Sheng Peng will be a regular contributor to Sharks coverage on NBC Sports California. You can read more of his coverage at San Jose Hockey Nowlisten to it on San Jose Hockey Now PodcastAnd follow him on Twitter at @xing_ping.
LAS VEGAS — Do the Sharks have a big-time surprise for the 2024 NHL Draft on Friday night?
Joe Thornton is in Vegas to help celebrate the Sharks taking the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
San Jose Hockey Now had dinner Thursday night with the family of a 2024 draft-eligible player who was on the same plane to Las Vegas as Thornton.
Will the 1997 first overall pick lead to the 2024 first overall pick? Stay tuned. …
We know the Sharks will go with Celebrini No.1, and yes, according to SJHN sources, there is a strong belief that he will turn pro for the 2024-25 campaign. But who will the Sharks select at No. 11, which was selected Thursday at Nos. 14 and 42?
Two league sources believe the Sharks have moved to target a high-end defenseman, though one admitted, “[Cole] “Eiserman might be real.”
There’s some buzz about the Sharks jumping the line for the controversial sharpshooter, who was a colleague of Celebrini In Shattuck St. Marie in Minnesota. …
And speaking of polarization, SJHN learned a cool tidbit about the Sharks’ No. 1 defenseman, Mario Ferraro, who is viewed around the league as either a second-place defenseman stuck in a terrible situation in San Jose or just a bottom-of-the-peg defenseman on a legitimate team in the playoffs.
Ferraro was available during the 2023 NHL trade deadline, and the Sharks wanted a first-round pick and a receiver in the trade … and they almost got him.
Elliot Friedman I mentioned it previously The Carolina Hurricanes have made a strong offer to Ferraro for the 2022-23 season. A league source confirmed the offer was for a second-round pick and Jack Drury Left Handed Center.
After a historically poor season for the Sharks, the source said: “If they trade [Ferraro]It would be significantly less than what was on the table two years ago at the trade deadline. …
Speaking of stubbornness, the Sharks traded defenseman Kyle Burrows to the Los Angeles Kings for lunch pail winger Carl Grundstrom.
“Grundstrom is pretty straightforward,” one NHL scout told SJHN. “North-south winger, very good shot actually, doesn’t hit the back of the net a lot or play a lot. He can get hot from time to time and score some points. Physicality is in check.”
“He’s a third-line forward at his best. He’s a skilled track player. He can skate, hit and change.”
Over the past three seasons, Grundstrom has scored 15 goals in 82 games, so he should provide secondary scoring for the Sharks’ final six games. He also fits the “hard to play against” profile that Sharks general manager Mike Greer has focused on so far this season, such as Barclay Goodrow and Ty Dellandrea. …
Finally, why did Greer fire David Quinn?
That surprise firing in April was a topic of conversation this week. It may have ended with the announcement of Ryan Warsowski as head coach last week, but SJHN has learned from multiple sources that there has been little communication between Greer and Quinn over the past two seasons — primarily the duration of their partnership as head coach and general manager.
The reason for this is unclear—it may be due to Greer’s management style—but it certainly paints a different picture of what was thought to be a deeply rooted relationship at Boston University.
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