Could Sharks Acquire Another 1st-Round Pick? Here’s Who Scouts Like There (+)

LAS VEGAS — When you’re talking about the San Jose Sharks moving up in the 2024 Draft, most people think about using their No. 14 pick to get a crack at a Zeev Buium or another top-10 prospect.

The Sharks took a step toward that on Thursday, trading this year’s No. 14 and 42 picks to the Buffalo Sabres for No. 11.

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

Not discussed as much?

The San Jose Sharks still have two second-round picks, No. 33 and 53, which could be used to move up into the late first round.

“I could see the Sharks too, they could easily package those two [second-round picks]. There’s gonna be some teams in the 20’s that really don’t like that pool of players,” an NHL scout told San Jose Hockey Now. “At [53], I don’t think that’s like a great range in the Draft. If you can stay in that top-35? You could have three picks that you’re really excited about.”

The late first round is not usually as premium an area of the Draft, unlike the top-10, and Draft history is full of such trades, for example, in 2021, when the Carolina Hurricanes packaged the No. 40 and 51 picks for the Nashville Predators’ No. 27.

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

So who’s worth moving up into the late first round for? I asked two NHL scouts, neither with the San Jose Sharks, their thoughts.

Anyway, for this exercise, I asked these scouts who’s worth trading the No. 33 and 53 for, if those picks meant getting the No. 25 selection.

I arrived at the Boston Bruins’ No. 25 pick as fair value in exchange for No. 33 and 53 picks, using PuckPedia’s Draft Pick Value Calculator, which was created by Matt Perri, former Director of Hockey Analytics for the Arizona Coyotes.

There aren’t necessarily rumors about the Bruins wanting to trade out of the first round, by the way, this is just an exploration of fair value: What are the No. 33 and 53 picks worth? And who’s most worth trading up for?

I sent the scouts 15 prospects to choose from, forwards Cole Beaudoin, Sacha Boisvert, Igor Chernyshov, Liam Greentree, Michael Hage, Dean Letourneau, Jett Luchanko, Julius Miettinen, Lucas Pettersson, Ryder Ritchie, or Yegor Surin, and defensemen Dominik Badinka, Charlie Elick, EJ Emery, or Leo Sahlin Wallenius.

Of course, some of these prospects may well be gone by No. 25.

Here’s three guys that the two scouts, independent of each other, agreed upon though.