Sheng Peng
Do the San Jose Sharks pay attention to what the media says about the Draft?
Naturally, Sharks director of scouting Chris Morehouse was coy about it, but the short answer is yes.
“It’s guidance, it’s not a be-all and end-all,” Morehouse told San Jose Hockey Now at the Combine. “[Corey] Pronman and [Scott] Wheeler and Cam [Robinson], they’ve been to games…they’re scouting and watching the players. Obviously, Bob [McKenzie] has connections, he’s been in the business for a long time…Central Scouting and their list, in terms of pointing us in the right direction at the beginning of the year, is really important because they do such a good job of blanketing everybody.”
Morehouse stressed, “It doesn’t change how we do things, or put our draft board together. It’s just part of the process.”
He added: “I tell our group, and I do it the same way, you’re silly not to take the information people want to give you. Just be very selective of what information you give out.”
So what information did the San Jose Sharks give out before the 2025 Draft, when Michael Misa vs. Anton Frondell was hotly contested until the last minute? Morehouse didn’t give anything away, but I did ask.
Morehouse was more forthcoming about how the Sharks landed on selecting Joshua Ravensbergen and Haoxi (Simon) Wang last year. He also shed more insight on what made Igor Chernyshov stand out in 2024.
Misa or Frondell?
So what did Morehouse think of the Misa vs. Frondell smoke for the San Jose Sharks’ No. 2 pick last year?
“I don’t speak on other teams’ prospects,” Morehouse said.
Did the Sharks’ selection come down to those two?
“There were a lot of players on top of that draft, it was a good draft,” Morehouse said, “what we got with Michael and who he is as a person, I’m really excited to see what he does for the next however many years.”
Maybe Morehouse is saving all this for his tell-all book one day?
Best Player Available?
The San Jose Sharks made, for them, a surprising pick at No. 30 last year, selecting goalie Joshua Ravensbergen.
Historically, the Sharks don’t draft netminders high: Before Ravensbergen, the highest goalie pick in franchise history was Terry Friesen at No. 55 in 1996. Also, San Jose had top prospect Yaroslav Askarov ready to take over as No. 1.
But, late in the first round, in what was widely considered a not-as-deep draft?
“It’s best player available at that point in the draft,” Morehouse explained. “If you can get a No. 1 goalie, there’s not many players that have as much value as that.”
He added: “Josh is an incredible athlete and has a chance to be a really special goalie. Ryan Miller did an incredible job with scouting and getting to know the person and the background. Going back to his underage year, we felt like he was the best goalie in the Western League as an underage.”
Different Kind of Best Player Available?
“Best player available” can mean different things.
It can be a best player right now (and hopefully, in the future), like Ravensbergen, arguably the top goalie of the 2025 Draft. Or more relevant when you’re projecting out for an 18-year-old…who will be the best hockey player in the future?
Morehouse hopes that will be the San Jose Sharks’ next pick after Ravensbergen last year, defenseman Haoxi (Simon) Wang at No. 33.
Wang is 6-foot-5 and an excellent skater, but he’s relatively new to hockey, seriously taking up hockey for the first time as a 12-year-old.
“He’s more of ‘the parts are better than the whole’ right now,” Morehouse admitted. “When you get that type of overachieving mentality with the crazy athletic ability, and the honesty that he has, it’s a really intriguing projection on him…If it all comes together, it’s a really exciting projection on a kid.”
Morehouse has kept tabs on Wang, who played in the OHL this past season, and is committed to Boston University next year: “From where he’s come to — even from where he was at the start of last year to the start of this year — it’s a massive growth… Our development guys rave about him. He’s a sponge, they love working with him.”
Selecting the mobile big man where they did was strategic.
“We felt like, at that point in the draft, again that upside of what he could be, and looking at where some D have gone in the last couple of drafts, just being smart with it that way, it made a lot of sense to take him there,” Morehouse said.
It seems like Morehouse thought that Wang would not be around for the Sharks for their next pick at No. 53, which they used on center Cole McKinney.
“I study drafts, I study where a certain type of player comes into play, and typically, what ranges they fall in,” he said. “There’s been an uptick in size [and] strength [good] skaters going earlier and earlier.”
“I’m a hockey player”
Igor Chernyshov’s sunburn wasn’t humorous at the time.
Morehouse was there in Florida when Chernyshov, at agent Dan Milstein’s post-Combine camp in Florida, got sunburnt before the on-ice portion of the camp.
“Thought it was really shitty for the kid, to be honest, because he wanted to be on the ice and he was in pain, like needed fluids, an IV, like painful painful,” Morehouse said.
But Chernyshov showed character to Morehouse and San Jose Sharks amateur scout Nikolai Ladygin.
“I tell all the Russian kids when we interview, you can speak through Nik in Russian, and [Igor] was like ‘No, I want to do it in English, so you can understand,’” Morehouse said of the then-fledging English speaker. “He wanted to come over [to North America] right away.”
Also, Chernyshov spoke a universal language.
“It’s just a presence [he had],” Morehouse said. “Those interviews can be kind of difficult in terms of language and understanding, but I got it [from] him, I think he [just] wanted to say, ‘I’m a hockey player’…he just had this quiet confidence.”