San Jose Sharks
Don’t Expect Will Smith To Sign With Sharks This Season
Don’t expect Will Smith to sign with the San Jose Sharks before the end of this season.
There’s no real reason for him to rush.
If Smith were to sign with the Sharks now and appear in their last regular season game on Mar. 18 against the Calgary Flames, his entry-level contract would “slide” into next season.
Because he’s 19, he’s too young to “burn” a year off his ELC, unlike older NCAA counterparts who just signed, like Boston College teammate Cutter Gauthier, 20, with the Anaheim Ducks, and future San Jose Sharks teammate Collin Graf, 21.
So the only real reason for Smith to sign right now is to get his NHL debut out of the way, that’s about it. But that should be coming anyway for the fourth-overall pick of the 2023 Draft, who just enjoyed a dominating freshman campaign with the Eagles.
Coming off a tough 2-0 loss in the NCAA championship game to the University of Denver on Saturday, and with just one contest left in the San Jose Sharks’ calendar after tonight, it’s understandable for Smith to instead take the time to decide his next step.
There’s recent precedent for this: NCAA stars Trevor Zegras and Logan Cooley, then 19, both took their time before signing with their respective NHL squads.
In 2020, Zegras’s year with Boston University ended on Mar. 7. And while he signed with the Anaheim Ducks just three weeks later, he didn’t start playing for the Ducks organization until the next season.
In 2023, Cooley, like Smith, lost the national championship game in April. The University of Minnesota star, who fell short to Graf’s Quinnipiac, didn’t sign with the Arizona Coyotes until July.
Now this doesn’t mean that Smith will sign with the San Jose Sharks in the coming weeks, like fellow freshmen Zegras and Cooley did with their respective NHL sides.
But point is, there’s no hurry.
Wouldn’t phase me a bit if he decided to take another year at BC. Lotta prospects get to the NHL too quickly. They’re playing a very physical man’s game in 19-year-old bodies which are often not really ready for it. We see that to some degree with Ekland, whose age 21 season looks so much better than his earlier seasons. Really, the back half of this season looked a lot better than the first half. It takes time and the Sharks can’t be in any rush with the players that will be central to the franchise — and hopefully its… Read more »
I still want to see how he does as The Guy at BC, with Gauthier and hopefully Leonard gone.
I want to see him without his linemates, Leonard and Perreault. I’m not saying Smith looked bad but he didn’t appear to be the play driver in the 4 games I saw towards the end of the year. And he didn’t make great decisions with the puck when carrying it out of his zone. Several times he tried to beat the 1-2-2 by stickhandling through it and lost it on bad turnovers as he crossed his blueline and his goalie was left alone.
What about having him on the Cuda next year? He already dominated college, why not give him a little more of a challenge?
Couldn’t agree more. It must be an emotional time. I can’t imagine the right decision is clear for him at the moment. I do hope he goes pro next year, whether it be with the Sharks or Barracuda. My general feeling is that if a prospect can play a flawed game and still rack up points like it’s going out of style, they’re in too easy a league. Both he and Musty need to find new places to develop next season.
Agreed. There’s no urgent need for him to change his game at the college level. There will be if he turns pro. The sooner he learns to be less reckless and harder to play against the better.
Not familiar with the process. How is it that the Sharks, and now Ducks, can sign college players like Graf and Gauthier? Yet other college players are drafted. If that’s the case, why don’t we just go out and sign Celebrini?
All the players you mentioned (except for Celebrini) were drafted. They signed with the team that drafted them.
If you are not drafted at 18 you go back into the draft at 19, and 20, if still undrafted you become a free agent (NA players, EURO players stay in draft til 21 I think). Graf was very small in his draft year so everyone passed on him. It is harder to get noticed/drafted in your overage year, especially if people already passed on you at 18. So he did his years in college, had a late growth spurt and made himself noticeable, so he got to be a free agent and pick where he wanted to play. Another… Read more »
Canadian junior league plays actually only have to wait 2 year after not signing with a team to become UFA. I know a lot is made about NCAA players becoming UFAs after 4 years, but the timeline is actually shorter for CHL players.
But don’t they re-enter the draft if the don’t sign? i get lost in the over agers stuff sometimes
Thanks for this Sheng, did not know about the age-20 slide cutoff, since I only knew Graf, Thrun, Bordeleau
what a crazy race for 8th in the east
At puck drop vs EDM, these are the scores
Det going to OT vs MtL
Caps 2-0 win over Boston, last goal was empty netter
Pens 4-2 over NSH in the 3rd
Detroit completes the comeback, wins 5-4 after being down 4-1.
Pens win, too. 3 teams, separated by 1 pt
Love EK65 but hope they don’t make the playoffs.
As long as the sharks don’t piss him off like the flyers did with Cutter.
Think the “Freshmen” line plays in the upcoming 2024 World Championships for USA?
Heard Celebrini will play for Canada this year.
Could be some good WC games when not watching the SC playoffs.