Morehouse: How Are Sharks Scouting Russians? Meaning of ‘Best Player Available’? Draft Mistakes? (+)

Believe it or not, director of amateur scouting Chris Morehouse is hoping for the day that the San Jose Sharks can trade away their draft picks.

“My job is to execute Mike Grier’s plan for the Sharks,” Morehouse told Adam Kimelman and Mike Morreale of NHL.com in an insightful interview early last week. “It’s building up that foundation and getting to the point where Mike can start trading all our picks away.”

Basically, that point means that San Jose, five years and running out of the playoffs, is winning once again, dealing futures to win now.

“I hope he doesn’t trade all them every year,” Morehouse told San Jose Hockey Now, laughing. “But if we are at that point and we can get to that point, I know our [scouting] staff had a lot to do with it.”

SJHN caught up with Morehouse at last week’s Scouting Combine in Buffalo.

While Morehouse was understandably coy about the San Jose Sharks’ specific plans at the 2024 Draft, he gave insight on how they’re tackling the “Russian Factor” in the coming weeks, drafting for positional need vs. selecting the best player available, and why Combine interviews are valuable.

We also discuss, to quote “Arrested Development”, when a scout realizes, “I’ve made a huge mistake.”