SJHN’s Top-10 Sharks Prospects + McKenna Talks Hill’s Pros & Cons

We’ve got a jam-packed episode of the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast today!

To kick it off, Sheng unveils San Jose Hockey Now’s top-10 Sharks prospects list. Then, Nick and Sheng chat all things San Jose Sharks goaltending with analyst Mike McKenna of DFO Hockey and SinBin.Vegas.

Here’s SJHN’s top-10 prospects rankings — listen to the podcast if you want to hear Sheng’s reasoning:

10) Jonathan Dahlen (13:10)
9) Ben Gaudreau (16:50)
8) Daniil Gushchin (20:15)
7) Ryan Merkley (23:55)
6) Santeri Hatakka (29:40)
5) Tristen Robins (35:20)
4) Artemi Kniazev (38:25)
3) Ozzy Wiesblatt (43:10)
2) Thomas Bordeleau (46:05)
1) William Eklund (48:45)

Sheng also talks about his honorable mentions (57:50) for this list and explains why some notable San Jose Sharks prospects like Adam Raska and John Leonard missed the cut.

Next, Mike McKenna joins us to talk about the additions of Adin Hill and James Reimer between the pipes for the San Jose Sharks.

McKenna says Hill “has technical things he can clean up” (1:20:00) — but that said, he explains why the San Jose Sharks are clearly counting on Hill over Reimer. He also points out a Hill weakness (1:24:10) and we discuss the trend of goalies getting bigger while the skaters get smaller.

McKenna also talks about Hill’s ability to save high-danger chances (1:27:20) — San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson cited this when trading for Hill — and whether or not that’s a repeatable skill.

McKenna also talks about the Martin Jones experience (1:29:00): “Martin Jones, he baffled me. I’d see him play a game deep. Then I’d see him play a foot outside his crease. It looked like he wasn’t getting much coaching, frankly. And if he was, he either was tinkering or not listening. He didn’t look like he had a game plan to me.”

McKenna also clues us in on his thoughts about the future of goaltending in the NHL (1:32:50).

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