Morehouse Talks Draft Trends, Choosing Between Size Vs. Smaller Skill (+)

The San Jose Sharks director of amateur scouting doesn’t watch the draft lottery.

“I actually haven’t watched one to date with the Sharks,” Chris Morehouse, with the Sharks since 2023, said at the Combine. “When it comes to stuff like that, where it’s completely out of my control — I’m fine once the balls work, and I can actually have an input in what goes on.”

So what was he doing when the Sharks jumped up to the No. 2 pick in the 2026 Draft last month?

“Hitting balls into my golf simulator in the garage, I figured nothing was really gonna happen, but then, all of a sudden, my wife came [in] screaming,” he laughed.

How about 2024, the biggest draft lottery in franchise history, which yielded franchise star Macklin Celebrini at No. 1?

“I was at a Little League baseball game. That was definitely one I was not gonna watch,” Morehouse recalled, “but then I remember once I got the text that we [won], I pulled my youngest off the field.”

Who texted him first?

Once again, it was wife Ashley.

“She’s on it. I gotta look back, I think her text was, ‘We got him,’ so that was pretty cool.”

San Jose Hockey Now caught up with Morehouse at the Combine recently, and course, the San Jose Sharks director of amateur scouting had his best poker face on, when it came to the team’s No. 2 pick.

But he had interesting things to say about topics related to now-Stanley Cup winner Carolina Hurricanes, including how a Combine interview revealed a lot about a current Canes defenseman and the small versus size Stanley Cup Final narrative between Carolina and the Vegas Golden Knights. He also discussed other Draft trends.