It's going to be a lot of fun watching how Michael Misa continues to build on the incredible season he just had (2.06 pts per game) in the OHL. The only thing remotely negative that anyone can think to say about him as a prospect is that maybe he's a little too much like last year's number 1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini in being freakishly good at everything? Neither guy has a "best in their class" shot or puck-handling skills or dominant size or speed but there's certainly a lot of value in playing mistake-free hockey and being a threat to score a goal or set one up every time these guys touch the puck. Misa slots in right away as the leader of the second forward line where I expect him to be joined soon by Igor Chernyshov and Kasper Halttunen.
The Dallas Stars advancing to the Western Conference Finals put that traded first round pick the Sharks picked up all the way down at #30 and most of the first round went as projected with the last remaining "homerun" pick, Lynden Lakovic, going 3 spots earlier to Washington. I was hoping for Malcolm Spence or Blake Fiddler at this spot but Mike Grier continues to make impressive selections in the draft and made a more sensible choice to re-stock some of the goalkeeper depth he traded away this year with a guy I know almost nothing about except that he's very tall and plays with a right-handed glove like Yaroslav Askarov. He makes sense as either a future #2 goalkeeper or a hedge against the still mostly unproven Askarov never solidifying that #1 spot.
In the second round Grier passed on both Malcolm Spence and Blake Fiddler again but drafted similar types of players in Haoxi Wang (a 17 year old big-bodied defenseman with a lot of raw potential) and Cole McKinney (a defensively sound Center / Forward destined for a penalty kill type of role, perhaps in the third line). I'm not sure that the Sharks have a top pairing defenseman in their organization yet, so missing out on Matt Schaefer is a tiny bit disappointing, but I'm happy with all of the players that San Jose did draft this year -- especially Misa -- so it's hardly worth dwelling on. In addition to their own pick, the Sharks are owed a first round pick from Edmonton next year (top 12 protected) and will still be looking for a Left Winger to team up with Celebrini and Smith and a top pairing defenseman or two if they can't fill those spots in free agency. Bring on the 2025-2026 season! I didn't end up going to any games last season, but hopefully I'll make it out to at least one of their 4 regular season matches down in LA (at the Crypt or the Duck Pond) this year.
