Checking in on conditional picks for the San Jose Sharks with 10 games to go
This season is getting close to its natural conclusion. We know the Sharks will not go to the playoffs since they sit 5 points adrift at the bottom of the NHL standings. Time is running out on this season, and it cannot come soon enough. After last night's blown lead at home to the Chicago Blackhawks, this season cannot end soon enough. We'll see if the Sharks can make a few memories for the road, but it's been not very pleasant for the most part.
However, we get to look ahead to the draft, where the Sharks hope to have the first overall pick. But it isn't the only draft picks the team in Teal possesses. They have acquired a lot of draft choices this year through trades and deals. So, this will be a busy time for the organization, so we will use this time to evaluate all the options available when we get to the summer event at the Globe in Vegas.
Currently, the Sharks have the rights to nine different picks. Some of this will change, though, as conditions for picks are met or not. This number will also change. This also doesn't account for the fact that the Sharks could trade up or down on the draft floor. Teams like to maximize the value of their picks where they can, and the Sharks could opt to do that with pure numbers if they think it's the right thing to do.
So, with all that in mind, how are things looking on the picks the Sharks have acquired conditionally? Will the Sharks be getting them, and where will they be falling? Let's have a look together. It cannot be worse than watching the Sharks blow a 4-0 lead at home to the Chicago Blackhawks, so here we go!
Pittsburgh's First Round Pick
Let's start in the first round and work our way down. San Jose holds the rights to the Pittsburgh Penguins' first-round pick this year. Like Mikael Granlund, Mike Hoffman, and Jan Rutta, the Erik Karlsson trade landed these pieces in the Bay area. However, the pick was not outright given to the Sharks this year; instead, they put a condition on it to prevent this from coming back and biting them in the neck.
It's top ten protected, meaning that if the Pittsburgh Penguins draft choice falls between 1 and 10 overall, they have the option to defer it to the 2025 draft, which is next year. However, that would not be protected at all, so the Sharks would have that pick regardless of how the Penguins played. It was done to prevent them from giving the Sharks Macklin Celebrini, but it doesn't mean they cannot get a good player if things go right,
As of the time of writing, the Penguins would hold the eighth overall pick in the draft if it were today, and the draft lottery wouldn't change anything. However, this could change rapidly since the Penguins are two points away from entirely moving out of the top ten picks. That would give the Sharks the draft pick anyway and provide them with the right to select quite a talent.
This still needs to be clarified. We'll know for sure after the season, but it seems increasingly unlikely that, with each Penguins loss, the Sharks will get the right to reap the rewards of that pick this season. It'll likely have to wait for next year. We will see if time and the hockey gods decide to change anything, but it is what it is now. Things haven't gone smoothly for the Sharks this season, so expect this to go wrong too.
New Jersey Devils second-round pick
This one is different from the Pittsburgh pick. New Jersey's pick is San Jose's to use no matter what, but it could get better. It would require the Devils to get to the Eastern Conference Finals, but if they were to progress two rounds in the playoffs, the pick would become the Devils' first-rounder. Now, for conference finalists, it would be one of the four latest picks in the round, but it's a nice idea.
For those keeping track at home, this pick is from the deal that sent Timo Meier to the Devils at last year's trade deadline. This was the same deal that let the Sharks acquire Shakir Muhamadullin, Nikita Okhotiuk, Fabian Zetterlund, and the pick that would be used on Quentin Musty, so it has already become a pretty fruitful trade for the Sharks, regardless of how this pick works out. If it becomes a good player, that would be great. If not, does it matter anymore?
New Jersey is in the Eastern Conference playoff race, but Eastern Conference finals seem unrealistic. With 11 games to go, New Jersey currently sits six points back of the playoff places. It's a long fight for the Devils, but they look set to miss the playoffs again. It would mean that the pick wouldn't move up to a first-round pick, but given what else came in this deal anyway, it doesn't matter right now.
If the Devils were to get into the playoffs, they'd have to compete with clubs like the New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, and Boston Bruins. Those eastern powerhouses, like the Devils, will be difficult for a team on the fringes to overcome and progress deep enough to make the pick move up a round. Mike Grier will have to settle for the second round pick right now.
Chicago Blackhawks Fifth Round Pick
The final conditional pick the Sharks have is the Chicago Blackhawks fifth-round draft pick. This pick has been passed around the league multiple times, but the Sharks now have it ahead of the draft this summer. No fewer than four NHL teams have held the rights to this draft pick. It's been sent around the NHL. It was initially traded to Vancouver for Anthony Beauvillier. Then, it moved to Calgary in the trade that sent Nikita Zadorov to Vancouver. It resides in San Jose after the Nikita Okhotiuk deal at the deadline.
This pick is still up in the air for what it will be because of the unique condition. It will be the better of the two draft choices that the Blackhawks own. That was a condition put on the initial pick that went to Vancouver, so it has transferred around the league with the draft choice and eventually fallen into the hands of the Sharks. It's another shot at a dart board on the draft floor, so we will see what happens here.
Fifth-round draft picks rarely turn into NHL superstars, but nothing is beyond the bounds of possibility in the NHL. A player may break the traditional mold of the later rounds and become a stud for the San Jose Sharks roster. They can help bring the team sustained success like Joe Pavelski did long ago when he was drafted in the seventh round. Fairytales in hockey are not as rare as other places, so there is always a chance.
So, those are the three picks you must watch between now and the end of the season. After the draft lottery during the first round of the playoffs, we will know the order of the draft, which will give us a better indication of how things are going when it comes to acquiring the picks. Time is the friend of all Sharks fans right now as we close in on the end of the season and the conclusion of our suffering through this nightmarish campaign.