Sharks have restocked the cupboards; now comes the hard part for Mike Grier

SAN JOSE The San Jose Sharks added the performer widely considered the best forward available in this year s NHL Draft selecting center Michael Misa second overall at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Friday Barring specific draft lottery luck next year or beyond that might be the last time in a while that the Sharks can select such a highly regarded talent assuming their rebuild goes according to plan Hopefully soon enough reported Chris Morehouse the Sharks director of amateur scouting we won t be in these situations where we re picking one two or high With that in mind the Sharks who have finished at or near the bottom of the league standings for three consecutive years and are aiming for certain improvement next season hoped to make the the majority of their non-competitive situation Over the last three years the Sharks who have traded a handful of veterans for early-round picks have now drafted nine times inside the top helping them establish arguably the top prospect pool in the NHL Selecting higher in the draft the Sharks have added forwards Macklin Celebrini Will Smith Quentin Musty Kasper Halttunen and Igor Chernyshov and defensemen Sam Dickinson Celebrini and Smith will enter their second full NHL seasons and the others will vie for Sharks roster spots in the fall If they don t make it full-time this year they ll likely be in a better position to challenge for an NHL job in or Now comes Misa who just turned in February and surprise surprise wants to be in the NHL next year He wants to be the best he wants to play against the best so I m sure this is what he wants to do Sharks general manager Mike Grier revealed of Misa But we re not going to hand him anything He s got to come into training camp and try to take a job and earn a spot We ll just kind of see how it goes In the first two rounds this weekend the Sharks also drafted Josh Ravensbergen considered to be the best goalie available this year a -foot- -pound project defenseman with upside in Haoxi Simon Wang and a probable future third line center in Cole McKinney They re projected to be pro players in due time Other players drafted by the Sharks over the weekend face longer odds to make it to the NHL Filling out the nine-player class were center Teddy Mutryn in the third round defensemen Ilyas Magomedsultanov and Zack Sharp in the fourth round center Max Heise in the fifth round and winger Richard Gallant in the seventh I tell our guys at the beginning of every year and certainly going into the draft that this is our one opportunity to impact the organization Morehouse revealed We re not on the road with the club every day we re not in the rink we re not in San Jose But trust me behind the scenes we are doing everything we possibly can to make a difference in the organization Morehouse and Scott Fitzgerald San Jose s director of member personnel took over the squad s scouting in Aug when the organization s prospect pool other than William Eklund was short on high-end talent The Sharks had misfires on at least a couple of late first-round picks and traded others We re three years in and I m really proud of the group Morehouse announced I think we have in a short amount of time been able to go out and get chosen really quality talent particular quality kids But the draft isn t enough to build a more competitive company if the Sharks want to improve upon their - - record of this past season as has been stated they ve got specific work to do in the days ahead With the first day of free agency on Tuesday the Sharks have tens of millions in cap space available but might face certain competition for players they want to add to their club Acquiring players via pact is another and perhaps more realistic option for the Sharks who want to insulate their young talent We ve to surround them with the right pieces Grier stated We don t want to put too much on these kids and feel like they ve got to carry the franchise So we ve got to surround them with the right guys who are maybe their mid- s or so We ve got to put particular pieces around them and keep building and not get complacent in any parts in the organization Trading No pick Grier commented Friday that a insufficient teams called to inquire whether the Sharks were open to trading the No overall selection Sportsnet s Elliotte Friedman mentioned on the Thoughts podcast published Sunday that one of those teams was the Utah Mammoth Related Articles San Jose Sharks draft picks since have mostly something in common Sharks make historic pick in Simon Wang to begin second day of NHL Draft Sharks pick remembers coach who first supposed in him I m sure he s showing pleasure up there San Jose Sharks select goalie with No pick at NHL Draft Top San Jose Sharks draft pick makes his No goal clear for this fall Grier had mentioned in April that he was open to moving the pick for the right price Utah held the No overall pick and pushed to move up to No but the two sides never reached an agreement The Mammoth kept its top pic and took Moncton Wildcats center Caleb Desnoyers fourth overall A scarce teams called about the pick and we kind of went over particular scenarios and what the offers were Grier disclosed But we just felt that Michael was just too special a participant for us to pass on To have an opportunity to have him and Macklin and Will and Eklund and Dickinson and Askarov all these guys to kind of grow together especially having the strength down the middle we just thought it was too much of a special opportunity for us to pass up Goalie signed The Sharks have signed goalie Gabriel Carriere to a one-year two-way contract Carriere appeared in games for the Barracuda and had a - - record with two shutouts and an save percentage