Are the San Jose Sharks ready to start building? After being the worst team in the NHL over the past two seasons, are they ready to start seeing results in the win and loss column, and not just the draft lottery? The discussion highlights how top prospect Macklin Celebrini fits into their long-term strategy and vision for future success.
Shifting focus to the Chicago Blackhawks, the podcast explores their surprisingly quiet offseason and the strategy centered around Connor Bedard. Questions arise about the risks of limited veteran support for the young star’s development, prompting a deeper look at the team’s roster composition and long-term plans.
Lastly, the Nashville Predators’ unexpected struggles from the previous season come under scrutiny. Despite significant free agency spending, the team underperformed. The episode investigates whether Roman Josi and Juuse Saros can lead a bounce-back campaign, examining statistical anomalies and potential strategies for improvement. Seth Toupal and JD Young offer expert analysis on these three NHL franchises at pivotal moments in their evolution.
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10 Comments
.500 team? So 82 points? Sharks are signing a bunch of veterans to balance out the youth and to mentor them. Hawks and the Preds did that last year, so it will be interesting to see how it all works out.
You seem kinda smug because the Sharks signed all those guys, and sort of dismissive of the Hawks because they didn’t. Time will tell.
Also you can’t make free agents sign with you, how many big names changed teams? Marner, who else? Not many.
Raising the cap threw a bit of a wrench into K.D.s plan of using cap space to acquire picks and players, but the Hawks are pretty well stocked in the pipeline as are the Sharks.
The Hawks are, by choice or circumstance, gonna let the kids play this year, as the Sharks did last year.
I’m not making any predictions for either one.
On the Chicago stuff, rebuilds take more than 3 years. Its usually 5-ish year process to go from draft pick to good NHL player. So if you have 3 drafts selecting at or near the top, you see the fruits of it 5-7 years down the road. A few elite players will make a difference sooner, but time is really the essential element. 3 years only works if there's a pretty good cupboard. For example, the Blackhawks of 20 years ago had a lot of very young players on their way to becoming really good players before drafting Kane and Toews. The cupboard included Hjalmarsson, Byufglien, Seabrook, Keith and Crawford. They were all marinating, drafted in the years prior to Toews, then Kane. The Blackhawks were bad, but the cupboard was actually pretty well stocked.
The Hawks current blue line is going to be among the leagues best, just not this season. Alex Vlasic is 24 and a stud. Levshunov, Rinzel, Kaiser, Korchinski are all younger. Its really young and the young talent has been impressive. They'll be fine in a year or two, especially if Knight starts living up to expectations. If they wind up getting a very high pick in this draft, their rebuild days are done. They are smart to wait util they know what they need to take a major step. Much like the Sharks, when the rebuild ends, and its not far away, they'll be taking the high speed elevator up. Not the stairs, not the escalator.
Sharks don't need to be in the McKenna hunt, but winning the Verhoeff hunt would be a great result.
SJS success will be determined by the rookie/U22 development
I think Sharks on a very good path in their rebuild. That said, they are far from being ready to take the next steps. Their need to develop their internal young talent for another 4-5 years in order to become a playoff team. Take it from a Senators fans here who saw first hand how the cap era in the NHL has slown down rebuilds significantly.
You can inject outside talent if you get lucky. But the more reliable way is through the draft. Not every team gets the fortune to pick from high quality drafts like we have, and there are some franchise defining dmen coming up in these next years. You might throw around big contracts to try and make a push sooner, but how far will that Sharks team be vs one that drafted 2 more star rhd? In the long run I think the latter Sharks team will pull ahead within a season or 2, and make a better case for FAs to sign in SJ. This team would also be more financially stable because you have core players locked up on the same timeline, whereas you have teams like the Canucks where older players are ready to win now, while younger players aren't, leading to locker room division.
Or the very common possibility you sign big contract players that become anchors in 2-3 years. THAT is how you ruin a rebuild and lose stars.
I’m curious how the sharks and hawks make trades for long term guys, they both made GREAT trades for goalies (askorov and knight), but how will the hawks acquire long term forward help and how will the sharks acquire long term defensive help.
Ok job jd repping the sharks
How many talented free agents were available this past summer? Most teams signed their good players.
I think one harsh truth Grier and the sharks are going to have to face in the next few years is that not all our talent is going to come via FA and the draft. Eventually you’re going to have to take some of those high end picks and prospects and use them to get bonafide talent to support your young guys. For right now it’s fine but You don’t want half your team to be a revolving door of guys who get picked up and traded at the deadline. I think next offseason might be the time for GMMG to make a few splashes.
I might be a sharks fan and always will be at heart… but jesus christ do I feel bad for Bedard, kid deserve so much better.