​  Entering with the ninth-best odds to land the top pick, the San Jose Sharks shocked the hockey world last month when they landed the second overall selection in the NHL Draft Lottery. Even before the lottery, the Sharks owned what scouts widely considered the league’s best prospect pool.General manager Mike Grier, immediately after taking over hockey operations in 2022, initiated a methodical, long-term rebuild. The Sharks have an embarrassment of riches—a war chest full of high draft picks—after dealing away franchise cornerstones Tomáš Hertl, Timo Meier and Erik Karlsson in 2023 and 2024. Bottoming out to position themselves for the draft lottery has allowed San Jose to accumulate high-end talent such as Michael Misa (No. 2 2025), Will Smith (No. 4 2023), William Eklund (No. 7 2021) and the first pick in the 2024 draft, which awarded San Jose a generational player in Macklin Celebrini. And at the 2026 NHL Draft, which begins June 26, picking second gives San Jose a chance to add yet another extremely talented piece to its already exciting core. While Grier is adamant that he typically prefers the “best player available” strategy, this draft may be the time to change course. Grier’s approach has been successful, giving the Sharks an impressive group of young players. However, San Jose is in the next stage of their rebuild. Now that the Sharks have a foundation and a king’s ransom of promising forwards, they need to construct the remainder of their roster. Grier should address the team’s glaring need and use San Jose’s early first-round pick to select a premier defenseman of the future. For how stacked the Sharks’ prospect pipeline is, it sure lacks well-rounded, exceptional talent on the blueline. The young core of defensemen is barren, underwhelming and unproven. Even the most intriguing of the group has too many question marks.  Sam Dickinson put together an illustrious OHL career, but has plenty of work to do to become anything close to that player at the NHL level. While he is still really young and entering just his second full season, at no point last year did he look the part of a future franchise-altering top defenseman. San Jose hoped he could be when they picked him 11th overall in 2024. 2023 third-rounder Luca Gagnoni has shown flashes with the San Jose Barracuda in the AHL, but at 5 feet 9 inches, his lack of size limits his ceiling. 24-year-old Shakir Mukhamadullin improved in many ways last season, but the coaches still don’t fully trust him. Eric Pohlkamp excelled at the University of Denver and seems NHL-ready. But since he hasn’t played a game in The Show, there is no way of knowing for sure yet. Simon Wang, the first selection of the second round last year, is a complete unknown. Scouts are adamant that the pick was a gamble since Wang i      ​Read More