San Jose Sharks: Initial grades for the 2019 NHL Draft class
By Justin Fried
The San Jose Sharks may not have had a first-round pick, but they certainly made the most of their five selections on Day 2 of the 2019 NHL Draft.
The San Jose Sharks have a busy offseason up ahead of them with countless major decisions to be made.
One of those decisions was already made when the team inked star defenseman Erik Karlsson to an eight-year, $92 million contract earlier in the week. But still, there remains a good chunk of significant conclusions that the Sharks are going to have to come to in regards to free agency.
But before we reached free agency, the 2019 NHL Draft had to come first.
San Jose did not have a first-round pick this year and — before trading longtime defenseman Justin Braun to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday — didn’t even have a second-rounder. However, that didn’t stop the Sharks from snagging a few players that they liked.
Altogether, the Sharks finished with five selections — two in the second round, one in the fourth, and two more in the sixth. Let’s take a look at each of those picks and briefly break down their games.
Round 2, Pick 48 — Artemi Kniazev, D, Russia
The Sharks traded back from their original pick at No. 41 to No. 48 overall to grab a player who they thought had first-round talent. However, most draft analysts wouldn’t agree with their assessment.
TSN’s Bob McKenzie had him ranked 54th overall and the highest I could seem to find what ISS Hockey’s ranking of him at No. 41 overall, but most seemingly had him in the 50’s or later. But what about his game intrigued San Jose the most?
Kniazev is an offensive-minded defenseman who is a smooth skater and an excellent passer. He has no problems getting up on the attack and HockeyProspect.com referred to him stating he “often looks like a 4th forward on the ice.”
That sure sounds like a Brent Burns-type player.
The only problem is that he’s listed at just 5-foot-10 — a whole seven inches shorter than Burns. He’ll face an uphill battle given his size and analysts will insist that there were better defensemen available at this spot.
Players like Finland’s Mikko Kokkonen or even Sharks blue-liner Marc-Edouard Vlasic‘s cousin Alex Vlasic — had the team not traded down — would have represented more appropriate picks by draft analyst standards.
Still, there’s upside here. And San Jose’s focus on offensive-minded, flashy defensemen clearly got them interested. Now, we’ll just play the waiting game.