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I dig your content prof. Efficient, to the point, confident, and insightful. Keep up the good work. Also the black shirt is better than the white one with the w/worn out collar. 👌🏻

Ppl aren’t talking abt eklund enough. He’s gonna put up 80 points next year

Hey Professor, I have some news of my own to break here: I have also signed my ELC...with myself. Expectations are particularly low for me but, the situation is precedented so who knows? hahaha This is definitely great news and sort of as you indicated ends the speculation that most figured Maclin would sign and turn pro. I did some digging and for comparison Patrick Marleau his rookie season (different era. Marleau broke in during the height of the "clutch and grab/obstruction era where scoring was down a lot by virtue of the defensive style featured in the NHL then) played in 74 games for 32 pts as second over all pick. Joe Thornton played in 55 games for 7 pts as the first over all pick. Owen Nolan played 55 games for 13 pts as the first over all pick. This last player I think is more like Celebrini with his two way game and high level of skill. Joe Sakic played 70 games for 62 pts as the 15th over all pick all of those players came into the league in that clutch and grab era. Pretty telling how great Sakic was as a player that he could do so well as a rookie only playing in 70 games and still putting up over 60 pts! How many GM's are kicking themselves to this day that they passed on Sakic? I am very much looking forward to seeing how well Macklin and Will Smith do this year and I hope nothing major happens to them as they launch their NHL careers. We have had so many great young players get hurt early in their careers from Marco Sturm, Milan Michalek, and Thomas Hertl to name a few. Thanks for this great news Professor. Cheers! Pete Clovis, CA

Better than going back to college

Capfriendly says he signed a contract of 3 years worth 13.5 million but his cap hit will only be 975 thousand. I dont understand rookie contracts to much. Can anyone explain that?

Thanks Prof! It's gonna be a fun season. Can't wait!

Love to see it!!! The only thing I’m worried about is his size/weight right now, he was getting pushed off the puck pretty easily at Dev camp Time to bulk up this summer!!

Going to be fun to watch even if they are still a bottom 5 team.

Great news prof. Just woke up to this news at the top of my feed. Made my day

As a longtime Sharks fan and former season ticket holder this is great news to me and the organization as a whole. It reminds me a lot of the late 90's when the Sharks had numerous great draft picks who would go on to anchor there success from that 2000 miracle upset of the President Trophy winning Blues to that great 04 Western Conference Finals against Calgary and beyond. Players like Marleau, Scott Hannah, Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart and Evgeny Nabokov set the foundation for the teams future success and I get the same feelings with all these young draft picks. With the signing of Celebrini now I am more likely to put some money down and take my family to a Sharks game just like my parents did during the Cow Palace days. Lets go Sharks!!!!!

Thanks again Professor Hockey! I followed the Sharks from 1991-2019. And have no idea what happened to the Sharks the last 5 years.

Based on his comments since the draft, and this past week at the Development Camp, not surprising, but definitely great news and glad it happened sooner than later! Plus, and let’s not forget Smith, Eklund and other prospects, along with certain core current players, a much needed new head coach, the future is improving. And of course, there will be challenging times ahead, but now there does indeed appear to better times ahead. Go Sharks!

LETS GOO🎉

We're so Backlin

Dude you think with Smith and Celebrini will push us to 30 wins this year?

He deserve it! Good kid

Celebrini will carry!

Really fun game..though as a 4-on-4 and 3-on-3 exercise it was destined to be largely a show of offensive skills --which were very much in evidence! Smith and Musty were tremendous, especially together...but nice surprises were Pohlkamp (consistently) and Svoboda (in flashes). Pohlkamp's a D but he has great offensive skills and creativity. Can't wait to see him again innext year's camp after another year in NCAA. Also thought Bystedt and Graf played well, as did several others. This format doesn't allow one to rigorously judge defensive skills, since nobody was allowed to be physical - that strongly favors the forwards. Dickinson got beat several times, and stripped of the puck at least once. He plays with a lot of self-confidence - sometimes, perhaps, more than is warranted, leading to turnovers.. He's going to need some AHL time to mature, but he has a ton of upside potential..

Nice analysis Professor, its definitely exciting to be a Sharks fan again, I am definitely getting excited for the upcoming season the future definitely looks bright.

I agree with all your observations I don’t hear anyone discussing the possibility of Musty making the NHL team though. I remember last year people thought Smith would go to college which he did but Musty had a good chance of making the NHL but we knew Grier likes to season his prospects. Now it’s a year later and he had one of the best productions in his league and it doesn’t make much sense for him to repeat that. Also he looks very effective with Smith and will most likely be way more effective that any of the bottom line forwards that Grier got this offseason. Why not risk waivering those players to be in the AHL to insure the barracuda make it into the playoffs and maybe even get far while allowing Musty a spot on the roster. It will be better for his development and you get a better understanding of what you have with the Sharks and what tweaks may need to happen for the future. I know it’s a scrimmage and all your points are valid of it not being a heavy defensive type of game but Musty is a big boy and it would surely do him better playing in the NHL than going back.

So is there anyone from the scrimmage game who will be on the team next season or will we have to wait another year to see them on main team

Sitting at the glass, I echo much of your review from the video, but really think Graf was impressive. Sitting on the Teal side, I was able to see how Macklin used the pressure on him to open options, he fed some great passes to his teammates once the defense committed to Macklin. It was a lot of fun to watch. I agree that Smith was the top dog yesterday.

Professor you got 1.2k on this video already. I’m so happy for you. Keep it up man. You’re the best !

it feels weird having a very nice prospect pool

Svoboda was a pleasant surprise. He showed some good offensive flashes and was able to control parts of the game with his size. It will be interesting to see how he does with BU this upcoming year

Great analysis. I agree with your assessment of the prospects. This game had a flow of an all-star game(showcase).

Thrun needs time with the Barracuda to develop. He shouldn't have been playing as much as he did last year but injuries absolutely ravaged the d-men. Seems like he'll be a solid middle pair or bottom pair defenseman, hope everything works out for him.

I love your content and I don’t comment often but could you please use your mic as a clip on or hold it further away? You’re popping and overloading that mic. Cheers tho, trying to be constructive ❤

The game was so much fun! Seeing the kids in action was a treat. The Fresh Prince made a series of sick moves for the only goal of the shootout. And it was all made even better by hearing Drew doing color...

sam didnt look that great you can tell he needs some more time

I thought Graf and O’Connell stood out, excited to see more from them

Hey Professor, I missed the scrimage but, that is very encouraging. I totally agree that we now have a goodly number of prospects in the cupboard and should for the next little while see waves of players ready to challenge for a roster spot creating that good problem that competition brings. Peter Clovis, CA

The futur is bright in SJ

Those first few shifts teal was really targeting celibrini phisically. Probably getting back at him for all the questions they had to answer about playing with him from the media lol

Stoked for the future man

Agree it does push young players down, but GMMG has to meet the cap floor. He's not going to do that by playing ELC's or bringing 2-way contracts up.

I like both pickups. I agree that the depth is concerning for the youth, and it will make it more difficult for them to make the roster, but at the same time, the Sharks could not trot out the same type of players from a skills standpoint as they did last season. If what GMMG did to improve the roster makes it harder for the young players to make it, that is not necessarily a bad thing. In all sports, players should earn their spots, and GMMG ensured the Sharks players making the roster would have to earn their spots. No player other than Bords should worry about the added players. Does this mean Bords could find himself on the outside looking in? That is up to Bords, don't you agree? If he cannot beat out a third- or fourth-line player, he needs to continue developing in the AHL. Eklund, Kostin, and Zetterlund will be fine IMO. Adding players is only sending a message to them that they will have to raise their game if they wish to make the Sharks roster. Isn't this what they should be? The biggest concern is Coots. If GMMG and the Sharks knew 100% that Coots would be ready for the regular season, then they would not have needed to bring in a player like Wennberg. But it seems they are not certain Coots can come back at all. Even if he does, he has had a year off. That is a lot to come back from. A player takes a lot of time to bring their game back to what it was before the injury in terms of their play in a game. Kunnin is a recent example of this. His second half of last season was much better than his first half. Overall, the additions were necessary to fill holes and create internal competition. This ensures that players have to raise their level of play to make the roster, which is a good thing regardless of their experience.

I disagree in a sense that this is ideal for the Sharks. They have a lot of depth now, too much depth, that means they now have assets that can be moved. Granlund, Sturm, Kunin, all on their final year of their contract, I would expect at least 2 of the 3 to be dealt at the deadline. I also believe this is a year where the Sharks make a decision on Bordelaeu and Guschin, one of those guys will unfortunately not be in the organization next year. Once the trade deadline passes, certain players will be able to move up the depth chart. The same goes for the defense, wouldnt be shocked if some of the back end gets moved at the deadline Rutta for example.

I don't think Toffoli is at the elite level that a 4-year contract by the age of 32 would be profitable

Afansyev is gone now

Hey Professor, Taffoli? That's big news and a good signing for us. Pretty much exactly what we were hoping to find at the price we figured. I think your right about how the younger prospects hoping to find a spot on the Sharks next season will likely take this. The young guys want an opportunity and from their perspective there is likely going to be some grumbling and I would imagine one or two phone calls from various prospects agents demanding answers and expressing this frustration. A concern that you express often is our offensive potential and considering how bad we were in the league last season offensively (weren't we last in goals scored per game or some such?) I think that is a valid concern. That said where is our area of greatest deficiency? Secondarily which area are we most likely to be able to affect significant improvement for next season? From my perspective (not that I now anything hahaha) its defense. Offensive skill can be improved and developed to a degree but, I think offensive skill is something most young players have already showed success at before they are drafted or acquired and there is a reason that offensively skilled free agents cost the most. Defense usually is a by product of want to and technique not necessarily innate skill although that is hugely beneficial. The will to compete in the defensive zone is more necessary to my mind. Last year as bad as our D corps were at defending our forwards with a few exceptions were awful to inconsistent defending. Is it possible to bring in some reliable, proven defensive bottom 6 forwards to shore up that leaky forward defensive capability? Yes. And, its much cheaper than acquiring scoring. I think Grier said when he first got here he didn't want players to matriculate to the NHL because its time he wanted them to bust into the line up by force of virtue and effort. I am sure when Grier came into the league that was probably how it was. Young prospects had to stew in the minors pulling their hair out and playing with what hair they had left on fire to finally get a shot. I am not sure in this day and age if the young prospects will tolerate that. The younger generations are less patient and perhaps even more demanding and so I think it is likely some may do as you say and blow a gasket and demand a trade or choose to play elsewhere. I think that is certainly a realistic scenario. Conversely, the Baracuda were not very good last season. The only way they are likely to improve is with more quality players. If we want the young guys coming up from a winning culture at some point we have to bolster the Cuda and build that franchise into a winning tradition and Grier also talked about that post season. Can we manage that? Other franchises seem to? Tough challenges to navigate...good thing we're Sharks and Baracuda! hahaha! Thanks Professor! Pete Clovis, CA

We need a guy like Toffoli for all the reasons you cited,Professor. We had a great draft but Celebrini and Smith will need a proven scorer to play with. The problem with the vet signings as a group is not with today's signings, but with signings like Dallandria, Kunin, etc - vets who have already proven that they have reached their asymptote and it isn't high enough to matter. These are the guys who have created the bloat in the bottom six. Let's hope they don't stand in the way of letting Gushin and Bordeleau get a fair shake - not to mention Musty and Edstrom the Sharks cannot afford a repeat of last season - it's demoralizing to their young talent and to the fanbase. Their competitors are not standing still- just look at how active other teams have been in signing talented vets. The Sharks needed to find a top-six forward - and they still need another experienced - preferably R-handed - Dman....but it looks like they have missed that opportunity, unfortunately. Most of the good veteran defensemen have now been snapped up by other teams.

"Excuse me, Mr. Grier, but what part of a 'rebuild' are all these veteran pickups...?"

As a Canucks fan, I'm really jealous you got Toffoli whom I really wanted back for our team. But these moves show the Sharks are taking steps, they're not aiming for another bad year.

Muy Profes'or

Fantastic video professor

I feel like one part of Grier's weakness as a GM is he see the bottom of the roster more like a dog fight. Piling up multiple of them and letting the better (often more proven) one getting a chance over the others. Last year, it was at the defense with an overwhelmed amount of 3rd pairing Dman. This year, it's bottom 6 forwards, and I absolutely do not like this way of thinking that these people have to "fight" to even get a roster place, they will just feel more frustrated at the end of the day. In this situation, I think all thing considered the signing of Wennberg makes total sense to me in the sense that it needs a 3rd C after all. My bigger grip is : Kunin and Goodrow, for sure. These are the people that ultimately will cut roster spots of : Bordeleau, Gushchin, Afanasyev, Graf, Dellandrea, Grundström. I feel bad for these players and hope they get a solid chance and that the favoritism toward both Goodrow and Kunin, especially Kunin stops and everyone gets a chance. Or heck even trading some of these players so they get a chance somewhere else, and we get something in return instead of just losing these assets for nothing

These young guys have proven ineffective

Grier has said everyone has to earn a spot, and he isn't afraid to to send vets down if a rookie beats them out. Those players the left the org aren't NHL caliber and if players want to cry about not getting NHL time because they can't make the roster of the worst team in the league then they don't deserve to be in the league either.

Yeah the Weinberg deal had me scratching my head a bit. I was surprised Greir Didn’t target any RH Dmen since that’s our biggest need right now and like you said we have a ton of forwards. I’m thinking Coture might have played his last NHL game hence the move, but I’m really hoping they don’t snub a lot of our younger guys who are ready for the NHL. Really hoping the new coach doesn’t have the same mindset as Quinn when it comes to young players and vets either, whoever’s playing better should be the one on the ice. Well just have to wait and see how training camp goes.