How Do NHL Scouts See Barracuda-Eagles Series? Their Predictions (+)

The San Jose Barracuda are doing a lot of game planning for a familiar face.

The day before the beginning of the No. 6 seed’s match-up against Pacific Division top-seed Colorado Eagles, a five-game series that starts on May 2 at Tech CU Arena, the Cuda were drilling down on how to stop ex-San Jose Sharks forward-defenseman Jacob MacDonald on the power play.

MacDonald set an AHL single-season record for defenseman with 31 goals this past year, 13 on the PP.

So assistant coach Louis Mass, in charge of the defense and penalty kill, drew a line in…the ice.

Penalty kill coach Louis Mass drew a line in the ice for this drill…the Jacob MacDonald plan? pic.twitter.com/1uhSB3dYjV

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) May 1, 2025

Anyway, how does the rest of the hockey world see this match-up between the San Jose Sharks and Colorado Avalanche’s AHL affiliates? San Jose Hockey Now reached out to multiple scouts and league sources to get their thoughts and predictions.

Safe to say, critics took note of how well the Cuda played in their first-round sweep of the Ontario Reign.

Back to Mass’s line in the ice.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen that,” first-choice PK’er Patrick Giles said.