San Jose Sharks
What Are Fair Trades for Sharks’ No. 2 Pick?
What’s a fair trade for the Sharks’ No. 2 pick in the 2026 draft?
Of course, odds are, the San Jose Sharks aren’t actually going to deal the pick: The last time that a top-five selection moved, post-draft lottery, was in 2008.
That said?
“Mike Grier is absolutely open to moving the No. 2 pick,” insider Pierre LeBrun reported in The Athletic on Wednesday, “depending on the offers.”
So what are fair offers for the second-overall?
San Jose Hockey Now spoke with three NHL scouts and an executive to come up with some reasonable deals.
Two trade scenarios seem to make the most sense for the San Jose Sharks: Trading back from No. 2 and still coming out with a high pick or dangling the second-overall for an established star.
Trade Back?
The San Jose Sharks, as an organization, are deep up front and shallow on defense.
So while there’s much thought that wingers Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg are the top prospects of the draft, there’s also a handful of blueline prospects, Chase Reid, Carson Carels, Keaton Verhoeff, and Alberts Smits, who could well be future No. 1 defensemen.
The Sharks must also add to their current blueline, which has just two defensemen signed for next year, veteran Dmitry Orlov and rookie Sam Dickinson.
So trading back can still net the Sharks a high pick, which they can use on a top defensive prospect, and they can acquire some blueline help right now, too.
Could the Sharks trade No. 2 to the Chicago Blackhawks for the No. 4 pick, defenseman Kevin Korchinski, and the Hawks’ 2026 second-rounder? Chicago’s second-rounder is the No. 34 pick.
Read the Full Article at NBC Sports Bay Area
I think the trade proposals thrown out so far (here, Hockey Prof, elsewhere) have been interesting, but easy to praise or knock based on straightforward evaluation of the pieces back. I think that based on his history, if Mike DOES do a trade, it’ll be more complex. More pieces on both sides of the equation, like we saw in the Timo and Karlsson trades, to diversify the risk hit to both sides, and to fine tune the balance and obscure the “who won the trade” narrative. We have yet to see how much Grier is willing to do escalator clauses… Read more »
Interesting
based on habs trajectory, sharks are at least 3 years away from being a true contender. paying a lot to sign 28 years old makes little sense. drafting good d prospect now might give you same results in 3 years
Idk the sharks have some heaviness in the bottom and in the close to the NHL category.
Montreal is a soft team up front.
Yeah, it’s hard to make the jump.
Adam Fox is a very good player. He will give this team an instant boost. But is that boost just into the mushy middle at the expense of the future?
There is also a question of how many players in your core will be 6’0″ or under.
I don’t see how the second overall is worth the 5th overall and what most likely is a third pair defenseman.
Given the parity at the top of this draft, I think it makes sense. If Stenberg/McKenna were clearly much better than Carels/Reid/Smits, then the price would be much higher to move up. There are a lot of scouts saying that Carels or Reid could go in the top 3 picks, though, and Smits might be the most NHL ready player of the bunch. I personally like the Chicago trade proposal. If Korchinski ends up being a top 4 defenseman, and the sharks pick up Carels (who scored a lot more than Reid in a tougher league, and is a phenomenal… Read more »
Disagree. First, acquiring Korchinski and drafting Carols does the Sharks little good as it does not solve the issue everyone is screaming to draft a defenseman to fix. They are both LDs. Second, Korchinski is not a very good prospect. The prospect they should be able to get is Rinzel. Rinzel is exactly the type of prospect GMMG is looking for. He’s big, has 50 NHL games, can transition the puck, and has a very good shot from the point. He needs to hit the weight room and be more physical but will be a second pair RD sooner rather… Read more »
The real leverage Grier has is positional. If Chicago or NYR wants one of the top 3 forwards, the Sharks have to position themselves to make them sure they have to trade up to get it. I think the best option is the Blackhawks because it ensures the Sharks still get their top Dman, plus additional assets. I was thinking also that there could be an opportunity to reacquire the team’s #2 pick from Vancouver if they can get the Canucks to move up to be sure they get Malhotra. Then the team could get the same deal from Chicago… Read more »
Offer sheets require picks in 2027. Their original picks only. The Sharks already traded away their 2027 second and third round picks.
They will most likely not be going the offer sheet route this offseason.
Because in this draft the 5th overall may well end up being better than the 2nd overall. This is one of those where the value in moving up is uncertain at best (and why I think ultimately there will be no trade to move up.)
2nd for the 4th and Rinzel. Throw in Cagnoni or Mukh if you need a sweetener.
To me, the return was light on all those deals. Rinzel is more interesting than Korchinski though
This I would agree.
If you think that Rinzel is the best defenseman out there and a top pair guy, why not trade the 2nd overall, straight up, (the trade is one for one lol) for Rinzel? You get a D (in theory) that is better than Reid, Carels et al for a top-pair D who fits your timeline perfectly.
Seems way better than trading for 2-years of Fox.
Rinzel is good but no one is saying he’s a top pairing RD, but he’s a second pair RD or will be for sure.
Then take whichever BPA is left which odds are would be Reid. RD issues fixed for the near future and further out.
If this did happen in three to four seasons the blue line could look like:
First pair: Dickinson – Reid
Second pair: Wallenius – Rinzel
Third pair: Muk/Cags/Allan/Sinn – Pohlkamp
It’s deep, balanced and diverse. And doesn’t include a list of other prospects already in the Sharks system.
One can dream.
It seems to me the Korchinski trade is the most plausible because it’s basically swapping lottery tickets, which includes Korchinski himself. The move up/down trades in recent years most seem to involve swapping lottery tickets (like Sharks trading #11 for two lower picks in 2022.) This could be one of those drafts where the #5 ends up being better than the #1 in 5 years. So I don’t think anybody is giving any surefire value to move.