Who’s the Highest Draft Pick the Sharks Never Signed?

On Saturday, San Jose Hockey Now learned that the San Jose Sharks had declined to offer 2015 fifth-round draft pick Karlis Cukste an entry-level contract.

It got the wheels in my head turning — how often does a drafted prospect who has been passed up by his original NHL team eventually make the NHL?

I dug through 29 San Jose drafts and 232 Sharks picks to answer that question and others — like who was the highest draft pick that the San Jose Sharks never signed? Which was San Jose’s best and worst drafts, in terms of prospects signed?

If a team drafts you, then spends years evaluating you in college or juniors or in Europe, they should have a good sense what your hockey-playing capabilities are. When it comes time to sign you, if they let you go to unrestricted free agency, they likely don’t have high hopes that you’ll ever make the NHL.

And they’re probably right.

By my estimation, the Sharks — or the team that San Jose traded their prospect to — have signed 60 percent of their draft picks. That’s 138 out of 232 draft picks.

That leaves 94 draft picks unsigned.

Just four have made the NHL: Colin Blackwell (2011 Draft Pick #194), Philip Varone (2009 #147), Frazer McLaren (2007 #203), and Kris Newbury (2002 #139). Blackwell and McLaren, instead of signing with the Sharks, agreed to contracts with San Jose’s AHL team. Meanwhile, the Sharks let Varone walk and couldn’t come to terms with Newbury.

Four of 94: Yeah, it’s going to be tough for Cukste to make the NHL.

Angel Nikolov

There’s been just one “Angel” ever drafted by an NHL team.

Angel Nikolov was a Czech defenseman selected 37th by San Jose in the 1994 Draft.

“He impressed us the first time we saw him,” San Jose director of player personnel Chuck Grillo said. (Condon, Mike. “Sharks draft scoring whiz.” Santa Cruz Sentinel, June 29, 1994.)

How about after the first time?

Nikolov is the highest San Jose draft pick never signed by the Sharks, enjoying a long career in Europe before retiring in 2013.

Gabryel Boudreau (2013 #49), William Wrenn (2009 #43), Tero Maatta (2000 #41), and Alexander Cherbayev (1992 #51) were other high picks not signed by San Jose.

Best & Worst Drafts

For a prospect, getting drafted is one stepping stone. Getting signed is another stepping stone.

From an organization’s perspective, that stepping stone is critical. Offering an ELC is a sign that from the time of being drafted, the prospect has significantly advanced his game.

So looking at it that way, the 2001 Draft was a complete win for the San Jose Sharks — every draft pick was signed. That’s Marcel Goc (#20), Christian Ehrhoff (#106), Dmitri Patzold (#107), Tomas Plihal (#140), Ryane Clowe (#175), and Tom Cavanagh (#182). Goc, Ehrhoff, and Clowe also became impactful NHL players.

The 2013 Draft is on the opposite end of the spectrum: The Sharks signed just two of their seven draft picks. Mirco Mueller (#18) and Michael Brodzinski (#141) inked ELCs, while Gabryel Boudreau (#49), Fredrik Bergvik (#117), Gage Ausmus (#151), Jake Jackson (#201), and Emil Galimov (#207) were left in the cold.

The History

Anyway, those are just some of the interesting things I learned — there’s more coming from my research soon.

Here’s the complete list of San Jose Sharks draft picks and whether or not they were signed — obviously, some of the more recent selections are still in the wait-in-see category. Information before 1994 was spottier, so please feel free to correct me if I’ve made any mistakes:

San Jose Sharks Draft Picks, 1991-2019