The 2021-22 season is officially over with the Colorado Avalanche hoisting the Stanley Cup. Which means the next meaningful NHL event is the annual Entry Draft, set to begin on Thursday July 7th in Montreal. The recent Cup winners are a franchise that could be studied as an example of how to draft and develop players. The Avalanche boast home grown talents such as MacKinnon, Rantanen, Makar, Byram, Newhook and Landeskog. Some will immediately point out how early some of those players were taken but only Landeskog and MacKinnon were top 2 picks. Rantanen was taken 10th overall, Makar and Byram were both 4th overall and Newhook was taken 16th overall. Some of these players were consensus picks at their positions but the consistent success the Avs has experienced with high picks is the model struggling teams like the San Jose Sharks should strive to achieve. There are several ways the Sharks can go on Thursday. With the fresh announcement of Mike Grier as the new GM he could be looking to make a big splash and dangle the first round pick as trade bait for one of the top scorers rumored to be available. Currently slated to draft 11th overall, the Sharks are a few picks outside of what I would consider the elite players of this draft. Depending on the cost and how much they covet a specific player on their board, Grier might also attempt to trade into the top 10 to snag one of the higher end players. However, the Sharks are without a 2nd round pick (traded for Adin Hill last year) and there are some solid players who could be available in the 2nd half of the first round so trading down while picking up additional picks could be the move if the players available at number 11 don’t excite Sharks front office.
For The Win
The Athletic