San Jose Sharks 2025 Draft Class and Free Agency

San Jose Sharks 2025 Draft Class and Free Agency

[Music] dominate. Dominate dominate. Dominate. I did not go on the play. I came to dominate. Dominate dominate. Dominate. Dominate. Hey, what’s going on guys? It’s been a couple of weeks since we last got together to talk about Sunday Sharp hockey. And before we begin today’s episode, I just want to ask Tyler, bro, what was it like running to Joe Thornton and William Ecklan in like one week’s time span? Oh man, as a Sharks fan, I was I was freaking out internally, but I had to keep my cool. Uh the Joe Thornton one. I’ll just quickly explain what happened. I was at the Metallica concert at Levi Stadium. Saw Joe Thornton walk by. It’s really hard to miss him if you know who he is. You know, a six foot tall bearded gentleman. Uh so I saw him. He was right next to me in line. We were getting like burritos and I was just like, “Hey, that’s Joe Thornton. That’s Joe Thornton.” I was telling everyone around me and like everybody was like, “Who’s that?” And I was like, “You have got to be kidding me. This is Joe Thornton, like Hall of Fame legend.” Uh, so that was really fun. He was really nice, super chill. Uh, just asked for a picture. That’s the post that you posted. Um, and then for William Ecklan, he was there to uh support his brother Victor at the NHL draft. Really awesome to meet him. And uh, just like also another story was like uh that I thought was fun was I was hanging out with some friends. He recognized my friends because they worked with the barracuda, the sharks, and everything else. So, he went up to us and he gave us the sole responsibility to watch his phone while I was charging. Just a fun little story. So, I thought that was cool. Very cool. I will say in Joe Thornton’s defense, if there’s any place uh a six foot plus bearded man is going to fit in, a metal concert might be the place to do it.
Oh, yeah. epic shark sighting uh both at the Metallica concert here in the Bay and the NHL draft in SoCal. All right, so I had to ask that question because that kind of opens up our discussion today. Uh so since we last got together, some big headliners here in Starks territory. Uh first three that come to mind is obviously Joe Thornton being um inducted or being selected as a class of the Hockey Hall of Fame 2025 and um William Ecklund earning that contract extension. Yeah. I mean in the case of Joe Thornton being inducted or being in the the upcoming class to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, is anyone really surprised? Uh I know I am not. He is greatest shark of all time, arguably right there with with Patrick Marlo, right up there in most assists of all time. Just uh just a presence in the league for so long since 1997. Uh so many accolades and just a personality that no one’s really come across in a long time. If anyone’s deserving of it, it’s Jumbo Joe. And then onto the contract extension. I think it’s a great deal. I know a lot of people were wanting to lock uh lock up Eklund for longer term. It’s a it’s a three-year by $5.6 million per year contract, but I think for the time being, it’s a it’s great value. It gives William Mecklland an opportunity to earn a big payday down the road. And for a team with a lot of cap space to work with, this puts the Sharks in a really good position in the next three years. Yeah. I mean, uh, starting with the Joe Thornton one, obviously a really welldeserving player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Uh, just one of the best passers in recent memory and possibly in history. Um, and then of course just like being a Sharks franchise leader in so many different stat categories, it’s just a huge honor to be fans of a player that played for that team. Just huge honor. And then on top of that, Joe Thornton has been like top 15 in a lot NHL stat, league stats, and of course, a lot of accolades, multiple 100 point seasons, just like huge history maker right there. And just one of the most dominant early 2000s player that you could think of uh to William Ecklan’s extension. I am one of those players or persons that really wanted that extension uh to be a little bit longer, but for the time being, it’s okay. we don’t have to worry about a William Ecklund extension till another four years, not counting this season. Uh but I think it’ll just be a huge huge benefit for the Sharks because around that same time, that’s when the entrylevel deals for Cell Breeny and Smith, those kind of all come up. So you kind of see how the contract is going to look with the salary cap of multiple upcoming future stars. Absolutely. I mean, we already had a pretty extensive episode on Joe Thornton. he actually gave a shout out to our pod to open it up. Uh so you haven’t had a chance to watch that episode that was dedicated to him during his jersey retirement ceremony at the Shark Tank. So um I mean what else can be said except um obviously first Battle Hall of Famer. We’re waiting for Patrick Marlo to join his um NHL record breaking equipment that’s in the hockey hall of fame. But until then, you know, it’s all it’s all jumbo vibes here in San Jose. And um while we are speaking about Jumbo before we move on to the draft, I think this is um something we have to kind of just briefly touch on another kind of in his own right legend as a South Shark. Played his entire career until and that’s Mark Edward Vlic. He was bought out. Um guys reaction to that news dropping here. Yeah. Um, I think I was quite surprised actually cuz I figured given that this was going to be the last year on his deal that the Sharks might as well just ride it out, especially given the fact that the Sharks were trying to hit the cap floor, which uh proved kind of difficult to uh to accomplish. Um, but I think, you know, from a performance perspective, it’s not all that surprising. Uh he was in and out of the lineup quite a bit over the last season or two. Um obviously he’s been a legend for the Sharks for a very long time as well. Right up there with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marlo and for so many years he was the premier shutdown defenseman in the league really. You know making appearances for team Canada in the Olympics World Cup of hockey. Lot of accolades to his name too. But I was surprised to see it happen. Um am I particularly upset? I don’t know. I’m kind of indifferent about it just because it gives opportunity for more people to snag up a roster spot on the Sharks and maybe gives us an opportunity to be a little bit more competitive. But I only have good things to say about Vlac. As I mentioned, he is a legend in his own right in the Sharks organization and I hope he does continue his career uh unfortunately it being elsewhere. Yeah, I mean just as you were saying, I think a lot of us were surprised if this was uh a scenario where the contract was bought out last year or even the year before, then maybe we could have been like, okay, that kind of makes sense. Uh but just for it to one more year left and like you said, we’re trying to reach the cap floor. That part I was kind of confused on, but it does like you say uh open a roster spot for the younger guys and everything. Um, if we’re talking about Blic as himself, he’s just been a Sharks legend. Uh, his early years of the Sharks, just one of the best shutdown defenseman, a second round pick, of course. Uh, for people that are new to Sharks territory, like near the end of his career, people will be like, “Oh, well, his his contract doesn’t really equate to that.” that. But you got to remember throughout Blastic’s whole career, I people argue he was underpaid most of the time and that final contract was the one where it really brought value to what he brought to the team. So, uh those are my thoughts on classic, but he’s uh really uh an amazing player to watch. So, I’m happy to see which team he joins. With the second overall selection in the 2025 NHL draft, the San Jose Sharks are proud to select from the Sagena spirit. Michael Misa. San Jose Sharks had what many professionals raved as an A+ draft class this year in 2025. Uh not going to go into much details for all the picks selected. However, I do want to just kind of focus on the top four pick. That being the two first rounders and the two second rounders. Uh so, first and foremost, Michael Misa is a San Jose Shark is finally reality. A lot of people try to throw us a curveball before the draft saying that it may not be him and the Sharks may be trying to trade away the second round pick, but Mike Greer said that it always has been Michael Misa. So, um, how do you guys feel about having number 77 until
Well, I’m going to let you kick it off, Tyler, cuz I know you were there. So, uh, may maybe give us a little bit about the whole experience, too. Excellent point.
Yeah. So, uh, while I was there, it was super fun cuz like you said, the Sharks tried to throw a uh, curveball at us. So, there was multiple fans talking about, oh, we may not even get Michael Misa. But that was other fans of other teams. The fans of the San Jose Sharks were really excited to see Michael Misa. Everybody wanted him on the team. So, I I know I can speak on a majority of Sharks territory that fans are really excited for him to join us. I’m in 134 points in 65 games for uh Sagin Spirit. That is absolutely absurd. Uh he was also a captain. He was he’s a leader. He’s everything that you want. We didn’t get number one, but I am pretty happy with number two in our pick right there. Absolutely. Um I I I will say I never bought into any of that smoke. I knew that Misa was going to be the guy. Um you know, when you see a guy as talented as him who had the kind of season he did in Sagena, as you mentioned, Tyler, I believe it was something like 62 goals and 72 assists on top of that in 65 regular season games. just a ridiculous season for him. Such a talented player getting comparisons to Mlin Celabbrini. Um I was so relieved when Mike Greer did the right thing and selected Michael Misa. You guys already know before the draft that I was a huge fan of Misa’s game. Really wanted to see him in the Shark Sweater. So for me, that’s a dream come true as a fan and a spectator. Um, we have an episode, a previous episode on frost bitten covering Michael Misa. So, if you want to get to know the player a little bit more in depth, his journey to the pros, we highly recommend checking that out. Another episode that’s worth your time is Dan Risenowski. So, he kind of predicted the future here. The future is Till and San Sharks may select a goalender in the upcoming draft and they surprised everybody by selecting one in the first round. 30th overall with Joshua Ravensburg. Um, were you guys surprised to see that the Sharks decided to go toward the net, fill up the crease with this uh second first round selection? Um, I would say yes. I would say uh my experience being at the draft, I would I can also confidently say a lot of Sharks fans at the draft were really surprised uh just right off the bat when they announced that he was a goalender. I like audibly heard Sharks fans gas and be like he’s a goalender. Uh so I think that’s a big shock for us. Of course, we had the privilege to speak to Dan. Uh so I was expecting a goalender, just not in the first round. I was thinking more second, possibly even third round. Um but first round, very shocked. I’m really curious to see uh what the Sharks and Mike Greer will uh do with Ascarov and Ravensburgen and see how that will work out. in the future and see what the future plans are in the pipeline. Yep. I also am in the camp of being very surprised. Um, as you guys have mentioned, I was expecting a goalender at some point, but definitely not in the first round, especially when there were still some some valuable defenseman available at that uh at that position. Uh, particularly Henry Brewstitz, who ended up getting selected right after Ravensburg and by the LA Kings. Um, me personally, I don’t love the idea of selecting a goalender in the first round just because it’s a position that is so iffy. I just feel like a lot of the times goalenders don’t pan out or one season they’re really good and the next season they’re a little, you know, okay. Uh but you know it’s good to have the these kind of prospects in the pipeline in case Ascarov goes down or few years down the line it doesn’t work out with them and uh it’s going to be a testament to the Sharks development staff to see how they foster the growth of Ravensburg and because I can’t recall the last goalie that we really developed into a starting role in the NHL. I mean, you got you have guys like Romanov who got into games, but these aren’t guys that we drafted and really focused on their development as an organization. So, this will be a nice little test for for the goalending development team.
The first pick in the second round of the 2025 NHL draft, the 33rd overall pick, the San Jose Sharks have selected Simon Wong from Ashawa of the Ontario Hockey League. Another guy I wasn’t expecting to be selected and frankly a guy I didn’t know a lot about going into it. Obviously I knew the whole narrative about him you know potentially being the highest drafted Chinese-born player which he ended up being. Um but I didn’t know much about him until I looked him up after we drafted him. And um man what a a career trajectory for him. Um he has stated in interviews that he didn’t start playing hockey super competitively until age 14 and then to four years later get drafted in the NHL. Like as a guy who spent his whole life playing hockey and never even sniffed getting drafted like that infuriates me but also at the same time impresses the hell out of me. It means that the guy can learn fast and uh yeah it just speaks to his coachability. Uh the fact that he’s 66 and can move the way he does. as I was just watching the the prospect scrimmage today online and you know it does hold up the scouting analysis that he is a little raw, a little goofy, but he can he can move for a guy that size and you know he is a project. He’s not going to be in the NHL this upcoming season. He’s not going to be in the season after that. But uh if he can continue to develop as he has at, you know, since age 14, I think we have a real diamond in the rough. Yeah, I mean uh like you said uh before the draft and during the draft, I didn’t hear much about him, but afterwards once you look him up, he’s exactly the type of player that Mike Greer likes. He’s 66. Uh positionally, we needed a defenseman somewhere along this draft. And if you’ve seen on Twitter, they have a clip of him, I believe, going one-on-one with Michael Misa, and he was able to keep up and knock the puck out. So, he has an insane reach because of his height, his stick. Uh, just insane reach. He doesn’t look bad at skating at all for someone that size. I thought it was going to be another uh Zedana Charara type of scenario, but no, he looks like he can keep up with fast players. So, like you said, this could be a diamond in the rough, and I’m really excited to see how uh his trajectory takes off.
The last uh draft pick we’re going to um cover in the 2025 class here, that’s Cole McKenna. He went 53rd overall in the second round. Sounds like Shark’s second second round selection. How do you all feel about this draft pick? Um, just being at the draft, I will say that when he got announced and it was announced that the Sharks were taking him, uh, I was sitting next to some fans and, uh, they were one of those fans where they were surrounded in the hockey world. So, they had their kids play and, uh, those kids played against all these players. So that’s why they’re there for support. So when it was told that McKenna was joining the Sharks, right off the bat, they were like, “Oh, that’s a great pick by them.” So that’s a good sign for Sharks fans that fans of other teams really like this pick for us. Um, career-wise, I believe he was on the World Juniors Championship team. Got, I believe, five points in seven games. So also just a great point producer when it matters the most. Yep. Um, you know, another guy I wasn’t super familiar with. To be honest, I was mostly familiar with the guys going in the first round, but like you said, Tyler, this is a great addition, especially since he was projected to go in like the 30s. We end up grabbing him at 53, played for the US National Development Program where he put up some pretty solid numbers, and I heard he’s just got that battle, like that dog in him. So, um, you know, again, not a player that we probably should expect to see in the next year or two, but, you know, a guy that can join the team and hopefully three or so years and, uh, bring some competitiveness to the middle six. He’s a big body at 6’200 lb already. So, if he continues to get bigger and stronger, that’s prototypical NHL size. I don’t see why he can’t make the team at some point in the future. Just one more quick look at the 2025 draft class. The Sharks had two first round selections, two second round selections, a third, fourth, a third, and two fourths, pardon me, a fifth and a seventh. Uh, tremendous job by the Sun Sharks organization. A lot of their selections were ranked a little higher up on the board from when they landed them. So, as a fan, I’m super excited. Obviously, this is highlighted by Michael Misa and Joshua Ravensburgen, who were in competition during the Sharks prospect scrimmage. Um, but before we go to the development camp, which is where we’ll wrap up today’s episode, let’s just briefly, I don’t think a lot of time needs to be devoted on the Sharks free agency this off season. Um, for the most part, they were quiet throughout day one. Um they did overall in day one transactions alone as we look at that here end up making some moves but you kind of get the idea that this is more for just kind of trying to get to that cap floor. Yeah, get to the cap floor and also bring in some guys to help the Barracuda cuz they also lost some guys this past off season. So, you know, it might not be on paper some of the most sexy acquisitions that we’ve ever made, but you look at guys like John Clingberg and, you know, today we saw them bring in Dimmitri Orv and Nick Lety, that already makes our defensive core a lot more competitive and established with a lot of veterans, which, you know, that that was probably the thing that needed most help this off season. So, Greer went out and did that without having to spend too much money. And you can tell he’s really gearing up for next off seasonason’s free agency where if you look up all the guys who might be eligible UFAs, it’s it’s a ridiculous star-studded lineup. So, um, Greer, he probably tried for some of these bigger names like Eers and and whatnot, but he even said in his presser that a lot of these UFAs either returned to their teams or wanted to go to competitors, which you can’t blame them. Uh, the Sharks are on their way. They’re going to be good sooner rather than later, but he’s Greer’s playing the long game, and I have no problem with that. Yeah, I mean just looking at day one and day two of free agency, like you said, my personal favorite uh acquisitions was John Clingberg and Dimmitri Orof. Demetri Orof uh he just brings a physical presence that Mike Greer likes and especially uh for both players. We needed help on the blue line. So, why not get blue line players to help us out? Veteran presence uh to help out the young guys uh perfect their game uh size, physicality, and even players uh that can go back to their roots like John Clingberg, a little bit of offense as well. Uh so, I think that’s a great uh acquisition and it’s just patience for next season like you said. What I am curious, however, that I see a lot of people talking about is since all these acquisitions, now we kind of have a log jam on left-handed defenseman. So, I’m just curious on what your guys thoughts on that are. I imagine you are um referring to the speculation of a potential trade in the um in the making, right? because we need some more right-handed defenders potentially trade or just if we’re going to send players back down to the AHL even if this season those set players have played a lot of NHL games. I’m just curious. Yeah, I I I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a trade or two in the somewhat near future. Um, I know Mario Ferraro has been kind of in those trade talks for some time, spanning a couple of years really. So, that’s probably candidate number one to be shipped out. Unfortunately, I I love Mario Ferraro. um such a competitor and whoever acquires him, they’re they’re getting a real stud of a defenseman, but I think it is time to give some of our younger guys some looks, especially Sam Dickinson and Luca Kenyon coming in. And so I I hope they can win spots out of camp. Um other guys that we might unfortunately see part ways, uh Henry Thun, um you know, he’s going to have to prove a lot in camp along with Timothy Lilren. So, um, you know, for the first time in a long time, it’s competitive in in our training camp, and I think that’s what Mike Greer’s been looking for. Yeah. And we haven’t even got a chance to mention, so we’ll just do that briefly here, that um, you know, there’s been so many departed um, from Sharks territory. I think the biggest one was most recently after receiving a contract, um, you know, Thomas Bordal gets dealt away. So, um, you know, you have Daniel Guushian, who we hope to see rise to that main roster. Um, my question, which is, I guess we, now that we’re talking about development cap, we might as well just transition to that. Uh, is, you know, will we see Misa, who’s adamant about making it to the Sharks year one? Will we see Sam Dickinson, who doesn’t really have anything else left to prove in the OHL, you know, will we see them make the main roster? Um, to me, these are two, um, talents that you don’t just plug into the CUDA, you put right into the National Hockey League. So, how do you all feel about that? Is it going to be nine games this year and then maybe Misa to college and Sam Dickinson, you know, whatever path they have for him, or do you think there’s a legitimate shot of Misa and Dickinson joining the main roster? I’m I’m in the camp of give them a shot on the main roster, at least those nine games. Like it it’s no secret that the Sharks are still going to be battling to not be a last place team most likely. And so what do we have to lose? I think Sam Dickinson has nothing to prove in the OHL anymore. Even Mike Greer has said that. So I think he definitely will get maybe the Will Smith treatment, getting some development days, not playing backto backs until he shows that he’s ready to take on that workload. And as far as Misa goes, um, you know, frankly, I didn’t watch a ton of development camp uh footage, but I think he’s ready. Um, he shouldn’t go back to the OHL with the numbers he put up, so maybe he goes the college route if not, but let’s at least give him his nine games. Yeah, I totally agree. Both players should at least get a try in the NHL. I mean, why not? Uh I do agree with uh having like Dickinson and even Misa if he stays full-time to do the Will Smith route, you know, because this is a time where we have all these young players. Why not be patient and like actually develop them to be stars? We don’t want to rush their development. We don’t want them uh to not work out just because we were doing something we shouldn’t be doing. Just let let’s be patient. Let’s work it out. Let’s perfect our game. That way we’re a real true dynasty in about like five, six years because why not? Yeah, I I I agree. You know, you do want to be patient in regards to the development of these kids, but we’re we’re coming in on like what, year five of the rebuild, year six, and I think it’s no secret that the team needs to get better soon. So, it’s it’s an interesting conundrum of, you know, wanting to to pace the development but also get better.
Yeah. Well, Sunday Sharks fans, you have a lot to look forward to as far as storylines go for the upcoming um training camp. So, development cap has been completed with the completion of the prospect scrimmage. Team Till won that game, by the way, for those interested. uh they raised the Marchment Cup and um you know we’ll see if the Sharks continue to make claims off of waiverss, put trade packages together or ink some other free agents as we uh wait, you know, the regular season to begin here. So, thank you gentlemen so much for your time. It’s been a lot that went down the last two weeks of Sharks territory. I imagine that the um the waves will start to settle down here as we get closer to September. Any last words? Just the future is teal.
The future’s teal. And just real quickly, circling back on the the prospect scrimmage. Just, you know, I feel like I’d be doing a disservice if I didn’t mention Eric Pamp uh scoring a hat-tick. Uh that’s two years in a row he’s impressed at development camp and he’s a a prospect that probably doesn’t get the kind of uh recognition as some of the other Sharks prospects. So we have another stud defenseman coming up. I think he he cracks the NHL roster or not this upcoming season but the the one following. All right, stick taps to pull cap. And for the rest of you all out there, thank you so much for joining us for another episode of Frost Spitting on the Hockey Podcast Network. Have a great Fourth of July weekend and we will talk to you soon. Y’all have a good holiday.
Yep, you too. Good chatting, guys. Thank you for enjoying another episode of Frostbitten presented by the Hockey Podcast Network. Don’t forget to like and subscribe whether you are watching this video or listening to the audio version on your favorite podcast platform. And of course, don’t forget to hit up Shark City Hockey Team on social media at Shark City Hockey. dominate dominate.

Mike, Tyler, and Aaron discuss the latest in San Jose Sharks news, including Joe Thornton being selected for the Hockey Hall of Fame, William Eklund getting a contract extension, Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s buy out, the 2025 Sharks Draft Class Free Agency, Trades, and Development Camp.

Presented by The Hockey Podcast Network!

Official Podcast of Shark City Hockey: Your go-to source for San Jose Sharks fandom.

HIT THAT SUB BUTTON & turn on notifications so you never miss an episode of Frostbitten this season!

LIKE today’s stream if you Bleed Teal!

#sanjosesharks #michaelmisa #nhldraft