If Sharks Move Up From No. 14, Who’s Most Open To Make a Trade? (+)

The San Jose Sharks’ biggest organizational need is arguably high-end defense, in both the NHL and the farm system.

On the big club, the only legitimate top-four blueliner might be, debatably, Mario Ferraro.

In the system, Shakir Mukhamadullin is the only consensus top-four defenseman of the future.

So where can the San Jose Sharks begin to remedy this problem?

The 2024 Draft is a good place to start.

There are six clear defensemen who should top this Draft, in alphabetical order, Zeev Buium, Sam Dickinson, Artyom Levshunov, Zayne Parekh, Anton Silayev, and Carter Yakemchuk.

The Sharks have two first-round picks, No. 1, that’s tabbed for center Macklin Celebrini, and No. 14, that many pundits believe will fall short of one of these “sweet six” blueliners.

So should San Jose trade up to get one of these prized prospects?

According to Dom Luszczyszyn’s draft pick valuation chart, it could be well within the Sharks’ reach to do so.

Draft pick value refresherhttps://t.co/4aoYr8aUCu pic.twitter.com/UVPvuIPE6w

— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) July 7, 2022

Besides No. 14, San Jose also has the No. 33 and 42 picks in the 2024 Draft.

They’ve also got a number of prospects, especially up front, who could be sweeteners in a package.

So they’ve got, in theory, the ammunition to move up.

Of course, I’m not suggesting that the Sharks move up for just any one of these half-dozen defensemen. But if there’s one that their scouting staff likes that much more than the others, why not go for it?

And of course, it’s not as simple as making a fair draft pick value chart trade – my guess is, you usually have to overpay at least a little to move up.

But could the No. 5 Montreal Canadiens, No. 6 Utah, No. 7 Ottawa Senators, No. 8 Seattle Kraken, No. 9 Calgary Flames, No. 10 New Jersey Devils, No. 11 Buffalo Sabres, or No. 12 Philadelphia Flyers be interested in what the San Jose Sharks have to offer?

I posed that question to Marc Dumont of Montreal Hockey Now, Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports, Murray Pam of Full Press Hockey, John Barr of Sound of Hockey, Trevor Neufeld of Calgary Hockey Now, James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now, Jason Moser of Buffalo Hockey Now, and Jon Bailey of Philly Hockey Now.