the premium I don’t think is in the years right it’s in the a which is definitely fine for the Sharks because that’s one thing that I think we’ve both been suggesting that give Brady Shay a ridiculous amount of money give Steven SOS a ridiculous amount of money for a couple years and see if they come and they both took longer contracts elsewhere so I don’t think that that would have worked on either of them but I think that that’s a good approach though and so if you can get sort of I think tooi is close to like a a caliber free agent in this market if not a b right and wber is sort of a a high C or a B minus or something like that and so if it worked for these guys then it then it’s good and wber the book on him is he is a very defensively conscientious Center he can be a little bit perimeter offensively people I I talk to think that he could be better than he is and maybe we saw that in that one year he had 46 assists for the Blue Jackets early in his career I think he had 59 points that year and he’s ever quite match that and so he might leave you a little wanting on that part of it but he’s going to play hard he’s going to be very sound defensively and the sharks are looking pretty good defensively if celebrini comes I mean I mean I’m sorry they’re looking good at Center we’re talking granin celebrini wber Sturm hopefully Couture maybe Smith mixes in there too and it’s not a badl looking Center group there no that’s like not you know that’s kind of what we said last year but in fingers crossed that you know turns out a little bit better than last year’s um but but yeah that that’s and they all kind of slot into a um like I wouldn’t say grandin’s like an amazing onec but he’s like passable I guess and then celebr is probably a passable 2C right now maybe hopefully yeah hopefully we’ll see and we’re also penciling in wait before he’s even signed as LC so um later but he’s gonna sign it Shen has Shen has thoughts um and then wiberg’s kind of like a good 3C and Sturm seems like a great 4C so it’s like maybe we’re getting a little bit of good Center deps going oh yeah you’re getting you’re getting there wber is was could be a 3C on a he was on the Rangers Conference Finals team actually got to look how much he he he played for them if he was filling the 3C role yeah but we know that Sturm was a stallion Cup Final winner as of 4C and so you have one of the things that I guess we we’ll get to it too but my career has really done a very nice job of sort of building a solid bottom six mhm and that’s what you can do kind of what the sharks can do with their with where they are competitively with their assets and that sort of thing right they’re not going to reshape their their first line or their top six that’s going to be too hard you’re not going to get Steven stos to come here you’re not gonna get a bunch of you’re the very very best that you got one of them in Tyler Foy to come here is I think a minor miracle into itself yep that’s why when you and I were talking we were saying like oh maybe they’ll bring in Stephan n that was our I was shooting for in terms of my like high-end guy that I thought the Sharks maybe could learn I predicted toille terrain right and I actually didn’t think he would come and you didn’t think so either right and so you got somebody that of that caliber of that range I think yeah in different kind of player than terrain but still of that range right and maybe even more perfect than Terra because tley is kind of a pure goal scorer which do not have whereas herine has bit more of a playmaker obviously better skater than tle so are small differences in their game that actually suggest that maybe TFI is better in some ways though Teran is younger so I know there anyway there’s a there’s a good uh I think uh ma match up between those two guys if you want to say which one is the better fit for the sharks or whatnot but anyway though we didn’t never even consider T foi and if you look at it everything with T foi is is perfect that you can add a top six guy like that and then the bottom six we’ll get to in a second but bottom six is so much better than really actually this might be the best bottom six that the Sharks i’t looked hard at this but I’m pretty sure this is going to be the best bottom six that the sharks tried out since their last playoff team because the bottom sixes for the last five years have been awful that’s big part reason why the sharks have missed the playoffs because they’ve have some of the high-end players though right over the last five years Carlson Burns coutur hurdle but their bottom sixes have been mostly Anonymous I remember a couple years ago right a bottom six our third line that was great in 2017 but the sharks are still throwing throwing them out there was Neo Bonino and cogliano a terrific third line in 2015 really that that would have been that would have been a Stanley Cup caliber third line a Stanley Cup winning caliber third line but not so in 2022 yeah it’s uh it was the stars and scrubs model for a while there um not that nto was a Scrub but you know well the Stars weren’t as good and then the well and they weren’t scrubs but the the your bottom six guys weren’t as good either so so your scrubs were scrub than before and they weren’t scrubs at all before because Nick bino was at his best ideal third line center it’s perfect Andrew kagano at his best in Anaheim fast could pop in 15 goals I Dre third liner yep so I don’t want to discredit those guys at all but by the time Bob bner was using them as a third line he really had no choice because who else was going to put out there for a a reliable third line people threw out names like I don’t know who was nol Gregor or who else was was around yolam blickfeld terrible no no way and so Bob did work with what he had there I’m not putting it on Bob but just those guys had lost a step each each of them I think had lost a little bit of a step so yeah now we’ve got bottom six of you know dandre grundstrom Goodrow wenberg um I don’t know who else we got Nico Stern yeah wber by the way wber did not score a lot in the playoffs so okay he only got he only got a goal and an assist in 16 games but he was aing 60 Minutes a night for the Rangers so they they kept trusting him uh through throughout and so that sounds like a third line center to me and that’s very good third line Center then I bet he was playing a lot of penalty Kil to that probably pumped up those minutes yeah um same with goodro so yeah it’s looking better it’s looking more competitive more well-rounded I would say um the we should drop in right now uh that grun strum and delre were signed for two years too and then we can talk more about them yeah that’s a uh somehow we’ve been lost in this week of news because we just had so much Shar so much Sharks news we had uh delandre signing a 2year uh 1.3 million aav contract and then grundstrom signing a 2-year 1.8 um aab contract uh delandria expires as the RFA and grundstrom expires as a UFA so uh fourth line bottom six guys but um good ones right like have been regarded as good fourth line or bottom six guys right and I think there’s some thought that Grunst might be able to play up into the third line maybe I’ve heard that from a couple of people and actually if you look at his he’s only played I think the last three seasons he’s averaged 50 about 50 games of season and his his goal numbers are not bad for that and I think over I think I did the I I think I I calculated over his last three seasons if he had played 82 games he would have scored 15 goals so that’s a pretty good that’s actually a pretty good third line number he’s a guy that has a pretty good shot for what I understand doesn’t always doesn’t always hit the net so not the most accurate of shots but it’s hard and so that’s that’s something that that works for him too but anyway I think overall if you look at this bottom six for the Sharks it’s it suddenly makes a lot of sense we have a gadr oh let’s start with a centers you have wber and Sturm right as your third and fourth line Center potentially right Y and then at Wings you have cadro who I still think actually can contribute more offense than he did last year with New York New York have sent him down to the fourth line we talked all about g a couple weeks ago when the Sharks first acquired him how Peter Lavette really sunk his usage and made him a a defensive start defensive Zone start guy in a very extreme way that I think obviously submarine is stats quite a bit in previous years the last two years before this past season Gad was averaging 13 goals and I think 20 assists each year and so sure that’s that’s a valid third third line those are valid third line numbers and so you have G on the wing cunan who I think at a third line role I think can pop in 15 he’s done it before I think that if you overextend him and you don’t give him proper line all kinds of things right that I think kindon had to deal with I think somewhat unfairly but he’s playing Center when he shouldn’t have been right and and so I think that with let’s say playing with a wenberg maybe if there’s if there’s some chemistry there I think that cunan can score 15 he’s done it before he scored that pace before and so that makes sense he makes sense on your third and fourth line the landrea right is Young so there’s some upside there he is sort of a ideal third fourth line player in terms of just his his work ethic and so this really starts to make sense I mean i’ I’ve mentioned I think three Wingers grundstrom cunan oh four of them Gad and delandria who have been bottom six players on good teams yep on playoff teams and so this is great I don’t know what else what what else to say like I I I expect we’ll talk about in a little bit but that it’s going to be I I expect a much better product this year and I I guess I’m I’m happy I think the uh people that will um the only negative thing people have to say is that people and this has already been kind of the case will be pushed out because there won’t be a lot of spots on the team come up so we can mention that eigor AEV who was acquired in the Azie wise blat trade um to Nashville has pretty much already decided he’s not going to play for the Sharks next year and then go to the KHL instead of trying to compete for a spot given the new uh additions to the Sharks yeah I still trying to track down the Sharks new or not before because it’s it’s not a great look but I will say though that even on the surface that deal looked weird right because true even though aie has a little more Runway aan of was a point per game player in the AHL and he was only a year younger than Aussie he was a 2019 second round pick I think he was 45th so he was 14 slots behind Aussie so it’s not like yeah Aussie is a first rounder in name but that’s there’s a 15 pick difference between them and only a year difference right and you have a guy that’s clearly an AHL star player versus aie who hasn’t quite achieved that yet right and so predators were banking on you know a little more Runway Aussie has one more year on his ELC right Evan was a free I might be saying his name wrong never learn I guess I don’t have to learn to say his name anymore he’s on the reserve list for till the end of time I imagine but anyway though he was RFA and so you get a prospect with run who did play very well for Milwaukee and like I mentioned in a story that uh executive who watched the series closely told me that he thought actually that Aussie was Milwaukee’s best player in the in the Coachella Valley Milwaukee series and so okay so full credit to Aussie there definitely a little bit of more upside than we thought when the Sharks loaned into Milwaukee and sure really throughout the season when he was being scratched or playing fourth line minutes so credit to Azie for that but still on the surface though that’s still kind of a seem like a weird trade and so now it makes I guess a little more sense that the Sharks well they they have probably a more talented player in a in vanv but obviously a guy that is not going to play for them I think I think that’s going to be for a couple years he’s goingon to be in KHL at least that’s what what I was told and maybe in a couple years maybe he has Good Seasons there and maybe he’ll come back to the Sharks we don’t we don’t know uh there’s a little more talent and there’s a guy that you can leave on your reserve list that maybe something happens maybe in a couple years he can help you whereas wi spot even though with extended Runway right like it’s hard to see Azie being better than like absolute stealing is a third liner more likely a fourth liner right more likely an energy fourth liner and so even with this news it’s still uh acceptable deal I guess with the sharks but I do wonder about how much the Sharks knew about if say have any his status I gotta check in more on that part of it but to your point though about guys competing for jobs right it is a it is a good point but if you’re let’s talk talk about some of the guys that I think are most affected by this news right aan of was one of them for sure he led the Admirals and goals and points last year he’s 23 he’s 6’4 he’s a power guy so he’s not like a guy that maybe the Sharks would like that had a chance right but anyway though other guys affected by this he’s obviously gone so it doesn’t matter but C Luan bordo right those are the guys that really let’s assume that eckan and zedin and toi are pretty safe they should be and so yeah that’s that’s gonna be kind of kind of the the question there it’s goingon to be a little tough on guian because gan gan is still waiver exempt so that could be tough I don’t know if he he’s going to be happy going down but that’s sort of the situation that you know you want to take uh you want to take a top six job or you you better really take it right and however however good I do wonder about this with um this is this is sort of non-related but like Gan should have been up for I didn’t say it throughout the year because I was trying to learn more about it but in now I I’ve learned more about it there’s no reason for Hoffman to have been here all season Gan should have been in that spot really from before the trade deadline before they had that four four AHL spots thing so I can say that now so I don’t I don’t think that was handled great by Mike if not Gan and bordalo who did eventually come up and take one of those four AHL call up call up um uh spots post trade deadline but yeah so so I think I think there was a little bit of opportunity missed there for a guy that that was very good for Barracuda last year now the Kush get had to get better though because I will say that as good as gusin was last year with barracuda y he wasn’t so good that it was blowing doors off in my mind I don’t know about what you thought of it but he definitely deserved a spot over SE Hoffman I don’t question that I’m not aring that anymore but yeah and Le bank I would say and Le Bank yeah yeah there’s definitely yeah yeah if Quinn wasn’t going to play Le bank then he may as well have just called up guian there but and that’s a little bit on on Mike too right there too that that part of it so but now though yeah the competition is going to be a little stiffer and there seems to be if everyone stays healthy and we don’t know what’s going to happen with Couture so that’s another Factor too obviously because Couture in theory lines up for a top six spot if he’s healthy but you can look at the negative part of it of of guys maybe someone getting pushed out here obviously bordalo is not waiver exam coming up y but um yeah so we we’ll see I guess let’s run their names really fast I’m just I want to refresh my memory so I guess it could C Boro Gan graph though I’m very I’m pretty sure graph’s going to AHL based on what I saw last year he comes back and gain 10 pounds of muscle or something like that uh who else anybody else out there that you think Smith Smith’s got to make the team cbr’s got to make the team you know oh well celebrini we were given a center spot so right so so so so Smith is in there so that is a lot of guys right so that that would be interesting but you know that’s this is good in the long run though may it may lose you a guy like Boral or gusan but it’s good in the long run yeah I think it will be it’s tough because I know that Gan is put in a lot of work and I know I know you love and I love Goose um he needs to be I we said this he needed to be stronger and quicker though I thought that I thought that at the beginning of camp and he did have a good season and so he showed that he was better than a year before but yep I um I I like how far he’s come I just want that next step anyway that’s it’s uh just something to look out for I think in in training camp is yeah the guys that are waivers exempt and we’ll I’m sure we’ll have more project like once free agency is really done and once if celebrini signs then we’ll have like some projected rosters coming out and we’ll give it a good thought to see if there really is a place for cushan and bordalo on this team or not it has bordo as waivers exempt right now but I wonder if he will lose it oh is he well that’s what again waiting hours of cap friendly say um that he’s currently waiver exempt but I wonder when he loses maybe maybe he is yeah because I I thought with his contract that or I don’t know maybe when he signs I guess we’ll we’ll see I had to double check on that one it looks like he needs 43 more games mhm to become um eligible for waivers so 43 NHL games or 43 just NHL games NHL games and then okay all right I think I think that’s no that’s wrong 117 games he basically he’s going to be waivers exempt um next year I think so okay should be so he might be going down too well he’s a guy that could use a little more time I I would say too even though he did show better in his sort of last 15 games there but he wasn’t so good that we saw eckan right really kind of take on a really bad team of course but eckan really solidified his spot besides being the seventh overall pick a couple years ago but m really took his game to another level in the last couple months right but bordalo also took his game to another level but it was at kind of a unexceptional level before and so it was it wasn’t as impactful as ecklin obviously and so yeah so bort basically has to come back better yeah better than even he was at the last month of the Season where when he did show that he was better than before but got to keep raising that level and so I’m not sure we we’ll see really excited to see what buan and bordalo bring in a couple months at cap because yeah for sure yeah I um I do really wish that the the CHL transfer agreement would allow Quinton musty to be in the AHL but we’ll talk about that when we talk about the scrimmage yeah nothing nothing do about that but I haven’t really looked at the Sharks lineup though with all these Acquisitions their forward group is actually constructed in a decent manner yeah yeah last year I had admit I I fell for like the name guys the guys that a lot of a lot of goals that sort of thing right true Bank Hoffman duclair all all these right Baron all these guys right but I really like this construction a lot more and one thing that that I’ve paid a lot more attention to this this past summer uh or this this off season I did I’m doing a better job of of getting Insight uh in it is the locker room stuff and I think that last year if if I had asked the people they would have told me that that locker room was not going to be great and and and even though guys got along and they were positive and seeking ship last year they weren’t necessarily the guys that you wanted around your William ecklin and guys that were gonna be going balls out all the time you had granin doing that but now with longer grin you have Gad you have delandria you have runr you really added to that and so I I really am overall impressed by what one Mike has done with sort of the limitations here’s a question I I think I it’s been a hard week to follow everything and I remember somebody mentioning it um at some point about Goodrow but have we heard from goodro yet we actually had like a word from him to say yes I’m coming to San Jose I know that somebody said they expect him to be here but that’s all I remember reading yeah no we haven’t heard from gadr yet but it’s the the more time pass it seems that there’s more confidence with the sharks that everything’s going to work out Tyler defley mentioned in his introductory press conference that he had actually spoken with Barkley cill a couple of days before he signed and I don’t know why they’re hanging out or or or whatnot but they were hanging out and I think tooi was kind of picking tampering but tooi was was was I think the possibility SS had already been approached with with toolan so he was picking the Dr control’s sort of experience with San Jose and living in San Jose and that sort of thing right and it sounds like whatever Barkley said what there’s nothing bad there and Tyler said in his press conference to us that yeah he’s confident that Gad will be will will be ready we will be here come training camp and I’ve said this all along that I think that Mike career is showing could a lot of respect by trading for his or I’m sorry claiming his entire contract and giving him this very very important job of basically training up leading the next generation of sharks players your Will Smith and your and your your mlin cbris here and so I I think that g is is going to come around I wasn’t worried about it when it happen and I’m still not worried about it and so we have not heard from him yet and I wonder if maybe we won’t even hear from him until training camp I’m not really sure I guess it would make sense I will follow up at some point in this summer and ask hey we summ it’s August from BR drill you want to check check up on him and see if he wants to talk to us because I’m sure sharks fans would like sort of that statement like hey I’m coming I’m excited about this sorry it took me a couple weeks to kind of get uh get over it recover a little bit because I’ve been so successful on such such successful teams over the years but I’m really excited about this challenge now that kind of feeli right would be good for sharks fans to he but I think overall though it’s what we know about character and how he plays and what and that sort of thing that’s not it’s not it’s not a concern yeah just interested yeah making sure he’s alive um all right um with the last thing that we were pretty sure that they were going to do was add a defenseman mhm and I remember saying I don’t think they will add one on free agent day only because I just think that they were going to get scooped up but a lot of them did get scooped up um but who are some guys that you think are still out there and and they might be targeting I guess this is the time for your Whispers that you’ve heard from people oh okay well I think that they are looking for a veteran defenseman specifically that was a specific phrase that that was mentioned to me and so I think this might elim eliminate guys like uh Adam Bist sure sort of these buyou slash not qualified guys that young guys High picks Maybe some sing upside left Eric branstrom I don’t know if they were ever in on I’m not really sure about that but so that that leaves we’re talking about veteran defense left on the market right I’m not quite sure what type that they’re looking for is it more of a puck mover like a Ty Tyson Barry or Kevin shaten kerk is a more of a two-way guy like Mark jedon or Ryan Suter I will say that jodon and sud I’ve sort of checked in asked people that know them or have known or known of just League sources on them right and one guy told me that he thought that jono wants to win still and so that maybe the Sharks won’t be that appealing to him I’m not really sure so sud I I I wasn’t sure I know there were Whispers before of him not being great in the room and maybe being a little me me right and I thought that might have change in Dallas but one source tells me that maybe that hasn’t quite changed so sure I’m not specifically sure if you you want him there so anyway I had predicted that I thought jir Dono would be the Sharks would sign him and this was before I talked with with with that Source about maybe what what Gio actually wants with sort of the the rest of his career or the next year of his career right and so if J Donald is looking a hook on with a contender that maybe you know maybe that’s why he’s still on the market but he still does sound like a lot of ways what the Sharks could use I know a lot of people point at the fact that he’s 40 but and we talked about this last week but you just need to get another year out of him and get maybe 18 minutes a night out of him and he still is a hard willing Defender he still can move a puck so there’s still things to like about him you just can’t use them like you used to be able to right you can’t play him 25 30 minutes okay and he’s going to get beat sometimes he’s going to look bad sometimes I’m sure but I think that the overall package that he off off including the leadership the room stuff right I think is still it could still be appealing to the Sharks and so anyway I’m not saying it’s only a guy like a jono I wonder maybe they are going to look more at a puck mover type like a Barry or shaten Kirk they could use that obviously on kind of a second power play unit after Walman perhaps but I do think that they are looking the rest of this Market I think Justin Schultz is another guy that’s out there trying to think of anybody else that that’s out there that kind of fills that I wondered if they checked in on Nate Schmidt who signed in Florida I don’t know but anyway those are kind of guys that maybe could kind of fit that profile that veteran defenseman good in the room and maybe can get middle pairing minutes out of them still I don’t know I thought maybe John kingberg would be an interesting one oh right right you mentioned that um kingberg famously I guess or not so famously turned down like a massive contract extension with Dallas 2 years ago where it was like $7 million by 7 years or something big and then went and signed a like oneyear deal um with the Ducks uh for 7 million and then signed a one-year deal after with Toronto for 4.1 and now he’s out of a contract so instead of like $50 million he got about 11 million um right guaranteed money so I wonder if he’s chasing another contract with some money behind it not that he was great for Toronto like only play like 15 games didn’t he only played 14 games uh five assists and then um didn’t return to form the year prior either with the with the Ducks so I wonder if he’s out there or available or what’s going on um I don’t know his like health either his injury status but somebody that like has a history of um being a buck mover right so um and if they really wanted to um they could um they could give them a big payday if they felt like they needed a puck mover so yeah the defense still does need the the defense doesn’t look as deep as as forward obviously look at the names on there wman and Ferraro kind of head your defense right now you hope Henry thr you hope muku Mulan they’re right there right you still have rudol lassik and Benning and emberson too Tai emberson so I guess looking at that mix I think he still kind of I couldn’t tell you exact what the Sharks need on defense they need everything still yeah they need better Defenders yes yes they need a they need a number one or they need a first line of defense they need a first pairing they don’t have a first pairing they have basically maybe one or two mediocre second pairings and then some third pairings yeah they got a maybe a middle pairing there in far and wman I don’t know if they’ll play together but just like the caliber player those guys are I think that they they can pass as middle pairing but for sure though and of course there are no top pairing guys out there right now y if the Sharks were interested in a defenseman they you know they they they didn’t invest in anybody out there and as far as I understood I don’t know if they were really in on I checked I checked around I think it I did a story about sort of free injured Whispers I was hearing and most of them were were guys that sharks weren’t in on or maybe that the contracts or dollar figures Mike mentioned that that just some of the the the the contract figures just didn’t make sense to to them for what they thought of the player and so they’re going to they’re kind of scraping kind of bottom of the barrel here for for somebody so but they can use still use somebody though for sure though unless they have that much confidence in a mukad Dulan or a thrund stepping up but that’s a tough spot to to to put a young player so I think they could use a little more insurance I do want bu badan to play in the NHL I don’t know how we’re going to make it happen but but I feel like he had the year in the AHL he did great he had that little tiny cup of coffee with the sharks he looked good I just I think he’s going to get time I wonder just how much time he’s going to get um is kind of a my big question but I think he might be ready well he’s he’s less blocked by right now and I I I think he might be too I think that it it’ll be interesting to see if they do sign somebody or acquire somebody and what what profile it is right because if they if they AC let’s say a more defensive guy a jiron a guy that’s not necessarily at least nowadays a power play guy then that might suggest a little more confidence in a Muk Mulan if they pick up a Barry or kingberg then okay that kind of tells you because those guys Barry and Kingo if they’re not on a power play I’m not sure how much they’re helping you right Y and so that I think will be telling who they if they pick anybody up and and what kind of profile that player is and the log gy has definitely been worse on D before I think last season or the season before it was like how do we have 11 Defenders right now we have 11 bottom pairing Defenders how do you figure that out right what the hell so I think injuries always happen so that’s another thing to keep in mind is there’s always going to be an injured Defender like just somebody’s going to have an injury it doesn’t you never know could be blassic could be Ferraro somebody will have an injury so there will be time for Mulan I’m sure to get some some minutes I think they play like two of the three young guys most Knights like they’ll play two of thrun um mug Mulan and emberson I think that’s I think that’ll be kind of the norm I don’t think all three will see time unless it’s a very injured night right at the same time but yeah well I mean we’ll see about that that part of it it’s hard it’s hard to say on on some of some of that like the usage and stuff right yeah but it is important to keep in mind thr is uh waiver exempt as is Mullan so could be a similar thing happening at the end of training camp where we’re all right right right A lot of it I think will also depend on how healthy Matt Benning is right so we’ll have to see about that true yeah another injury concern as well anyway um all right so you’re saying maybe they get one more Defender I think so I think I I I think they’re looking that’s I I I I’m fairly sure about that whether or not they get the guy that they want the market obviously is thin right now all the guys I mentioned are guys that have seen their best years great players before but I’ve all seen their best years so we’ll see okay second well I don’t even know third topic of the night um I’m turn my head a little bit so I got to talk to my dog a little bit but Mushu let us know what’s what’s your feelings Mushu what’s going on today um so the sharks made a few um um hires including um assistant general manager a name you might remember Ryan CL um noted uh cheater Ryan CL if you’ve ever seen the play where he plays the puck From the Bench uh a very famous Ryan K moment a great hockey player great shark for a very long time and actually just a name I I did not realize 2012 that’s what it was I did not realize was like I I’m sure he was in hockey but I just realize that he was actually like you know having a role um before he was hired as the assistant general manager of the Sharks just cuz it’s hard to keep up with all these guys um and yeah and uh I think it’s an interesting um hire for the sharks um we let’s talk about him first and then we’ll get into the assistant coaching hire what have you heard about Ryan CL and why he decided to join the good vibe sharks because that’s what we are we’re bringing back the good times with Ryan right and uh trademark JD for coming up with director of Vibes Joe thoron got to give him credit I don’t think people online are giving him credit for that I would like to say yes JD I was right next to JD you’re there when heed that I I would say I actually said Vibe director first so I’m gonna take a little bit of credit but JD asked the question yeah I said Vibe director first but JD asked the question and uh he was wait are you accusing JD of stealing your idea from you tell J that no JD should get the credit cuz he he asked the question I just said vibe director I’m all I’m all for podcast B look at look on the you can check the tape there’s a voice in the back that says Vibe director and it’s not JD it’s me oh is it really is that really I did not know that y did you guys come up with at the same time is this your no like he was he was saying like what are we going to call and um Mike G just said just Vibes or whatever and then at the very end of the question before we move to the next question I just said so Vibe director and he went Vibe director that sounds good so I’m not I’m again I’m not stealing it cuz I think JD deserves way more credit for that cuz like it’s everywhere the NHL tweeted it out um there’s like shirts now and I’m like I feel like there’s a question of ownership and that we may be headed toward the Kendrick Lamar Drake Feud for Sans sharks podcast what do you think no no I think JD should get the credit cuz he came up he came up with the vibe portion of it I just said Vibe director and also they’ve changed it to director of Vibes so it doesn’t really you know I’m not trying to give myself credit but listen to the tape it’s there conspiracy there is it’s there it’s there it’s a conspiracy theorist um all right well credit to JD then so yeah well let’s give credit to JD on that one and Keegan but mostly mostly JD mostly JD okay and Keegan it was an awesome moment I actually it’s funny that everybody ended up tweeting that out because like just fun to see Mike G smile sometimes yeah well he’s had a lot to smile about over the last month so that’s he has yeah one of my favorite moments from the draft for sure but on CL though I think the best part of it was that I don’t know if the Sharks will learn their lesson but if you if you know how things are set up at the practice rink right basically there is a an area like a raised area platform or whatever where all sharks management can see what’s going on on on the practice rink right and fans probably can see it but they got to get at a certain angle it’s a little hard for fans to see from lower right but it’s easy for media to see because we have a media room that is not not adjoining that platform but it’s on the same level and so credit to Kur pela for looking Kurtis of the mercury news for looking and taking a picture of it and he took a picture of it the first day of death cam and in the picture I think a couple fans were the first that maybe noticed they’re like hey is that Ryan clo cute and also in the picture if you look closely is Jeff olmer the Sharks we’re GNA talk about in a second the Sharks assistant coach and also in the picture very clearly is Brian wisman who H was assistant coach for David Quinn last year and that Jeff Merck reported would the Sharks interest and bringing him back but it wasn’t confirmed we had actually asked about wisan a couple of times I think since that report by meric and the Sharks wouldn’t wouldn’t confirm it publicly and so those guys are all in the picture I love it the sharks are very sneaky super sneaky and anyway with Almer I’ll give credit to Max M of the hockey news that Max was the first that he learned that RAR had joined the Sharks rmer was previously abord assistant coach right and so I started looking at the picture I’m like oh yeah that that is Jeff I’m familiar with Jeff Jeff is really we’ll talk about Jeff in a second because I guess right now we’re kind of focusing on CL but Jeff has had a very very interesting career and so I’ve read a couple of stories about him so I was like oh yeah he’s in the back next to wisman right there and that’s really funny yeah anyway so with with with this sort of how do you say it um this setup uh by Curtis with everybody in in the picture you just had the idea who these guys are right I was able to to Tool around a little bit and tug on a few capes and whatever right and I learned that for sure Ryan K wasn’t just visiting Ryan K most recently was a New York Rangers advisor yep and consultant andar like I mentioned was Abid for Canuck’s assistant coach but I was able to learn that indeed that K was rejoining the Sharks organization he wasn’t just was visiting up there and RAR and wisman were also coming back as assistant coach or I’m sorry were going to be wor sosi’s assistant coaches and so anyway that just was all all interesting that was a little bit of teamw work Makes the Dream workor there and I should have known to take a picture of myself the first day walking I just didn’t think to if you remember l two years ago no two years ago where where I was able to to to deduce who the Barracuda new assistant coach which is were because I looked on the ice and I saw I saw Lou mass and Kyle Hegel and I kind of recognized Kyle because I had covered him before when he was with the the checkers but Lou Mass I didn’t really know and so I was able to send a picture out though to people and they’re like oh yeah that’s Louis mass and that’s Kyle Hegel I love it so that’s a shark’s not being very settled there I don’t know I guess I guess they didn’t care to be that much because they were giving us Clues um actually it reminds me a couple years ago I I I I figured out one of their their Scout hires or somebody just by looking at their front office directory ahead of everybody I love it I love the Sharks anyway though so I I that was really really funny so anyway about K I think K does bring an element to he’s going to be AGM right I know some people thought he was going to be assistant coach but I had a sense that it was going to be a higher role than that so it’s not surprising that it’s AGM they have three agms which sounds like a lot but I don’t think it’s that abnormal I haven’t looked at other teams direct front opos directories may maybe they don’t give away as much as the Sharks do but I think on the other directories I think there’s gonna be some teams that have a trio of of agms what I like about this though that is though that there’s sort of a I can see a role for everybody on here now we know Joe will is the Barracuda guy and I want to give Joe a little bit of credit here too actually this is going to not Rel but we when we talk about free agent signings right we didn’t talk about the Barracuda signings I have a story coming out on it but the Barracuda or the shark signed Lucas Carlson and Jimmy SCH on defense and Andrew poosi I believe that’s how say his name for forward and these are three of the best AHL players of three of the better ones that they could have signed out there Lucas Carlson I think has scored 35 goals in AHL the last two years or something like that off on a defense and Jimmy Schult was a 20 minute plus guy for cachell Valley Firebirds called her cup finalist cachell Valley Firebirds last two years as a kind of a defensive defenseman right and Andre poosi is a is a great scorer at the AHL level and so credit Joe will for bringing these guys in and hopefully that’ll kind of we’ll dig deeper into Barracuda later this summer but hopefully that’ll kind of change the fortunes of the Barracuda that obviously they have not had great Seasons but these are kind of high in talents that that Joe W is bringing in there so want to give him credit be Joe gets maligned a lot and perhaps fairly by by sharks fans over the last few years the ber have not been very good the last six seven years I questioned a couple of his moves too for example not bringing on a more reliable number three goalie last year so but I want to give credit what credit is due there to to Joe there but anyway Joe handles the Barracuda Tom hly is a little more cap situation right I think he deals with a little bit more of that right and Ryan CL is the one guy here who has playing NHL that maybe he’s going to be a little more have a little more of that that influence with with my career and so I think it’s I think it’s it’s sensible in that way I I gota pull around more and see what people are saying about about Ryan CL I need I I I need to work on that a little bit more but in terms of that part of it that that makes sense to me with Ryan I’m in a conspiracy mood today did you know that Ryan K was on an episode of Kitchen Nightmares in 2011 oh was he one of I know a bunch of sharks were on there yeah Ryan was on that one that’s all I can ever that’s one of the things I just always remember about Ry club that who else was on there it would be funny if all those guys are part of the shark’s front office now um I actually cannot remember I remember Ryan K being on there like very vividly um also a fun thing I was at um I think this was in 2004 five maybe must been 2005 six anyway Ryan clo I was at a game of his or of the Sharks and he scored a hat-trick against Tampa and I remember that very vividly being like damn that Ryan CL this was a long time ago so I’m happy it’s just it’s I think we mentioned this I I say that a lot but I think we mentioned this sometime in the past year that it seems like they’re the sharks are trying to build not build but they’re trying to recapture that energy of a of a bygone era of the Sharks and they just keep For Better or Worse hiring guys from around that time period um and trying to get some of that energy back that the Sharks had for such a long time I mean it’s got to work that’s the thing right and so that’s why I’m still suspending judgment on Ryan just in terms of it’s a great story true he had to retire his playing career prematurely because of of concussions 2018 19 he was the head coach of I think the New Finland Growlers and he had to to quit in the middle of the season because of the after effects of concussions that he still was dealing with so it’s outstanding to see him come back with the Rangers three years ago I actually ran to Ryan this past season at I think a game in Florida just said hello to him and he was doing great back then so it’s great that he’s back here it’s a outstanding story but in terms of is he what my career with the sharks need hopefully I did I have looked at sort of I’ve wondered with with other people that terms of that Mike doesn’t have I think a lot of like senior senior leadership in in his ear I think Todd marshan is one guy that’s right there and so I think that even though Ryan isn’t a very very senior he is obviously a great playing career and he has been kind of around with the Rangers the last few years too and so that could be another kind of kind of voice to kind of steer you know I I haven’t written about because everything was was so tight and busy in terms of the free agency and the draft all close together right but I said it a lot the podcast I really did not like in the end what Mike did last off season in terms of the pro player decisions right and just to Rattle them off really quickly right going back to two years ago the Mikey acon trade and then going further beyond that keeping Mike Hoffman around all year even keeping Kevin L bankr around all year um y giving Nikolai K off great kid but but two-year oneway contract that’s was not justified uh javanni Smith I don’t think has been very very good to be to be honest and so these are some of the questionable a lot of questionable Pro decisions recently and so hopefully Ryan CL can helps them that that’s sort of sort of what what I guess the hope so we we’ll see and anyway the decisions that the sharks have made we give Mike his credit too this offseason I liked so it’s so it’s different than last off different kind of player obviously but anyway it’s um also a little bit it’s time to talk about uh Doug Huda and Jeff olmer um as well I’m not as familiar with um uh with these coaches but apparently Doug HUD has been an assistant coach in the NHL since 2006 so I’m just an idiot um I also don’t I think in general you’re you’re more into the coaching side of things than I am so you follow these guys a lot more but um well the sharks have had a lot of different assistant coaches I’ve had to chase a lot of different stories with a lot of different guys and make a lot of different make a lot yeah a lot of different text a lot of different phone calls and hey lot more connections yeah yeah so interesting that they brought in kind of that you know he’s a veteran assistant coach right the guy’s been coaching in the NHL since I mean how old was Ryan wowski in 2006 right like oh yeahi was a teen so yeah yeah basically so a veteran coach and thenar who seems to be more of the Umar sorry notar um not not young but he’s 47 more of a um a newer coach because he’s only had three years of assistant coaching in with the abbottsford Canucks before this so yeah they both very interesting profiles scuda has coached defensive and penalty defense and penalty kill for a long time I think he was the rurin from 2006 to 16 W in Stanley Cup in 2011 he then went to the Red Wings the 2016 to 22 and he’s been the Islanders last two seasons for the last 18 years now with the sharks uninterrupted stretch of time as assistant coach so that that’s impressive in in itself I’m not sure if he’s ever looked to be a head coach or what not that’s not on his resume so much but maybe he’s been interviewed and stuff right but anyway sounds like a very excellent hire very experienced hire and that the Sharks did not have right with orasi even WIS wiseman’s been around a little bit but obviously Huda though almost 20 years of assistant coach experience and Huda lived it too Huda as a player I have his rookie card Huda a yeah he was a he was a shot blocker defensive defens type right that was his sort of type of player that’s who he was and so yeah so it makes sense that he’s doing defense and penalty kill for the Sharks and r i I alluded to it R has played professionally in 12 different countries I’ve listed I listed it in my story but countries like Slovenia Wales Scotland besides your normal ones like Finland Sweden and I think Russia too anyway yeah Germany right so he’s been all over to play so I think 19 years he’s played in 12 different countries or he played for teams in 12 different countries and so that’s a really interesting profile and also too that he was a skills coach for for the the coyotes before he hooked on with absord Canucks and so I think uh that’s sort of interesting emphasis too I guess like if you want to look at sort of the differences with this and the last coaching staff right at least on the assistant coach level you’re getting a bit more of a veteran in terms of defense and penalty kill in terms of Huda as opposed to Ryan morosi before but then you’re flipping it by going young if you want to compare Scott obviously Brian wisen stays the same Scott Gordon was a very very experienced guy head coach in the in the NHL before too and head coach in the AHL whereas you have RAR here who I think is Maybe a little more skill a little more development kind of kind of guy and that might fit in more with some of the young sharks players so I think that’s sort of an interesting thing to to look into a bit more but either way we’ll just see if it works there’s a lot of very good coaches in in this league I’m sure there’s a lot of guys sh could have hired and so we’ll see but it’s I think I think it’s a promising mixture of some veteran veteran guy here in Huda and a little bit more of sort of a skills development guy on the coaching staff which the Sharks I think didn’t have right in terms of bosski and Gordon and last guy they had kind of like that was maybe Mike RI when RI was on the coaching staff for a hot minute there yeah I uh I like it I think it’s it’s a good mix it’s always good to have you know different voices in the room like that that experienced guy and then then olmer who’s just been everywhere I’m sure he has so much interesting hockey like tidbits from playing in like playing hockey in 13 count and different size rinks and you know just it’s an interesting thing and seems more skill focused so I like that um a okay we’re an hour in already we have not gone to the prospect scrimmage Shang oh my gosh this was um let’s talk about the prospect scage let’s let’s let’s dive into this a little bit uh you were there I was on my couch uh enjoying a beautiful July 4th um this was I honestly I I haven’t had this much fun watching a prospect scrimmage and I watch every single one every year this was awesome this was like the skill level seemed to be so much higher the excitement the the competitiveness between the two teams it felt like they actually gave a [ __ ] and I loved that like they normally do give a [ __ ] but it felt like I don’t know a little bit more of a [ __ ] I guess and um I just yeah it really made me feel like plugged into the new celebrity and Smith era of the Sharks the upcoming era of the Sharks I guess right and I think that’s the same reaction that everybody had on Twitter right like Jonathan Becker put out a every Everybody enjoy the prospect scribbage kind of thing like a tweet afterwards and just felt like they had a good time with it all so that’s my first initial reaction from a fan perspective I just I loved it and I’m sure you I mean you can sense the excitement I’ve said many times I’m not a fan so I don’t see it from that perspective but you could sense the the excitement and excitement in the with the fans for this new era excitement in terms of just even the guys playing right I think you could see it right and we’ll talk about sort of the direct correlation that maybe CBR has with some of these things when we talk about mlin in a little bit here but I also absolutely loved that celebrini got like the biggest no call on the on the trip on the empty net I love it on Cardwell yeah the Cardwell trip it was like that is celebrity got all the calls I I want to make for sure ask Ethan about it whenever we Ethan the next time maybe rookie face off or something I saw Ethan walking out of the uh I think it was right after the game he had the trophy in hand walking down the hallway Ethan did and I was like he was so excited to actually have won it after getting that he got tripped on that empty net it was pretty bad but the rests were like man play on I loved it it was just like they wanted that last goal like the refs were like come on go to the other end of the ice and score it was great I I just it’s fun hockey in the summer four on four three on three super exciting end to end it was great like just watching it and I’m sure being there was just as fun like probably funner yeah no it was a it was a great atmosphere it was definitely the most the most fans I’ve seen at development camp for sure I think that if I’m not mistaken last year the tickets were free for the scrimmage and so this year I’m not I got to look look I’m not sure about that actually but I got to look into that look into that actually I may as well do that do that right now but defitely it was good it was good crowd and tickets were more expensive if I’m not mistaken um for for for uh for this year so at least there was that I know there was some complaining about that and I also enjoyed that this year they because almost every year the prospect scrimmage happens it it felt like it was a um like a last minute are they going to stream it or not kind of thing and then this year they were like nope it’s going to be on YouTube it’s going to be on NBC you know it’s going to be out there they they announced it pretty early so that made me happy cuz some years it was like can I watch this online or not you know right right right right definitely definitely that that excit they marketed it a little bit more yeah yeah for sure I mean they had the towels that said basically celeb’s name without saying it right the celebrate towels I if you seen that so I love it um and the format was different this year as well um went from what was it like a half 12 minute period not even period oh yeah so I’m looking at it so last year the tickets were free this year the tickets I think were up to $40 20 $40 I think and it was as full this year for tickets that cost money than they were for free tickets last year so so that gives you idea of sort of excitement people were willing willing to spend the money this year that maybe the Sharks weren’t so confident that that they would have spent the money last year so yeah we’re uh paying those bills aren’t we sharks got to get put you know butts in seats um so let’s let’s go let’s start with um I don’t know what our nickname for Mackin celebrini is going to be like we’ve got our Lord and savior William Eckland our Swedish Prince William Eckland we have the fresh prince and and Will Smith um I don’t know what I don’t think Will likes a fresh prince name though so I think that fall out of favor soon yeah I just wanted to say prince again so I don’t know what to call celebrini though we we have to come up with something that like you know makes him the savior of the franchise of some somehow well let let’s let’s see him do it first but I mean typically I think people just call him ma though so but anyway Prospect scrimmage yeah I think there were $40 up to $40 here looking at it so um I’m not saying everything was $40 in there but Al toy number 71 I would say 25 to 40 25 to 40 yep I don’t think he had a lot of shifts on that first quarter um oh okay we’re talking about the guys okay yeah so guys yeah we’re going to talk about some of the guys that stood out to us we’ll start with Macklin first so hean go ahead yeah I think in the beginning I only saw like two shifts or something in the first quarter and he didn’t really do a whole lot um and then he started to turn it on like towards the end of the game you could really tell that he’s um extremely good in transition carrying the puck um over the line he battles like a kid that is bigger than he is and he reads the play exceptionally well he reads when the puck is going to bounce and where it’s going to go if it’s he shoots it you know hits off a leg he’s predicting where the bounce is going to go and he’s just on it before the guy gets to it like before the dender can turn around he’s there he gets he leverages his body super well so he gets under players at his size so he’s try trying to like bow them over he’s getting inside of them and under them to to Really um take position uh all the time and he’s got such a motor that was fun to watch even this like you know it’s a scrimmage like but he was treating it like it was you know his NHL debu kind of thing he was like really going after every single Puck and you could tell that when Smith was starting to get more and more highlights on the other team that celebr was like I want to go to the other end and score right the [ __ ] now it was it was it was exciting to watch like just him coming to his own and then the the last uh like the last surge to try and tie up the game and everything it was like get the puck to celebrini he’s going to try and make a play that that’s what it felt like and he did so he did he did it my overall impression is just that he raised the level on on everything we talked about sort of the excitement in the arena among the fans right so he certainly raised the level there even Todd marshan talk extensively about how off the ice mcklin wants to be first in everything he wants to be first in line on a DFT he is the guy working out after development Camp as everyone’s a lot of kid a lot of people are headed off he’s the one getting an extra exercise in and so first and everything and if your best player is staying in the gym and he’s first in the gym right like that gets everybody else to do it right and talk about on the ice right if your best player is working so hard defensively also pursuing pucks as hard as he did right like you mentioned and also John McCarthy mentioned John McCarthy said he shoots it and he goes to get it again yeah and if your best player is doing that that for that rubs off on other players and you don’t think a Will Smith noticed all this attention he wanted to show hey I’m really really good too let’s not forget that right it’s it’s not it’s not a it’s it’s a friendly rivalry they they look like they got along quite well this this weekend from everything that we can tell and everything that I’ve heard and so it’s not it’s not it’s it’s a it’s a healthy rivalry and it is kind of like the Rivalry that and we’ve heard before that johnan Taves and Patrick Kane had and this is these the ra the racing at the level I think is just as important what mlin is bringing it’s not just the talent level and then we get to the on the ice stuff right and on the ice even though he didn’t score he showed off this one timer definitely had excellent chances to score John McCarthy said he really wanted to score so it’s too bad he couldn’t get that that first goal as a shark it’s going to come looks like I would guess it’s going to come during rookie faceof when that’s going to be in La though probably but anyway though just the raising of level throughout the organization Todd marshan summarized it well Todd Mar just said there’s there’s a buzz in the Sal sharks organization that hasn’t been and no disrespect to William ecklin and Will Smith and all those guys right but I’ve said this be I’ve said this since the Sharks want to draft lottery that mcklin is of that connecting piece he makes it make sense he makes the rebuild make sense he is projected to be your number one player that makes sense for years sharks fans have been trying to raise you talk about William eckland’s Savior love William love his game yeah I love his sort of his compete and I think I do think that William ecklin is going to be a good player on a winning team but probably a second line I think still a second line player that shouldn’t be your number one player but you talking about guy who’s your savior he not your number one player Will Smith excellent offensively obviously can be locking in other areas right should he be your number one player on a Stanley Cup winning team I mean he could still be that I don’t want to close the book on him but I don’t think when people think about Will Smith that they necessarily think that he should be your very best franchise player true Macklin on the other hand all the intangibles I mentioned and how he raises levels everywhere also on the ice he is he should be and so it makes it just it’s everything just makes sense with the sharks rebuild now it’s makes me Happ a really hard season to to get there but we’re here the Stars lined so much and it made that entire season worth it um but you’re right like for years you’ve been trying to find the savior of the Sharks and you know I agree and what happens right you miscast players because you don’t have you don’t have any help when William Ecklund was the seventh overall pick of of his draft the 2021 draft literally who was the who was the other best prospect it’s probably Thomas bordalo right um it might have been people were still maybe hanging on hope to Ryan M back then right right and so you raise up guys because you don’t have you don’t have the Hope y you don’t you don’t have anybody else to Hope on and you kind of stepped it up or upgraded with W Smith right but W Smith was again I don’t know he kind of miscast as your number one player I think or he’s just kind of not a complete complete player as of yet you right and I don’t know if the offense is so Transcendent like a Nikita kucherov or something that you can argue that okay he’s kind of one he’s kind of off way offensive leaning but he so good at that that thing that yeah even even Patrick Kane as incredible as he was right so I’m not trying to discredit will at all in his potential but Patrick Kan is incredble as he was would not have won all all that Hardware would not have won all s cups if he didn’t have a number one guy like Jonathan caves next to him yep so yeah so so I I I get why I mean look I remember back when I was writing stories about Ryan Merkley because the Sharks literally had no other Prospect with any of that kind of ceiling he was the Sharks number one Prospect for a long long time right even though there were so many red flags with him but they had nobody else and the fans the fans latched onto him because there was literally nobody else right to latch on to kind of right but now there is a guy that hopefully hopefully it comes across an ice that’s obviously sort of the you know off the ice seems like a great kid in terms of off ice and his workout that kind of the leadership part seems excellent in that area too right and so that last but the most important part is is on the ice can he produce at that kind of level that is expected of him well we’ll see give him a couple years of course I don’t think he’s going to step in this year and pop in 90 points or whatever right but give him some time but but if you can do that then and obviously stay healthy cross your fingers there then all this makes sense yeah now does he sign an ELC before the end of the summer yes I I I I get I get asked this a lot and I my answer hasn’t changed and yeah I I I’ll I’ll say say without giving away too much I’ve checked in after after Dev Camp too like I I don’t think anything has changed um yeah he he he’s coming so you hear that Macklin no I I um I think he probably is getting a little annoyed with everybody asking him constantly if he’s going to sign I would be too I would be too but it’s it’s these are it’s a fair question right it’s a relevant question so um you know you know how you can stop people asking just do it or or commit the other way just just just do what what what I I have believ that he was going to do from from day one laudry what does the college game hold for him nothing I really don’t I don’t see he’s from Canada he doesn’t care about the NCAA Championship so I don’t think he does at least I don’t think be is gonna be a better team anyway next year to right right you mentioned that too right yeah so yeah I I don’t see the point I really think he needs to step up in competition to to Really unlock what he’s going to be he’s more ready than Will Smith yeah what would the point be will I would understand going back and I’ve mentioned this before yeah Will loves Boston College his dad went to Boston College his favorite player Brian leech will never saw his will was too young to see Brian leech but Brian leech was his dad’s favorite player yeah so I think it hurt Will Smith to to leave BC without the national championship true I don’t think I don’t think it I don’t think it it hurt I don’t know P I never asked him personally and of course you can say you want to win competition etc etc you always want to win etc etc but I’ve never heard I just don’t hear of any ties with Macklin and and the college game he went to NCAA because he just thought that was the best he best development path for him yeah older players and all that right instead of instead of Juniors Canadian Juniors and that’s yeah there’s this there’s this unless the Sharks were some kind of disaster show like they were last year right and maybe like yeah I can I don’t need to be there for that and again I’ve said this before in the podcast credit for to Willie mckin for for uh for having the fortitude and Henry thrund too fortitude toti through last year because last year was a disaster on so many levels um but the Sharks really have done I think it this was part of it too wouldn’t surprised me that the Sharks had to show even W Smith and so actually W Smith alluded to it I think he said oh I knew the Sharks were going to do something things before like in terms of free agency and stuff like even though will may not know the specific moves that Shar is going to make I’m sure he got promises too that look we’re going to turn this around we’re not going to it’s not going to be acceptable what happened last year and the sharks are shown that with the players they’ve acquired to to fley being the crown jewel of them but also the type of players too the kind of players that don’t give up when they’re down four to two or three to2 or whatever right which sharks had too much of last year when they were down and so yeah anyway so sharks have sharks I think have done their bit in terms of improving the team not necessarily to make the playoffs next year but to at least be competitive and to to insulate the younger to insulate celebrating in Smith more and also to change the whole coaching staff and and give it a new outlook as well so yeah even though I don’t necessarily agree with firing Quinn like you said it sort of was the I don’t know if easy is the right word right that’s not I don’t think that’s what you said Keegan but you know after just a season like that it just yeah it made sense I guess it just sort of makes you just you just want to fresh start with somebody yeah you kind of just go no more we’re done yeah um yeah I um I also don’t think it this is this is Appo nothing or or not even related to anything but it also just makes me kind of happy that yes we are retaining on three contracts currently but that ‘s just no big hold over of any like flastic still here and kachur is here but there’s no hold over right it just feels like a new era that that started with celebrini in that last year getting all of the older big contracts out like it’s there’s not too much of it because vasic is also not as integral a part of the team anymore his C percentage is but in terms of just his role on the team right and his role on team made to finish next year too I’m not really sure Couture is obviously still around but Couture wasn’t around last year and so last year was kind of different right because end of the season when cunan and grenland became the alternate captains that’s like wow that’s like none so yeah none of because obviously hurdle was alternate captain for the entire season until he was traded so it’s probably the the first time in years 30 years 25 years that none of sort of the Old Guard of sharks was worrying a letter the ones tradition with the sharks hurdle and Couture andum and Patty and I mean so it really felt felt like a a different era for sure last year and that’s goingon to continue especially if Logan’s not around and if Logan is around I think that’s great I think he sells a lot to offer if he’s healthy but of course we don’t know that so well and obviously CU celebrini missed the Theo out goal he is a bust so that’s all that matters that was that was a very funny I was really impressed with his game on ice so I got to see me too just how he I and I I did a couple clips of it just how he commanded space how he always held a puck and Drew attention and then he hit the open man I I think he had a great couple assists you know yeah he was making his teammates better he wasn’t he didn’t score I know that a lot of people were disappointed Macklin himself probably that he didn’t score and and and get that out of the way on on Shark ice or tchc get out of the way for the fans but I thought that I I thought I thought that he was every bit as advertised I wish they would have done and I know this wasn’t in the the schedule of things I really wish that when it got tied 77 they didn’t go directly to shootout I wish they would have done like another five minute three three on three or something just would have yeah because I was like oh we just got it tied up and then it was oh we’re going to shootout all right fine um but yeah that was an epic compan back the I think the best player on the ice even though celebrini did look amazing I think was Will Smith I think he he from the moment he he honestly they scored in 20 seconds so from literally from the moment the puck dropped his his line was amazing like he just he was Puck dominant he he took the the puck and was it looked like he was playing junior hockey again like he was playing in the usntdp again where he and I think that’s not a little bit of that celebrini right a little bit of that is the competitiveness between Smith and celebrini and like like you mentioned and he just looked great he he um I don’t know how many points he ended up with but him and musy together just they look like they’ve been playing together for for a long time and it’s it’s that that kind of musty’s a good linemate for him and we’ll talk about musty in a second but Smith needs that that caliber of linemate to really succeed I think and and it showed um super creative um great handle on the puck um and yeah I loved it I think he was the best player on the ice yeah I agree I think till brain was probably the second best player on ice but definitely give it to Smith as the best play Player on Ice actually this is kind of funny funny story though in terms of maybe Smith being overlooked a little bit so if you look at I I posted a clip of the very per skull like he said 20 seconds into the game if you look at my focus of the camera I’m actually looking at celeb along the wall because I’m trying to capture his C shift I don’t know literally yeah as I’m looking as the camera is focus C’s in the middle celine’s at the wall M and H in the background of the action Smith is is hitting musty yep Smith is getting the puck from the go sender stealing it off the wall and getting it to the Biddle amazing not even focused on him yep I wasn’t yeah I wasn’t Focus I was I was watching I was watching soini there so I love it but anyway yes I I I agree and I tweeted this out that it felt like it felt in in a good way that that Will was like just in his own backyard and just no one could touch him it felt like for for for for for most most of the game and him and musty terrific combination at least at this level right musty was sort of that power straight line game we’ll talk more about must a little bit but and that’s a great and with a lot of skill which is a good compliment to will and his creativity and anyway yeah I I I I also another thing that that we noticed too was that will definitely look bigger which he’ll need to be and he’ll need to keep working on that over the next couple months I think he said that maybe eight to 10 pounds from last development Camp he definitely looked because he looked like a kind of kind of that that level that you know William Eck when he came back that one summer he looked like a different person you know still slight still a smaller player well is always going to be a smaller player just like Willie mcklin right but but the mon like obviously bigger and stronger right and so will Will Smith will need to really step that up over the next couple months for the NHL because I think there are a lot of concerns in sort of just sort of his physical maturity how ready he is for it right we can see Macklin right even though mlin didn’t put up the points like will did you alluded to how Matlin gets under stronger players and that sort of thing right even yes this is a lower level stronger player but a c guys here bigger guys here right um and he can that people believe that translate to the NHL immediately with will we don’t know that yet and so that’s going to be a work in progress quite a bit and so he’ll need to get stronger and bigger and he’ll get to get used to that strength too and not lose that quickness and elusiveness that that he showed yesterday but of course we don’t know how that’ll translate and so I think that’s going to be a big question with him how much how much he’ll be able to do that over the next couple months but he knows that that’s sort of the the directive for him and so you could it’s clear that he he listened this past year and so I’m very interested in that and I think ultimately I know that a lot of people still think that it was the best decision for him to leave but or I’m sorry that the better decision would have been for him to stay but I think ultimately I think it’s going to be a good decision that he left I think he needed more of a challenge than maybe like that the do games every year that he plays against the top competition like beu or whatever right that that would raise his level but there’s 30 games other games of that that he’s just playing its inferior competition and you can get away with so much in the college game defensively that he cannot do he’s gonna get burn in NHL I think that he will still despite his performance yesterday and outshining Macklin that he’s goingon to have a tougher time in NHL at first then then celebr but I think they’ll I think I think this is the right thing for him to challenge himself and to really learn that he can’t do this he can’t do that at the NHL level that maybe he could have done at the NCAA level so I think this is going to be a good thing and yeah like you said very impressed with what I saw yesterday yeah it was good to see him shining with a lineate that wasn’t Gabe perau and Ryan Leonard too like just to see something a little bit different you know right like there are some comparables of of what musty does to what K pero can do um but yeah just a different look and it’s it’s fun to see cuz a lot of you know all of the talk about Will Smith was like oh is he a product of Leonard and perau or is he the you know really the third wheel on that line etc etc we had a whole episode with um um with Cam about that cam Robinson right so I think it’s I think it’s a bunch of hooie I think he’s a great player it’s a bunch of hooy and he’s going to be good with a he’s going to have good line mates right he’s going to play high in the lineup in the NHL some point in his career so just got to give him somebody skilled like Quenton musy who is our next person to talk about oh I did want to add one note about and Smith that Marsha insisted that he thought that both end up as centerman so I think that’s interesting this coming year maybe Smith will play some Wing he might have to but eventually though that’s that sounds like that’s the plan for the from the sharks or the sharks sharks plan for them and I like Smith at Center I think his game is suited to a game at least offensively he just has to you know do all the things that make an NHL Center an NHL Center that is not just you know from the from the red line in that’s right right right so um okay Quinton musy um I got a lot of heat cuz I I put out like uh who I think did well in the game and I thought musy did good I just didn’t put him on the list of people that I thought like did well um okay I want to hear this I actually didn’t see this so oh uh yeah so my it was like right after that I just tweeted it um I put uh Halton and pole Camp Smith celebrini faota and edstrom as like my standouts I said there was a ton of standouts but here’s a few of them and like I immediately people were just like where’s musty and I was like I thought musy did good but I think like I think Smith was a little bit better on that line and I think you know musty helped create a lot of things and he is a big skilled Winger that has a a lot of Puck magnetism like he can just kind of hold on to the puck very well and I liked a lot of his game but he is still a rush forward and so he’s going to look awesome and he looked awesome last year at the scrimmage he’s going to look awesome at a three on three and 4v4 just like all of our other offensive guys but um he still has a lot of I think maturity to go into this game to make it more of a well-rounded game that’s a good point I I do remember when he more five on five and rookie face off and in Camp and at the one exhibition game he played that was not he didn’t have his easy a time for sure yeah so again I like went musty I think he did great just want to put that out there because I got a bunch of heat on Twitter it was like five comments of why don’t you put musty in your standouts I don’t know I just I think Smith was a little bit better and I think that combo looks awesome and I can’t wait combo looks awesome yes I cannot wait um when and this is what I was mentioning earlier I really wish that musty could go in the AHL I I don’t I’m upset that he’s going back to the OHL or he has to play in the NHL and maybe he will for nine games who knows I I don’t think so though I would predict no at this point looking at the sharks they suffer from a bunch of injuries or musty’s game takes like a huge leap over or his his body right which he can even though he’s big he can get bigger right so I would predict that he he doesn’t make that jump this year but yeah I think it is really interesting like he mentioned and we talked with Todd marshan about this about a month ago or a couple weeks ago that Sudbury is is doesn’t play the kind of style that maybe makes him a better overall player not that he can’t work on it on his own in subb but yeah like London is known for for molding kind of more Pro style players yeah and yeah uh I don’t think subur has is is the ideal place maybe for that with musty but what can you do right so yeah how’ you think you looked uh I agree with you I I think that I I I I I I I think that people might say the same thing to me that maybe I underrate musty I had muku Mullan ahead of him on my top prospects list I think I still do excuse me I think um I think I want to see a little more variety from Quenton I think that he is excels at that sort of straight line hor game and he did last year right at at death camp but I don’t see a well-rounded any or the the the hints of a well-rounded NHL quite yet which he’ll have to be sure he’s not GNA what was he doing at the in the oh he’s putting up like two and a half points a game or something like that right I think it was just over two or maybe or something like that right yeah if you can do that NHL then yeah you can be as one dimensional as you want yeah do whatever you want but obviously he’s not gonna be able to do that so he’s gonna have to add more more other areas to his game and so I want to see more of that before I start anointing him this this or that but it was it was good though to see I mean he he he he he looked great with with with will and I think that between him and and Macklin that I think will did get like the very best Winger available out there and and they made the most of it right and so it would have been kind of interesting to see musty got to play with CBR a little bit and see what what that could have sparked but yeah anyway though yeah so I I think I think I think there’s a lot to work with obviously but I want to see how it stands up to again real just more Pro style whether it’s in the AHL in a in a and is he eligible after this year I assume right yeah after this year he be so I I I want to see how that how that Stacks up and this year in subber even though however subur plays right he’s with the team the whole year I want to you know you want to see him at least know that he’s got to work on his stuff and maybe maybe not they in game so much because they’ve got a win obviously right but like practice or what not he needs to be working on some on some of this stuff and someone’s got to be telling you gota you got to pay more attention here you gota pay more attention here right and so hopefully he he does that even if it means less points for him this year and so yeah so I’m a little bit um m I’m a little bit guarded in sort of of what I see out out of musty like yeah speaking of of the cam Robinson one yeah like musty has a better Prospect than than Will Smith which is what camser hinted at like I I don’t see that so I say I could say that for sure yeah I agree with that one um although he is very good I just want to make that put that out there he did very well um to make all the Quinton musty fans happy um okay our other um 2024 first round pick Sam Dickinson who you’re going to see a short interview of uh here in just a minute um he was also there that’s mean of me to say a little rough I think definitely definitely I it could be anything right in terms of just the how do you say it’s just it’s just one scrimmage it’s four on four three on three right I think that he showed the different tools that he has it didn’t quite come together but in terms of skating is there the shot you saw a time so there’s there’s there’s a lot to work with there but it it didn’t quite come less right but also defense is a hard position to play right and so especially four on four three on three like what are we going to see out out of out of defenseman right I mean the defenseman that we’re going to shot out that probably had the best game right is is the offensive defenseman not kagon but pole Camp right and so so I I I think definitely you have to be a little sort of grade grade this on a curve like this isn’t necessarily the best way to judge a s Dickinson maybe if the Sharks had drafted a boam this might be an ideal showcase for boam four on four three on three but I guess what the NHL has not played four on four three on three most of the time right mostly it’s a five on five game and so was was yeah it wasn’t exceptional but nothing to worry about so nothing terrible it just um I don’t I think the game was a little bit like he he moved fast and I and he he did he had a few Puck rushes that were were pretty good and couple or or shot or two um but I think there was a couple of times when like the game was just going a little too quick and he couldn’t make that that next read on terms of his passing so I need to work on that too yeah yeah he’s another guy even though he’s eligible and I do ask him about it I don’t think that he’s going to get those nine games this year I don’t I don’t think he’s he’s close um even like last year with musty I didn’t think musty was close either because again musty is to I’ve said this before like a little bit one note right he’s big he’s fast but what else is in skilled but okay what what is that what is he in the NHL though right and so even musty as impressive as he was right I didn’t think that and as bad team as sharks were musty didn’t even sniff at Angel SWOT and I don’t think he he was close to it I don’t think there’s ever really that serious of discussion with him and so yeah I don’t I don’t I anticipate that’ll be the case with Sam either this year that’ll be my guess yeah and there’s times when I watch musty that at the OHL I was like this group really don’t want him to be here anymore because he’s too freaking good for this level but he’s also you know he’s playing from half of the rank essentially and yeah I don’t know maybe maybe must needs to get Trad it to a team like a London or a more defensive team they might that might help them so might reunite the Halton and Dickinson musty oh man all on one team oh my gosh we actually almost wait we didn’t even talk about this there’s like a rumor out there that Igor chernishov is actually coming to the to North America right right yeah that’s um want to credit the right people was uh hockey rumor or hockey news Hub was the one that kind of put it out it in in English but it was it was a Russian reporter I look it up really fast he always like to try to credit people if yep absolutely it was a sports uh uh sport Express reporter that’s right yeah sport express. Ru or whatever yep yep yep and let’s see where is my article about it it was a mle but I don’t quite remember his last name I am sorry let’s see where is that article it’s been a long week yeah it’s been a very long week yeah uh mle z z i s Lis of sport Express anyway uh so I I checked in with chernos Shop’s agent Dan milstein he didn’t rule it out which I think is very important so I think this is a valid possibility if if it was Dan might have shut it down he did not and so I think that this is definitely a possibility and shof was drafted 56 overall by the Sagal spirit in the CHL import draft sag all Spirit just won a Memorial Cup so maybe that’s program for him to go to right and I think that if he does do it it’s going to be a similar path to Casper Halton in that he leaves his country gets a ELC I think that’s part of the deal of of coming here and it’s not like a it’s not said inside in stone but it’s one of those like wink wink things right yeah good faith kind of thing yeah yeah good faith kind of things right and yeah so it’ll be it’ll be interesting to see if he does if he does come here in terms of shers Shaw’s performance he was definitely around the puck early in Prospect scrimage but I think it kind of faded as the game went on so I think that he doesn’t have that that clear tool that Halton had last year where Halton was pretty much not good at anything except for shooting but that shot was very very impressive right and so so so yeah it’s very limited time with shernoff so we’ll see we’ll see what them but it’ll be great if he’s year though yeah I think you always want your prospects here to to develop you know in Russia even though sh shop did play on his KHL team you just never know kind of right just like well how a coach is going to use a guy how a coach sees a guy right and so it’s nice that you can have him in your backyard and it’s easy to kind of evaluate and you could just call that coach and hey what’s going on why why aren’t you playing him and then that easy so he’s actually got an interesting thing because he is he could play in the Russian League the NHL the AHL or the CHL next year if he wanted to there’s not not the NHL obviously that one that one has to be earned I mean it’s possible but yeah I mean AHL is also possible he looks raw though so I I think probably oh is probably good for him yeah the best place for him to start agreed um but uh yeah it’s interesting the um the comparables are there with with Halton and like you said just cuz it’s a bigger Winger coming out of their their home country and we talked about how the Sharks seem to like high ceiling bets in this place in the draft right last year with musty and in and so shernoff is along along that that type of player profile forward speaking of Casper Halton and um he looked great I I think there obviously Halton had loves to shoot shoot the damn Puck and he can shoot the puck through sheet metal um because he has one of the hardest shots on the he scored the I think the goal that made it seven to six right when team white was trying to come back and yeah I think it caught the net timer I think it caught the net on fire you know like if I remember there’s like a little bit of smoke on it um anyway he yeah he he looked good other than just the shooting though I think even in like tight spaces he he was handling the puck well and he was using his frame a little bit better using getting a little bit more physical in the corners and that’s like for Halton and that’s what he has to do he has to be both good at you know the one-time slot on the power play and then he also has to be good net front I think to to be a consistent NHL player in the future he has to be a big body good in tight spaces um as well to to a to unlock his scoring potential and be just a stick in a lineup because there’s not a lot of other things there with his game I will say but he looked good I think he he he paired up really well with celebr in certain lines and that last shot was fantastic yeah Todd Marshon also stated another thing that very clearly he needs to work on which is his conditioning and Marsha mentioned that from last camp that I think Halton had dropped about 10 pounds down to 208 which Maran was happy with so credit to Casper for doing that work but Todd also told a very specific story that in R Juniors that Casper was saying that he felt heavy he felt uh just anyway so so so they this is part of why it’s nice to have have have your guys in your backyard so yeah the Sharks asked London can you give them more work workouts more rides and runs which was what how Todd phrased it right and I think you can see the gains in Casper’s game right by the mon Royal Cup which he dominated and so like like Todd says it made him it makes him quicker obviously shedding a little bit of this weight and you saw that yesterday right in terms of just what he was doing in tight tight spaces and whatnot he just has to keep it up and yeah hopefully having a guy like celebrini close by right that’s the kind of stuff that help him keep that stuff up and so can reach his angal potential um things that that might say this is I’m just more joking but the Sharks had a cooking challenge the Wednesday before the prospect scrimmage right and who was it quent musty said that in their group that Casper Halton was the best cook and I can see it but probably there you go there’s the he made a great that’s what qu musty said and so so let’s let’s hope that that that that that that yeah that that that Casper is uh is is all healthy actually I asked Dickson about I don’t want to give it away but uh I asked him some I asked Sam what’s something about Casper Halton in that no that nobody knows Y and Sam gave us something food related too so there we go I think he’s he’s trying to play the uh the oetkin route of just be beefy be big you know but I think Popp in 40 a year that’s okay but the problem is oetkin is like a freak athlete and like it’s yeah you really got to it’s hard to be oetkin um but that’s kind of the route that you know halton’s career is going to try and take right hey credit to Casper you came here to London and he put in the work after Juniors or during Juniors right when he wasn’t feeling good he put in the work and he’s down like said 10 pounds and so he just had to keep that’s probably a good weight for a guy like him even though he’s still very young right he might get taller and bigger but that’s still kind yeah I mean that’s a round where where you want to see him you don’t want to see him too big obviously you see then like last year right he was he wasn’t moving as well for sure last year when he was drafted and I will say I have a I have a source that is not a big fan of of of this player and of his commitment and that sort of thing right and so it’s nice to see Casper kind of kind of kind of uh defy that sort of that that’s sort of scouting this year and he’ll just have to keep it up though because like I said Tom marshan made a very clear point about his conditioning and that’s not something that you always do to a player to a young player right but I think that it is a very big issue with him so they’re like you have to pay attention to this that’s why I’m saying this in the media so everybody knows that if you look a little a little portly next fall then you did something wrong you did not spend your two months well uh from the dev Camp to training C and so if Casper can keep it up obviously with that shot and his size his power potential power game definitely Sky a limit there but he just has to pay attention keep keep up with that yeah it’s not it’s not very common that that people will say specifically conditioning people will say like bigger stronger like you said but they don’t typically say like specifically conditioning and weight dropping yeah most players probably were pretty hard at it and whatever right and and actually Todd didn’t like just blame Cas he said that Casper is body type and sometimes hey you know what I have that body type now too so I’m getting there yeah right and so you just you just have to work harder to kind of stay in in Peak Tip Top physical shape and so yeah so I think that’s part of why why Todd mentioned that definitely is something to be aware of with with him in in the coming years and probably I had to look back on it but there’s probably reason why Beast Casper was considered maybe a potential top 10 pick right early in the draft process right the 2023 draft process is that right he was considered like a guy that could go pretty high right before and Dro he dropped for sure so he I think he was considered a first rounder for sure um yeah I I liked his game and uh it’s interesting that that that type of Swing because there is a standout skill and you got to you got to mold around it and doesn’t have to really change too much of his game it’s more just adding specific things to his game and that’s he doesn’t have to change his style he’s H already though I I know that he would like to be there and he’s able to be there because he’s an import guy and like musty but I would say that musty if if musty could go musty I I don’t know musty is ready for it but must is more ready for it and musty might gain more from the HL game whereas honin could use another year I think in London and yep Dom whole year diversify his game keep keep up his conditioning and all that stuff right I think he could use that for sure yep for sure hey uh we’re going to keep talking about Eric p camp he he keeps getting brought up you know just the the surprising rise of Eric pamp as a prospect from fifth round over rager to um I don’t know he was the best looking defenseman on the team um for this for this specific granted right in a very tough sort of situation of play to judge defenseman four on four three on three right so and one that one that kind of fit his style of like Rush quick shots um you know fun end to endend kind of game so like you don’t expect Axel Landon to dominate such a game so yeah or like gon Lorac or something CU like oh shout out though you mentioned that we both saw it that um Colton Roberts though big Colton Roberts made a mess at mlin celebity along to wall he did one so credit to Colton for I was like that kid can hit like he so I was actually pretty you know he was given mcklin a rough ride there and I I liked it um I liked colon Roberts actually when they drafted him I thought it was a good pick he’s a defensive defenseman he’s got a little bit of first pass but he’s is what he is big hits a lot but not like hits on like not like griev where it’s like okay maybe you need to do a little bit more than just hit people um he still has like some defensive Acumen I think and gv’s getting better too so yeah anyway uh pole Camp was who were going to mention um also can shoot a puck through sheet metal mhm uh really good looking shot he showed it off like right away on his first Rush up ice and then just roofed it over I think it was crona’s shoulder it might have been kersa somebody’s and just excellent looking shot and he was just all over the Play constantly um every time I saw him with a puck so shout out to him he looked great and and he’s had a shout out I don’t know he had the World Junior Summer showcase last year where he had like everybody was like oh Eric p camp looks pretty good then he had the world junior shout out where like oh p camp made the team sick and then you know it’s just like every time you watch him you’re like he’s pretty good and now he’s going to um going to Denver uh as well right right and there’s a I heard there’s a possibility maybe he gets paired up with boo so that’s gonna be exciting so his numbers will look even better they weren’t bad last year righty there too yeah yeah Lefty righty Bo you know super silky smooth with the puck um and then pole Camp big looking shot makes a lot of sense together um as a as a pairing it’s going to be a lot of offense I don’t know how much defense but it’s going to be Vol game’s not horrible at defense but just like I wouldn’t say it’s like his strongest suit so anyway I I thought he looked good better than kagoni better than Kon I don’t know I’m just playing Devil’s Advocate there you mean in terms of like as a prospect or as a in the end not right now obviously but in end no no no maybe no kenon is still a smarter player overall I’ll say that and they’re both tiny like Pam’s not big yeah u p Cam’s touch faster actually probably a lot faster um than than kenon I think there was the only time’s a little bigger yeah he’s like 510 5’11 right and he’s he’s a little beefier for sure right K only is a kind of he’s 59 right guys yeah he’s like a real 599 um yeah the only time I noticed kenon was he had like a partial breakway and then couldn’t get off enough speed to get like fully to the puck to to make anything happen that was wasn’t an amazing game from kenon and I think I don’t know maybe it was just the the style of play wasn’t really you don’t want to judge again yeah these kind of games I mean I you would think the style of game would fit Ken’s style but he looked good last year one game just one game so yeah he looked good last year I I recall yeah I remember him better defenseman out there yeah he very agile on his skates this one it didn’t really seem like he was um as comfortable maybe something like that anyway uh who else is going to shout out got pole Camp um David edstrom I I it was fun to see after the big hurdle trade just to see David edrom and shar’s colors and what we got from that trade first time yeah first time um since I remember watching him in his draft year still a good player plays a very like NHL plug-and-play game with a little bit of skill and enough size it feels like I kind of wish responsible yep John McCarthy was very complimentary of his game he could see in a couple of plays there where just uh John mentioned it above the puck consci entrance even in a fouron four three on three style yeah and he was like that in his draft year too he’s just a he seems like a a future NHL player and whether or not he has a super high ceiling I don’t know if it matters he’s he’s going to probably play and it just depend if he could add just a mold scoring look at if a guy can score a little bit look at um today the trade Ryan McLoud for Matt seavoy and I think seavo star has dropped a little bit I I think people aren’t quite I was never really high on him anyway right but he has necessarily even though the points are there I don’t know if he’s necessarily gotten much better as a prospect than he was two years ago right but a guy like ay McLoud right a young guy who is good enough to play like kind of a third line center right has enough offense for that super super valuable and so if if estam can just add a bit of that to his game which is not easy obviously but along with how he plays and his size and how he moves right that is a terrific player and yep I I wrote this yesterday in sort of my Dev Camp takeaways that of course they’ll never put up offense like your Will Smith and your mlin CBR all sort of things right but guys like this are just as important to winning yeah it’s a I kind of wish that he was in the AHL like I think he’ll do fine in Sweden the plan is for him to go to Sweden next year and and you know maybe he will develop a little bit more offense there CU he was starting to get to put up some points there at that level but you worry about like a regression like kind of what Beast dead did last year maybe maybe but maybe he won’t have that too right like there whole expectation last year with Beast dead was because he was very good in his rookie East said want shl rookie of the year that he would take a step forward and for a reason it didn’t happen it could be different reasons right it could be the quality of the team around you it could just be like mental like mentally you just put too much sort of pressure on yourself you think you’ve got to be the man now right in your second year who knows exactly what happened with Beast dead right it’s nice that Beast dead even though B didn’t jump out to me in the game yesterday the scrimmage that b came over last year at end of the season AHL and was pretty impressive he was better than I thought he was going to be and I watched a number of those games the number of BS AHL games he was better than I thought he would be and so so I don’t I don’t really worry too much that his Prospect scrimmage was a little whatever he he’s a little old for that now kind of right so yeah so anyway though so so that’s from I I I wouldn’t rule out maybe he goes maybe he takes that that next step so who knows yeah for sure um he seemed very clear that that’s where he wanted to go though so yeah yeah and maybe it’s time for him to yeah have a little bit more power play time be the guy offensively hopefully for L Carl Ste yeah and um the but yeah it was good to see edstrom I think he had a good game um overall another guy that’s a a big third line Center that just showed a little bit more skill than I thought he had was faota uh I wanted to shout out his game he had a great looking wrist shot from the slot that was like perfectly placed and then he had this beautiful uh saucer pass through a Defender to lawback that was like I just didn’t expect it from a guy that you know when I watched him many years ago I was like this guy’s he’s big he can play net front he can you know win your face offs it felt like more of a fourth line forward Checker guy and just good to see a little bit of skill from him can skate too right so I think he’s one of those kind of like maybe like Carson West right like maybe yeah yeah the I think the shark C the tools are there even though it hasn’t translated to like a lot of offensive ruction yeah but the tools are there and again if you can get him to a a three like NHL playoff caliber 3C level he can help pop in like 155 or something like that right 15 goals 15 assists something like that that’s a super Valuable Player again that’s a winning player and obviously I mean you’re hoping that out of edstrom out of out of out of Beast yeah spots eventually but if one of them hits and is like your 3C of the future that like really good 3C then you know that’s outstanding celebrini Smith Z edstrom yeah I’m gonna spoil it spoil it for everybody all three of them will not hit their ceilings as third line centers I want you all to understand that that’s the thing that people do too it’s like they’ll be like why do we get EDR if we have Beast that waiting for see it’s like only one of these guys is going to make it maybe maybe two maybe if they had drafted like a Lucas Peterson like why would you drop this guy when you have two you just you like the player you just keep picking them up and then hopefully one turns out to be the ideal for his his position and give bed a little I guess credit too that even though bed is not maybe as safe a prospect as estrom maybe a little higher Silling so that’s why there’s still kind of that excitement for him that maybe he can get his game up to a 2C decent 2C but we’ll see yeah um anyway just wanted to shout him out I thought he had a couple skill plays that I just did not expect from him so um last one I want to mention was Solin wenus and I will say I tweeted out that I really like salom wen’s game and then that was like the first quarter and then I feel like I didn’t see him at all after like the the last three quarters so I thought he had a really good first quarter he he um he bodied edstrom at some point off the puck he looked strong um on his skates he looked defensively responsible he was um cutting off passing Lanes he just looks like a good Defender um which is what I was interested in cuz nobody really wanted to play defense in this game and he just looked strong in that first quarter but then I think his play kind of faded a little bit yeah I I agree I agree but I think it was it was it was a good look at him promising look at it yeah good skater too um didn’t do too too much offensively but um and I think that’s it for skaters you got anybody else you want to shout out yeah I think for skaters that’s it right we’re going to talk a little about about the goalies I’ll just mention it quickly John McCarthy went out of his way to shout out Christian K’s performance and you had a guy that you thought was actually the best goalie at at at at the scrimmage yeah I think corono had very clearly the best um best game from the goalies it was not a goalies night seven to seven not a good goalie he is the older more experienced one so maybe that’s why J maon bother shot him out because you expect stronger performances out of Crona Romanov some of the Barracuda yeah Carwell didn’t do too much this game and then Romanov got shelled but you know he was getting killed by must and Smith so but um Carwell cwell learned who who rules the the roost to sort of sharks yeah who’s gonna get all the calls it’s Macklin I bet he’s gonna give him I bet he’s gonna give Macklin so much [ __ ] about that yeah actually I want to listen to to to Ethan’s next podcast that should be a pretty good one yeah he took him down took away his goal um yeah right right there and um yeah but I like kers looked good I thought he looked pretty calm and like uh ahead of the puck and it felt like you know there’s a lot there to work with he didn’t look over his head and I I liked that um so good pick and then lastly you wanted to shout out Gavin oconnell as well yeah I I thought for a lot of people there that he was sort of the trial guy that stood out the most he was making a lot of plays there I will say that doing that at this level of play I don’t know if that’s going to translate to AHL and so I’m not really sure about sort of his his Pro future but he look good in this game though so I’m gonna give him credit for that my favorite thing I I just wanted to mention just because we it’s been a good vibe here um on the scrimmage but was just watching Joe thoron behind the bench I loved that I I just I don’t know it just it was a different look for me I was like oh Joe’s bying the bench coaching it just felt right so just again director of fives Joe thoron um jumbo Jo all right anybody else I um I think we ran through honestly most of the prospects at the scrimmage but just want again yeah really stood that there were a lot a lot of guys there definitely but for me though I’m going to be watching bit more closely rookie Face Off is it’s five on five is versus another team too so I think that’s that’s that’s what I like to see that some of these guys absolutely absolutely dominate that tournament we’re talking Smith s Labrini and also some of these guys that they they show sort of at least their their attributes I don’t know if ER will be there because shl season will start but yeah you mentioned a swaboda right can he kind of show step it up I’m not sure if he’s going to be available for it I yeah his commitments uh but oh actually he’s going to college right so yeah so he won’t be right yeah so but whoever does happen to be there though yeah definitely um I think that that’s going to be a better sort of way to to to judge and as marshan put he said what are you gonna look like a couple months from now in terms of your Fitness I he mentioned I have your numbers from from July from death camp is it better if it’s not better you’re going back to Junior most likely and so that’s going to be the big big test more than this game the scrimmage more than whatever the draft where you’re drafted right these two months from now to September this is what’s going to pretty much kind of Define your season and where you’re going to be placed this season and so hopefully all the guys there that are kind of in between yeah your celebrini or Smith which pretty sure those guys are going to take it very very seriously of course but guys like musty that hope tol Kon that hope to make the AHL Halon that hope to make the AHL You’ got to show a leap from like you mention as impressive as Halton was here he’s got to be in even better shape well even in better shape in September yeah that was the interesting thing from or Smith too was him saying like you know 8 to 10 pounds of you know weight is the goal kind of thing and that he’s just had to put on more like just eat more his mom is helping him with that yeah he’s eat more um so he’s you know he’s getting a little bit of coaching on uh dietary habits so anyway I I love uh this time of the offseason it’s about to get very boring so this is the the high point for about a month and a half so and then we have World Junior shammer showcase and Ian hinka and stuff like that to keep me interested but yeah last last summer we had an Eric Carlson trade to worry about for deep into August yeah yeah we have celebrini watch that’s it yeah but I think that’s going to end quickly sh said that decision would be quick and like I said I maintain that he’s going to sign so maybe we’ll we’ll learn uh maybe they they don’t want to drop this news July 4th weekend yeah and maybe we’ll learn early next week you know I think that’s what they did with Will Smith obviously knew about wil Smith for a long time right Sean Sean coffee wil Smith’s agent told told us that what early may even before the draft lottery they they knew and they were telling people that he’s he’s coming right and they held it till obviously will to hold it because he was at World Championships and his sister was graduating but um like I said I found out on a Saturday and I I I told everybody this process I I deduced that they wouldn’t drop on Memorial Day they wouldn’t want to put such big news on on Memorial Day and so this would be my guess so early next week all right well let’s all hope let’s all hope um okay enjoy the uh short interview with Sam Dickinson and we will be back uh next week to talk more baby news it’s just six minutes but it’s a lot of fun it’s kind of like our interview with Will Smith last year mostly just fun light topics and he also tells us like I said why is the number one defenseman and we make Becket senica jokes because they know each other from when they’re teenagers yeah and what what we don’t know about Casper Halton and that he can share with us love it all right hope you guys have a good week bye we want to welcome Sam Dickinson to the S hockey Now podcast you know Sam All Too Well number 11 pick of the San Jose Sharks in this 2024 draft and Sam I’m going to put you on a spot here for a second I got to ask you you said before the draft you are the best defenseman in the draft why are you the best defenseman in this draft uh I think it’s just kind of the the completeness to my game I think I kind of do everything all over the Ice uh I think that’s kind of the the big thing that separates me and you have kind of a chip on your shoulder though for the teams that did not draft you yeah sure I mean you know it’s not something we going to really look back on you know excit about your opportunity with San Jose here so I’m focused on that not not anything else I some guys are you know sort of a burning thing with them right but not so much for you though you think that you’re just again focused on the opportunity here yeah you know I don’t think I’m going to be too worried about that I’ll I’ll focus on San Jose and and being here and and staying present one of the teams that did a pass you over was Montreal which you grew up being a fan of so can you tell us how K and front became a Canadians fan yeah I think it was um you know growing up my dad was was a Montreal fan so he just kind of you know passed it on to to me and my brother and naturally we just kind of became Montreal fans so that’s that’s kind of who is your favorite Canadians player growing up I was a big PK suan fan oh nice so yeah did you get to meet him at the draft he was all around Vegas I saw him walking around I didn’t get the chance to to meet him but I saw him a couple times just walking around were you a little intimidated to to introduce yourself you seemed a little busy so I I kind of left him into his stuff and was hopefully you get to meet him one day right hopefully yeah and um speaking of a growing up um understand I used to play lacrosse when you’re growing up but how high level did you play yeah I played you know the provincial level with my school in in Toronto for probably six years seven years did you ever think about going pro in that in that in that area uh you know there was a little bit of time when I was younger but uh it was kind of always uh pretty set on hockey and speaking of the sports that kids play growing up like yesterday both M celeb and wiith they threw out first pitches at the San Jose Giants game so tough question who threw a better first pitch uh I think it’s got to be Mac I think his little one Strike Zone I think will threw was a little harder but I think Hit the Dirt so I got to go will said that he threw a better for pitch he said that he had some heat so he had the heat he had the heat but I think he asked to same himself so um so going back to the Canadians uh at the draft comment did they ask you the famous animal question and what was your answer they did ask me that um I said that I was like a killer whale so I said that because you know like I guess the the real Top Dog in in the ocean and you know they’re pretty smart they can work well on teams and so I kind of just had to had to think of something a little bit on the spot but I think it was a pretty good answer yeah if you guys aren’t sure that the Canadians are famous for asking the their combine prospects what animal they would be if uh and until well that’s that’s that’s that’s a good one also too I want to ask you about Beck at Sena who you grew up playing when you’re teenagers um just uh how funny was his reaction when he was the number number three pick yeah it was something uh you know it was kind of funny to see that go on and to know him and to kind of know the guy he is it was you know uh pretty funny to see that but you know him going third overall was so happy for him you know he’s worked so hard and and learned so much so you know it was it was it was you know good for me to see a guy like that and a guy that I knew get rewarded like that I got to show you this the just came out with his shirt of this his reaction what the duck that’s a pretty good one that’s pretty good I think I have to get one you want to get one do you see it yeah and just how was that that night for you how did you celebrate getting drafted by the Sharks yeah it was uh you know a really special night obviously and for me it was kind of just spent uh with my family and you know people had come to to Vegas to support me just back at the hotel so you know it was nice to to see uh you know my family there and to have the support that I did there was really big how did you kind of celebrate special dinner somewhere or see a show or something anything like that no just right back to the hotel back up to to my parents room and just hung out there for the night and um you’re somebody that you can actually play in NHL possibly this coming year and looking at your size you’re a big dude we’re not standing up but Sam is huge so um what is sort of your feeling on that so far just that being out here with the sharks me about that that is that a possibility perhaps that you know if you show well in trading camp that maybe you get you know maybe nine games in or maybe even more yeah I think for everybody if you show up the camp and and you know perform well you know the the opportunities are going to come but for me it’s just kind of you know right down taking everything that’s going on here and you know going back home understanding you know what they want for me and and how I can get better so um for me it’s just kind of focusing on you know right now and and kind of the the summer coming up and then you know once training camp rolls around you know it’ll kind of be alliz on on what’s uh what’s next to me the possib there uh if that were to happen if you were to play a few games just what are the things that you need to kind of up is it strength you seem like a very strong guy but is that something you got work or skating or what do you think it is what’s sort of that that difference between you and yeah I think it’s a little bit of everything obviously you know it’s the NHL it’s it’s grown men you’re playing against you know as an 18-year-old you know I can be you know as strong as I want but naturally you know being going up against the 25y old 26 old it’s just you know obviously going to be harder so for me it’s just a little bit of everything getting better at everything and you know being ready for another tal has come and as a very strong dude yourself who is the strongest guy that you’ve faced in Camp so far um I I honestly I can’t really remember you know it’s been you’re stronger than everybody yeah sure we’ll go with that but no there’s there’s a lot of really good players here so it’s uh you know a little bit of a blend of everything you got from different guys and one more question for you and thanks for the time Sam Casper Halton obviously your London kns teammate you know him well what is something about C hton that we don’t know that you can share um he likes pancakes we go for breakfast before every day day yeah in London and he he’ll take pancakes off of guys then does he like Maple little chocolate syrup is he plain pancakes I think he throws a little syrup on it but that’s about it that’s good it’s healthy yeah not no butter right exactly yeah all right Sam thank you so much congratulations again thank you appreciate it thanks so much for your time thank you [Music]
Sam Dickinson joins the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast!
But before we get to Sam (2:04:47), we recap a busy week in San Jose Sharks hockey, including free agency and development camp.
What did we think of the Sharks signing Tyler Toffoli? (02:20) Alexander Wennberg? (09:54) Adding Carl Grundstrom and Ty Dellandrea? (16:45)
What’s our overall feeling about how San Jose Sharks GM Mike Grier had added to the club this off-season? (19:00)
What could the Sharks still be looking to add? Sheng has heard some whispers. (33:40)
Next, let’s talk about the Sharks adding Ryane Clowe as assistant general manager, and Doug Houda and Jeff Ulmer as assistant coaches. (43:20)
Finally, it was an exciting San Jose Sharks’ development camp and scrimmage! (1:01:40)
What did Keegan and Sheng think of some of the big-name and standout prospects?
Macklin Celebrini (1:06:05)
Will Smith (1:21:18)
Quentin Musty (1:27:26)
Sam Dickinson
Kasper Halttunen (1:40:30)
Eric Pohlkamp
David Edstrom (1:51:34)
Brandon Svoboda
Leo Sahlin Wallenius (1:57:23)
The goalies & more
Sheng had a fun chat with Sam Dickinson at development camp! (2:04:47)
Why does Dickinson think that he’s the best defenseman in the 2024 Draft?
How did he answer the famous animal question by the Montreal Canadiens in his Combine interview?
His childhood friendship with Beckett Sennecke and a good laugh at Sennecke’s shocked reaction to being the No. 3 pick by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2024 Draft.
Something fun about London Knights teammate Halttunen that nobody knows?
3 comments
Why are you dropping these at 12am?
Nerduom doesn't stop at 12 am.
Thoughts on Oliver Kylington? Hes LD can can play RD. Im a bit sour on how he (his agent?) handled things in Calgary, but for the right deal, he could be a great pick up.