Are the San Jose Sharks Ready to Take a Step Forward As Their Young Talent Develops?
The San Jose Sharks rebuild continues, but is this the year it starts to bear fruit? JD Young of Locked on Sharks is here to discuss the path forward and a lot more on today’s Locked On NHL podcast. [Music] You’re Locked on NHL, your daily podcast on the National Hockey League, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Gil Martin here and welcome everybody to the Monday edition of the Locked on NHL podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. I want to thank everyone who makes Locked on NHL your first listen every day. Don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by your friends at FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. It’s my pleasure to welcome back to the show the host of Locked on Sharks, JD Young. And uh JD, interesting off season for the Sharks. Uh what in your mind was the best move that the team made this off season? Uh we’ll stick to free agency because the best move was drafting Michael Misa which was the easiest move. Uh but we’ll stick to free agency and and kind of what the Sharks did this year and I think uh for them trying to add some more NHL caliber players especially along the blue line. Uh they signed Dmitri Orav, they signed John Clingberg, uh they claimed Nicki off of waiverss from the St. Louis Blues trying to bolster up this blue line which was horrific last year especially with Yarislav Oscar expecting to be the full-time NHL this year right and that kind of putting Ascarov in this situation where you’re having to play against just poor defenseman that that we’ve seen over the past couple seasons now you know all those guys do have their questions right or looks like he might be kind of losing a bit of a stepberg hasn’t been able to stay healthy over the past couple seasons and Nick Ley who had some injury issues last year and clearly wasn’t himself. Like all these guys do have questions, but if two of the three work out, like this is going to be a much better defense uh than what San Jose trotted out last year with the exception of maybe like Jake Walman. So, I think that uh just trying to kind of revamp the defense on the fly here uh and not locking yourself into any long-term contracts. Uh all the defenseman other than Orlav are entering the last year of their deals. So if like they need to jettison one, it’s not the end of the world type of thing. And even Orla is only signed for two seasons. So I think revamping the blue line on the fly, it’s going to make a big difference for San Jose this year. A and what move that they made in the offseason to you was a headscratcher. Uh easily the Ryan Reeves trade. uh Henry Thr who you know probably didn’t have a future with San Jose and he’s probably going to be that kind of borderline NHL AHL type of tweener player but uh Ryan Reeves I know he he provides some grit or snarl or whatever you want to say but uh the dude’s fought like once last year he plays like eight minutes a night and he’s bit of a progress stopper and you could be giving those that lineup opportunity to somebody else so wasn’t my favorite move I know They’re trying to protect Celbrini and Smith and some of the young players. But, uh, when you have a guy who plays eight minutes a night and then opens the door for his teammates for the other 52, uh, that really was not my favorite move. Uh, we’ll see. Again, it’s he’s in the last year of his deal and who like who cares? And the Sharks needed to hit the cap floor. So, his contract does help that a little tiny bit. So, you talked about Michael Misa and some of the prospects. Which one of them do you think makes an impact this year? I think the like the big question for the Sharks this year is what or at least heading into training camp is can Michael both Michael Misa and Sam Dickinson make the team. Michael Misa was a second overall pick this year. Uh we’ll start with him. I think he makes the team. Um because he’s just too good to go back to juniors, right? And I I think he’s a cleaner prospect than what Will Smith was even after a year of college. I think right now Michael Miso is a better prospect than Will Smith was at this time last year. And we saw how the Sharks were able to kind of navigate Will Smith last year where the first half of the season like he didn’t play backtobacks had development days etc etc. And then the second half of the year in the last 34 games he had 30 points only had one more point than him during that time. So, I think they’ll be able to kind of navigate that with Misa and with as a forward, it’s a little bit easier to kind of hide him. He can probably start on the third line and then, you know, as he kind of gets more comfortable and kind of jump up into the top six. Sam Dickinson’s a tough one, right? Because he went back uh last year, he had an amazing season with London. Uh he was the OHL defenseman of the year. He was a CHL defenseman of the year. He helped lead London to a OHL championship and a Memorial Cup. and he’s done basically everything you can in juniors, but he’s in that unfortunate situation where he’s already signed his ELC last year and he can’t go to college. He’s not old enough to play in the AHL, so it’s either OHL or the NHL. And it’s much tougher to hide a 19-year-old defenseman uh than it is to hide a a forward. So, he’s the intriguing one. I think the Sharks are going to give him every opportunity to win a job and not just pass the nine games, but stick around this year in the NHL because I think if he goes back to the juniors, he’s just going to it’s going to be like a big fish in a small pond and he’s just going to just it’s he’s going to I don’t want to say waste a year, but it kind of feels like he’s going to waste a year back in junior. So, those are the two guys who I’m really intrigued to see if they can make um the team out of camp. Um, as for some of the other prospects like Igor Shernes, uh, you know, uh, Quint Mussy, I expect those guys to spend some time in the AHL before making their NHL debut probably later on in the season to be honest. So, I is there one thing in your mind that Dickinson needs to work on to improve in order to successfully stay in the NHL this year? For him, it’s always uh, it’s that processing speed. uh and you could see it in the juniors and stuff, but uh like and he he got better as the season went on, but like processing the speed at the NHL level, the only way to get better at that is to play NHL games, right? So like he’s not going to be able to kind of work on that in the in the OL because the game the speed of the game just isn’t anywhere near the NHL. So that that for me is the the the thing that he needs to work on. Like he skates beautifully. He’s like a great skater. He’s 6’3, 210 lbs. like as a 19-year-old kid, like I think he’s physically mature enough to hang around and I think his skating will get him out of trouble. Um, but sometimes he does like try to do a little bit too much and that’s always that’s always kind of the case with young players as they make that move to the NHL is what can I get away with in the NHL that I could get away with in the OHL or whatever. But like I think for him is that processing speed. But uh unfortunately like he’s not going to be able to really improve that until he plays against bigger, faster, tougher competition. So yeah, got to do it to prove you could do it. Got to do it. Yep. Exactly. So what are the realistic expectations for the Sharks this year? It will be a successful season if uh I think we’ll start with the win loss uh column. I think if this team is just uh like you can’t be the worst team in the NHL again, right? You cannot three repeat. Uh I know Florida’s going for their three Pete. We’re trying to avoid a three Pete over here. you cannot be the worst team in the NHL again because I think if you are the worst team in the NHL, it leads to a lot of questions, right? Especially with Ascrov, who you paid a a small bounty for to get from Nashville last year, you let him kind of marinate one more season. It’s supposed to be his time, right? And he’s supposed to be your answer and goal. If he’s not, and that that’s probably leads to you losing a lot more a lot of games this year. So, I think if if the Sharks are a team that’s, you know, maybe they they finished with a 52 points last year. If you’re like that 6570, like a 20 point jump, I think that’s that’s a successful season for them. And of course, the development of their young players, right? If Celbrini can continue to take the steps he can, uh, if Will Smith can solidify himself as a top six, you know, center right now, they’re going to try him at center. So, if he can be a center this year, if not, uh, if he needs to move back to wing, kind of have some answers there. Uh, but like you can’t be the worst team in the NHL. So my hope, my like hope hope is this team kind of makes that like a a ducks like jump where instead of picking the worst team in the NHL, maybe you’re like eighth, ninth worst in the NHL and you start to have a lot of more answers than you do have questions going into next off season. And then to be a playoff contender in what, another year, two years, where are we at? I think then you kind of going into next off seasonason where the Sharks will have a ton of gap space again. Um they can be aggressive. You can start to add you feel like you have your core with Eklan and Cabbrini and Smith and hopefully Dickinson and all these other guys and then you can start to add some longer term veteran guys where you’re not just adding guys for a year or two to kind of fill in the roster. Guys who you can think can can contribute and start to kind of push. So the hope is right you make kind of a ducks like jump this year and then next year maybe you’re starting to kind of flirt with the wild card spot uh that was that 26 27 season. So all right we’ll see how that works out. JD, why don’t you tell our viewers and our listeners where they could find the podcast and where they could find you on social media. Of course you can listen and watch wherever you get podcasts. Watch on YouTube as well. Uh follow the show on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok at Lockedown Sharks. Follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky, my fry hole. All right, JD. Thanks so much. Always a pleasure, Gil. Today’s episode is brought to you by your friends at FanDuel. The NFL season is almost here and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and if your first bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love using FanDuel because it fits the way I like to bet. You can use player props. You could put together a same game parlay or even jump in live as the action unfolds and it makes every game more exciting. Whether you’re watching your favorite team or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanduel.com to get started. That’s fanduel.com to place your first $5 bet. 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The San Jose Sharks have accumulated a lot of young talent in recent years during this rebuild. But how much can the Sharks expect from Michael Misa and Sam Dickinson this season?
J.D. Young of Locked On Sharks joins us to discuss the Sharks rebuild, where they are and what the keys are to progress in this upcoming NHL season.
All this and more on today’s Locked On NHL Podcast with Gil Martin.
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1 comment
fwiw, 65 pts would have finished Sharks 31st last season, 70pts finishes 30th. (behind CHI and NSH)