Sharks 2023 NHL Draft Recap

 The 2023 NHL Draft is now complete and loaded with talent. In this post, I will recap the draft from the perspective of the San Jose Sharks and give some of my thoughts as well. 

 The Sharks had nine picks in this year's draft. I plan to list each pick they made but only go into details about their biggest, most significant picks in the first round. Let’s begin: 

Round 1, Pick 4: Will Smith, C, US U-18 NTDP  

A six-foot, right-shot, 18-year-old center with top-line superstar potential. Smith recorded 51 goals and 127 points in 60 games for the US U-18 NTDP this past season. He is committed to Boston College for the 2023-24 season. In addition, Smith holds the second-highest cumulative goals and point total in US U-18 program history and was awarded the Bob Johnson Award for the 2022-23 season by USA Hockey for "excellence in international hockey competition for a specific season of play." This is a great pick by Mike Grier and the Sharks front office, and I am looking forward to Will Smith becoming a key franchise centerpiece for the Sharks for years to come.

Round 1, Pick 26: Quentin Musty, LW, Sudbury Wolves (OHL) 

A six-foot-two left wing with top-six potential. This past season in Sudbury, Musty recorded 26 goals and 52 assists for 78 points in 53 games, leading the Wolves in assists and ranking second on the team in both goals and points. It was anybody's guess who the Sharks would take at 26th overall this year, but Quentin Musty was one of the best available when it came time to make this selection and filled a need in the Sharks organization. Overall solid pick.

Round 2, Pick 36: Kasper Halttunen, RW, Hifk (Finnish Liiga)

Round 3, Pick 71: Noah Svoboda, C, Youngstown Phantoms (USHL) 

Round 4, Pick 123: Luca Cagnoni, D, Portland Winterhawks (WHL)

Round 5, Pick 130: Axel Landen, D, HV71 J20 (Sweden)

Round 5, Pick 132: Eric Pohlkamp, D, Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (USHL)

Round 7, Pick 196: David Klee, C, Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL)

Round 7, Pick 203: Yegor Rimashevskiy, RW, Dynamo Moscow Jr. (MHL)

The Sharks initially had 11 picks heading into this year's draft, but it fell to nine after they traded two late-round selections to the Carolina Hurricanes to move up to 71st overall and traded what would've been their last selection in this year's draft at 206th overall to the Washington Capitals for a seventh-round pick in 2025. The biggest surprise during the draft this year was the fact that no trades took place during the first round on day one, the first time this has occurred since 2007. In all, this is a great draft class for the Sharks, and I see a greater potential of later-round picks turning into studs and diamonds in the rough than in most other draft classes. Trust the process of General Manager Mike Grier, and this draft class is a significant step towards climbing out of the Sharks' current rebuild. 

Next up, the NHL Free Agency period opens this Saturday, so expect a potential flurry of signings and other transactions to be covered on CPF Hockey in the coming days.

Sources: Sjsharks.com, NHL Network, NHL Discussion via Instagram

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