The hockey gods and ping pong balls come up in favor of the Sharks.
I feel like we have been here before. Oh, wait, we have. The San Jose Sharks beat the odds Tuesday evening and won the second overall draft pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
The Sharks entered the day with the ninth-best odds to win the Lottery. Toronto won the first draw, giving the Maple Leafs the first overall pick.
For the second year in a row, the Sharks will select second overall. That also marks three straight years in the top two. The future is more teal than ever.
Now that GM Mike Grier knows where he will pick, the speculation may commence.
Credit: San Jose Sharks-Twitter/XGrier mentioned in his end-of-season press conference that his main approach to the draft is to select the best available player. Typically, forwards dominate the top of all draft boards. Michael Misa, Macklin Celebrini, and Will Smith are the previous three first-round selections, all forwards. The New York Islanders’ Matthew Schaefer is a rare exception, going first overall last season.
The Sharks are loaded up in the forward prospect pool. In addition to the above three, they have guys like Igor Chernyshov, Collin Graf, William Eklund, and Zack Ostapchuk. Throw in prospects like Quentin Musty, Filip Bystedt, and Kasper Halttunen, and San Jose is pretty well established up front for a while. Then they have veterans like Tyler Toffoli, Alex Wennberg, and Barclay Goodrow.
Yaroslav Askarov is the goalie of the future. He and Alex Nedeljkovic will share the net for a couple of years. Then we have Joshua Ravensbergen, who had a hell of a year in the WHL. If you recall, Ravensbergen was selected in the first round last year (30th overall). Grier called him the best player available, so he drafted him there.
The Sharks are lacking blue-line prospects. They have Sam Dickinson, Eric Pohlkamp, and Luca Cagnoni, sure—great young talent who will be a long-term fixture in San Jose. The Sharks need more prospect depth, though.
This is where the speculation begins: does Grier stay with the “best available player” mindset, or does he draft a much-needed right-handed defenseman?
OR, quite possibly, is that RHD ranked second on Grier’s board?
We will get into the prospects over the coming weeks, leading up to the 2026 NHL Draft. The Draft will take place June 26-27.
So let the imaginations run wild for the next month and a half. Celebrate, Sharks fans, this was a big win.
