San Jose Sharks are looking for luck

The NHL Draft Lottery comes on Wednesday, and that’s what’s at stake for the Sharks: the chance to sign someone who can offer immediate help, or have to wait another year or two for that help.

The Sharks, according to tankathon.com, have a combined first- or second-place draft chance of about 13.6%, and about an 86.4% chance of ending up with the seventh, eighth or ninth overall pick. The Sharks went 3-10-3 in the final month of the season to finish with the seventh worst record in the NHL at 21-28-7.

The Sharks have had just three top 10 draft picks in the past 16 years. They drafted Devin Setoguchi eighth overall in 2005, Logan Couture ninth overall in 2007 and Timo Meier ninth in 2015. Setoguchi and Couture both remained in junior hockey for two more seasons after being drafted, and Meier went one year. more before turning pro.

The last Sharks draft player who made a significant impact in the NHL immediately after his draft was Patrick Marleau, who finished second overall at the age of 17 in 1997.

“If you don’t get first, second, or third overall, if you don’t get Nathan MacKinnons, Cale Makars, (Sidney) Crosby or (Connor) McDavid’s,” Doug Wilson Jr., Sharks scouts manager said last month, “If you don’t get these players, you have to wait three or four years to see your first round pick being a real NHL player. ”

There will be two draws on Wednesday in Secaucus, NJ – one to determine which team selects first overall, and the second to determine who gets second pick. The 14 teams not selected will be awarded their selection in the 3-16 draft in reverse order of regular season points. The Seattle Kraken expansion will not draft lower than the fifth.

If the Sharks don’t get the first or second overall pick, they’ll pick the seventh, eighth or ninth. Although the Sharks ended up with the seventh-worst record in the league, they could fall back if a spot or two if another non-playoff team with a better record wins one of the draws.

In the 2020 deep draft, four players were able to play in NHL games this season: the top three picks with Alexis Lafrenière (Rangers), Quinton Byfield (Kings) and Tim Stützle (Senators), and the sixth overall pick. Jamie Drysdale (ducks).

Wilson Jr. did not want to know how many draft-eligible players would be ready to carve out a place in the NHL in the fall. While there doesn’t appear to be any generational type talent available in the 2021 class like a McDavid or a Crosby, there are several players who could have exceptional careers.

At 6-5, 214 pounds with a massive hockey IQ, University of Michigan defenseman Owen Power is considered the best player available. Just behind him are defenseman Simon Edvinsson and forward William Eklund, both Swedish, WHL forward Dylan Guenther and Michigan center Matty Beniers.

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