Sheng Peng
There’s plenty to like about the player that Ty Dellandrea is now — and there’s still some upside.
That’s the enthusiastic verdict from five league sources that San Jose Hockey Now reached out to about the San Jose Sharks acquiring Dellandrea from the Dallas Stars for a 2025 fourth-round pick.
Two NHL scouts and two coaches, none with the Sharks, and another league source talked up Dellandrea.
On the surface, the 23-year-old Dellandrea is your typical reclamation project. The 13th pick of the 2018 Draft, Dellandrea has yet to establish himself as a regular in the Stars’ line-up. This season, the 6-foot-2 center-winger was a frequent healthy scratch, scoring just two goals and seven assists in a fourth-line role in 42 games.
Of course, Dallas is as deep a team as there is in the NHL.
“Ready to break through, needs a chance to play every night,” Scout #1 said. “13th pick wasn’t given a real chance on a super-strong club…love those odds.”
Of course, the Stars could’ve simply qualified the pending RFA, to the tune of just $945,000. But the Cup contenders don’t have space for him, apparently.
So let’s not get ahead of ourselves either…Dellandrea isn’t a top player, at least not yet.
“Lost his confidence this year,” Coach #1 said.
But unlike a lot of reclamation projects, Dellandrea is already a solid player in his own right. In 2022-23, he appeared in all 82 regular games, notching nine goals and 19 assists, and 16 of 19 playoff contests for a still-strong Dallas squad.
“He’s an NHL full-time player,” Scout #1 said.
“Non-stop workaholic,” a league source said.
“Tenacious player. Motor always running. Good penalty killer,” Coach #1 said.
Dellandrea sounds like that “hard to play against” type that was too often missing from the San Jose Sharks’ line-up last year.
He also projects to be a great fit with young guns Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith and William Eklund, and the winning culture that GM Mike Grier is trying to re-establish in San Jose.
“Great character. Great dressing room guy. Great teammate. The kind of guy you want your young skill guys to be around,” Coach #2 said.
Coach #1 agreed: “Fantastic kid and will be a great leader if he can establish himself in the NHL.”
So Dellandrea appears to be at least a quality fourth-liner in an NHL line-up at the moment, with real hope for more.
“Great pick-up,” Scout #1 gushed.
“I like him and think this was a good move by San Jose,” Scout #2 said. “Still young and will get a much better opportunity.”