*** San Jose Sharks 2014 Off-Season Thread ***

should go after justin shultz

Hope we try to trade up to land an early impact player -- but not give up something retarded..

so far no moves by wilson, i fully expect a trade to happen before we pick

5/7 the first seven are d-men, so our chances of having a good winger fall to us is good

guy cant skate apparently

sounds like he'll be a powerplay force with his skill and shot, but will be a liability 5v5 because of his skating ability

not sure what to think

Sharks draft Tomas Hertl - C from Slavia with pick 17.

6'2 198lbs


don't know much about this dude.

edit:




Seems like he is a sniper type?

from what i'm watching... looks like good shot, good playmaking abilities, good puck protection. looking at his skating, that definitely needs work. the one thing i notice (and if my untrained eyes can notice its pretty obvious) are the form on his first few strides. that is definitely correctable. for the rest of his skating, i don't know. sounds like he's sound defensively.

from all the talk it sounds like he could turn into a utility top six guy if he gets some good seasoning. i don't imagine we'll see him in the majors for at least 2-3 years.

I was stunned to see us take someone from Czech Republic. I was expecting a player from the WHL or the OHL.

Rotoworld's analysis of Tomas Hertl:

One of the more unorthodox skaters in the draft, Hertl makes up for these deficiencies by having great hockey sense. He has a solid frame and is strong on the puck down low. He was a consistent contributor in the Czech men's league because he has the size and strength to compete at that level. He likes pursuing the puck and sees the ice well. Hertl is steady on the defensive side, understanding positioning and using his body effectively. Scouts were surprised with his strong effort at the World Junior Championships, with some believing that he outplayed teammate Radek Faksa. As long as he improves his speed and skating ability, he should turn into a nice piece at center for the Sharks.

Originally posted by SFrush:
I was stunned to see us take someone from Czech Republic. I was expecting a player from the WHL or the OHL.

he's our 3rd 1st round Czech, it's not that surprising to me. When we do draft Europeans they tend to be from there. Or Germany I guess but Goc kinda sucked for a 1st rounder.

As long as he doesn't end up like Kaspar...

Nhl draft is always so boring compared to NFL, you get way more starters out of NFL drafts. Then again there are a lot more positions too so you could still get like the 2nd best OL or something at the 28th pick.

So it just seems to me like it makes a lot of sense to suck for several years in a row to rack up prospects and picks just so that you can be at the top of the draft. Then again, that hasn't really worked for the Oilers. I don't know...It just seems like the teams winning the cup the past few years have had some recent infusion of youth usually from sucking not that long prior.

Originally posted by mike:
Nhl draft is always so boring compared to NFL, you get way more starters out of NFL drafts. Then again there are a lot more positions too so you could still get like the 2nd best OL or something at the 28th pick.

So it just seems to me like it makes a lot of sense to suck for several years in a row to rack up prospects and picks just so that you can be at the top of the draft. Then again, that hasn't really worked for the Oilers. I don't know...It just seems like the teams winning the cup the past few years have had some recent infusion of youth usually from sucking not that long prior.

I think also we just know a lot more about the players due to NCAA Football being so popular.
A very small group of puckheads follow college hockey and that is mostly on the east coast.

my bro was googling draft grades to see how he did then declared we had the worst draft ever and was pissed off. he then told me it was cause bleacher report hated our draft.

i lol'd

Originally posted by Garcia:
I think also we just know a lot more about the players due to NCAA Football being so popular.
A very small group of puckheads follow college hockey and that is mostly on the east coast.

Even those "puckheads" don't get access like diehard college ball watchers here do. With the right cable packages you can watch at least a dozen big teams play not to mention smaller local schools. Record games and analyze a bunch. With hockey nearly all the prospects are from canada or europe, meaning those broadcasts rarely cross the borders unless you happen upon some illegal online feeds.

If you're lucky here you can watch boston college or something. Which usually only gets a few highly regarded prospects every couple of years.

The only good thing about the draft is the trades and even that was disappointing this year.