San Jose Sharks
Observations About Sharks’ 2021 Development Camp Roster
San Jose Sharks fans are about to get their first look at William Eklund and Thomas Bordeleau skating in teal next week.
The Sharks have just announced both their development camp roster, and the date and time of the development camp scrimmage.
San Jose was unable to host a development camp last year because of COVID-19 restrictions.
This year’s prospects scrimmage will take place this Thursday, August 19 at 7 PM at SAP Center. Fans will not be allowed to attend because of COVID-19 restrictions, but you can register on Monday to watch the free livestream.
2021 first-round pick Eklund and 2020 second-round pick Bordeleau highlight the development camp roster, which also includes NHL’ers Sasha Chmelevski, John Leonard, Alexei Melnichuk, and Brinson Pasichnuk, along with 2020 first-round pick Ozzy Wiesblatt and 2018 first-round pick Ryan Merkley. 2020 third-round Danil Gushchin will also be making his playing debut in teal.
San Jose Hockey Now originally reported Eklund’s attendance two weeks ago:
In total, 26 of the 32 San Jose Sharks draft picks since 2017 still with the organization are scheduled to attend development camp. Only Artem Guryev, Yevgeni Kashnikov, Tristen Robins, Yegor Spiridonov, Santeri Hatakka, and Ivan Chekhovich will be missing.
A source indicated to San Jose Hockey Now that 2020 second-rounder Robins won’t be coming because of an immigration issue. Another source indicated that 2019 sixth-rounder Hatakka would also miss development camp for the same reason. Both are expected to have these issues cleared up by training camp.
In a testament to how much the Sharks have fortified their young forward corps in recent years — they drafted all forwards in the 2020 NHL Draft — only two of the 27 forwards coming to development camp are tryouts. Compare that to eight tryouts on defense.
MacAuley Carson and Tyr Thompson are the development camp invitees up front; Jeremie Biakabutuka, Nick Cicek, Ranvir Gill-Shane, David Gucciardi, Cole Moberg, Montana Onyebuchi, Keaton Pehrson, and Gavin White are the invitees on the back-end; Pierce Charleson is the lone invitee between the pipes.
Don’t discount these names — Nikolai Knyzhov was a tryout to San Jose’s 2019 Development Camp. Knyzhov was named Sharks Rookie of the Year last season.
Knyzhov Talks Surgery Recovery, Junk Food Diet, Learning from Karlsson | SJHN+
Per the San Jose Sharks, here’s the full development camp roster, which is subject to change.