Jun 26, 2015; Sunrise, FL, USA; Timo Meier puts on a team cap after being selected as the number nine overall pick to the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft at BB&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
The San Jose Sharks wrapped up their 2015 NHL Entry Draft by adding nine players to the organization, highlighted by first-round pick Timo Meier from Switzerland.
Now that the craziness has been completed, let’s see what experts had to say about how general manager Doug Wilson fared over the course of the past two days. It seems that the consensus regarding the Sharks draft centers on your feelings of Meier. Also, it appears that many across the NHL world liked Wilson’s aggressiveness in moving up to grab Jeremy Roy at pick number 31.
Let’s start with the good.
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Allan Mitchell, a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, gave the Sharks high regards for their draft efforts. Mitchell graded out San Jose with an “A” for their performance as he likes the offensive potential of Meier whom he deemed as a “sniper.”
Mitchell seemed to hold San Jose’s in the highest regard as most people gave the Sharks a “B-” for the Meier selection and the weekend as a whole.
Corey Pronman of ESPN was one of those who gave the Sharks a “B-” and here’s what he had to say:
"The Timo Meier pick was slightly high for me, but combining that with Jeremy Roy adds quality to the Sharks system. Asides from Roy, I didn’t love their Day 2 picks. I see upside in a few of them, but I don’t see a lot of legitimate NHL prospects."
From Pronman’s assessments, San Jose added some high-end talent with Meier and Roy but not much else throughout the rest of the draft.
Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated took a slightly different look when dolling out his grades. Muir focused on the weekend as whole in terms of draft and team needs. Again, Muir praised the Sharks for adding a potential first-line scoring option in Meier, and lauded the pick of Roy who while undersized provides some offensive potential from the back-end.
However, Muir’s “B-” grade came from the fact that Wilson departed Florida without having a number one goaltender and failing to address the defense corps, despite coming close to a deal with Kevin Bieksa which fell apart.
Finally, Chris Peters of CBS Sports gave the Meier selection a “C+” grade because he thinks the Sharks reached in selecting Meier at number nine, despite his offensive upside.
The draft is an inexact science and unlike the NFL or NBA, it’s very rare to see top prospects make immediate impacts at the NHL-level. The Sharks have some ingredients to work with, but now they must develop that talent to ensure this draft was a successful one.