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San Jose Sharks Acquire Prospect Maxim Letunov From Arizona

By Mike McCareins

May 29, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; San Jose Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer and general manager Doug Wilson answer questions during media day a day prior to game one of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final at the CONSOL Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
May 29, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; San Jose Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer and general manager Doug Wilson answer questions during media day a day prior to game one of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final at the CONSOL Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Sharks are already making moves leading up to this week’s NHL Draft as Doug Wilson was busy on Monday morning.

The San Jose Sharks dealt a 2016 fourth-round pick and 2017 third-round selection to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for center prospect Maxim Letunov and a 2017 sixth-round pick, according to the team website.

The deal means the Sharks hold just two picks in the first four rounds in the draft later this week, a second-round selection and a fourth-round pick via the New York Rangers, and just five in total.

Meanwhile, the ‘Yotes continue to stockpile picks for this year’s draft, as the club now has two first-round picks, two second-round picks, a third-round pick and a fourth-round pick. With one of the best group of prospects of any team in the league and an organization filled with budding talent, Arizona looks to be a force to be reckoned in the next decade if all goes well.

The Sharks know going in to this year’s draft that they don’t have much to work with with just one selection in the Top 100, but then again, they don’t have many holes to fill in their roster coming off the incredible year they had.

Letunov is a fairly high-touted prospect who was dominant in his first of year of college hockey at UCONN, scoring 16 goals and tallying 40 points in 36 games.

According to hockeysfuture.com, Letunov is “an offensively-gifted forward” who can be a playmaker at the NHL level but “his defensive game could use some work” and he has yet to show he can be counted on in all aspects of the game. He most likely will stay in college a couple more years and not be ready for a jump to the NHL any time extremely soon.

Nobody is doubting GM Doug Wilson anymore after his success in the offseason led to his team reaching their first Stanley Cup Final in franchise history, plus the phenomenal drafting and maneuvering he has done in recent years.

Matt Nieto and Chris Tierney were both late second-round selections in 2011 and 2012 and he also nabbed Dylan DeMelo in the sixth-round in 2011. Tomas Hertl, a 2013 first-round pick, looks to be a staple of the Sharks first-line for the next several years.

Next: Sharks Face Kings in Home Opener

Right around this time in 2011 he traded Charlie Coyle to Minnesota for Brent Burns and that 2012 second-round pick which turned into Tierney. That is looking like one of the most lopsided deals in the league in recent memory, favoring the Sharks.

San Jose lacks much center depth in their system, so it makes sense why they would deal a fairly low pick this year to acquire the 20 year-old Russian. The team has found success in European prospects Joonas Donskoi (FIN) Tomas Hertl (CZR) and Melker Karlsson (SWE) and they’re hoping Letunov can develop as well as those three did.

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