It’s officially a new era of San Jose Sharks hockey. If this past season was the prologue to said era, the last two days were the opening paragraph of the first chapter. The 2023 NHL Entry Draft, highlighted for the Sharks by their selection of Will Smith with the fourth overall pick, indicates that the next San Jose team to make the playoffs will likely look very different from the last one to do so in 2019. But it also shows how the journey of getting back to the playoffs will take a significant amount of time. Thankfully for the Sharks, the draft results give them a cushion for their rebuild. This draft will just be one piece of a much longer project which they can afford to undertake — and if they remain patient, the end product can provide tremendous success for the Sharks franchise.
Smith Is One Part of Larger Plan
Smith was a fine pick who can be a central contributor to the Sharks in the future. And many of their other picks, such as fellow first-rounder Quentin Musty and fourth-round defenseman Luca Cagnoni, can be valuable additions in San Jose as well. But none of them are franchise saviors from day one. Exactly one player in this draft deserves to be referred to as such, and he understandably went first overall.
Smith is highly skilled, has consistently posted strong numbers, and passes the eye test, but he is only 18 years old and can’t be expected to be a team leader right away. He may play at least one season of collegiate hockey and could even spend some time in the American Hockey League (AHL) to further his development. Adjusting to the NHL is difficult for just about any rookie, and Smith can’t have too much pressure put on him right away. He should be expected to learn on the job and make some mistakes. The process will be far more important than the results.
Hockey is a team game in the truest sense of the phrase. Even the best players see the ice for less than half of any given game. The most successful teams aren’t necessarily the ones with the absolute best player at the top. They’re the ones with great players at the top and strong players throughout the rest of the roster. The team with the Hart Trophy winner hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 2004, prior to the full-season lockout the following year. Instead, recent Cup winners have been based around depth, bolstered by a handful of stars.
Related: Sharks Picking Smith Over Michkov Is Tough But Understandable
Smith can absolutely be one of those stars in the future, but it will take time. Time for him to become the great player he can be, and time for the Sharks to add the players around him that will be necessary to compete for championships. That may mean one or more seasons of struggle, but the rewards at the end can be sweet — and their goals may be furthered almost exactly a year from now.
2024 Draft Gives Sharks Chance to Add More Top Prospects
While tanking is never encouraged or even necessarily guaranteed, the Sharks would be wise to avoid falling into the middling status that plagued them in 2021 and 2022, when they were neither good enough to make the playoffs nor bad enough to land any picks higher than seventh overall. A playoff appearance in 2024 would be shocking, and it is far more likely that San Jose ends up returning to the lottery once again. There they can choose from several exciting prospects, most notably forward Macklin Celebrini. In addition to his hockey talent, he is committed to play for Sharks general manager Mike Grier’s alma mater of Boston University, and he already has significant connections to San Jose and the Bay Area in general (from ‘2024’s likely No. 1 overall NHL draft pick wants to be a Canuck,’ The Province, April 30, 2023).
But no matter who the Sharks choose in future drafts, they should view those picks as an opportunity to take players who can pair up with Smith and lead the way into a new era of San Jose hockey. It may take some difficult years to reach such a point, but if the franchise accepts that as the case, the eventual payoff could be great.