BREAKING: Sharks Move Up in 1st Round, Get No. 11 From Sabres

LAS VEGAS — The San Jose Sharks are moving up!

The Sharks have traded the No. 14 pick in the 2024 Draft, acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins for Erik Karlsson over the summer, along with the No. 42 pick, to the Buffalo Sabres for the No. 11 pick.

This puts the San Jose Sharks in range for one of the top defenseman in the Draft, perhaps Carter Yakemchuk or Zayne Parekh or someone else. Forwards Konsta Helenius or Berkly Catton or Beckett Sennecke or Cole Eiserman or someone else could be in play too.

GM Mike Grier paid a reasonable price to move up, going off recent history, and better than he appeared to forecast on Monday.

“It’s always hard to move up, but I think we’ll explore both options,” he said. “We’ll explore trying to move up if the price isn’t too high. We’re also open to trading back and getting more assets if that makes sense too. We’re kind of open-minded at 14.”

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The No. 11 has moved three times in the cap era:

• In 2022, the San Jose Sharks traded the No. 11 pick to the Arizona Coyotes for No. 27, 34, 45
• In 2019, the Coyotes traded the No. 11 to the Philadelphia Flyers for No. 14 and 45
• In 2016, the Ottawa Senators traded the No. 11 to the New Jersey Devils for No. 12 and 80

This is in line with the 2019 trade.

Want Buium? It Will Take Big Overpay for Sharks To Move Up Much in Draft (+)

Per Dom Luszczysyn’s draft pick value chart, this is a clear win for the Sabres (7.1) over the Sharks (5.7), a gain of +1.4 GSVA for them. PuckPedia’s new Perri Pick Value Calculator, created by ex-Arizona Coyotes director of hockey analytics Matt Perri, has it closer though, Buffalo (33.23) with a slight edge over San Jose (31.99).

Grier has had a very busy Draft week so far, let’s see what he has in store on Friday. On Tuesday, he took on Jake Walman’s contract and got an extra second-round pick from the Detroit Red Wings for his troubles. Armed with the No. 11, 33, and 53 picks, could he move up again?