Smokescreens or not? For Sharks, nothing appears certain as NHL Draft nears

SAN JOSE Sharks general manager Mike Grier commented this week that he expects to keep and make the No overall pick when the NHL Draft begins on Friday at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles After that buckle up The Sharks as of Thursday had eight other picks in the draft with their selections at th and rd overall undoubtedly in play As he looks to strengthen the cellar-dwelling Sharks for next year and beyond Grier could package those picks perhaps along with another asset to move up in the draft and select a contestant they covet Or he could use his draft capital to get a player who could help straightaway as the Sharks try to take a step forward after a dismal - - season Or the Sharks could keep the picks and further bolster an already deep prospect pool I think everything s on the table Grier disclosed Tuesday We re definitely open to moving the th overall selection but we also know looking at our board that there s going to be a good performer there available to help us Drafts never go how you expect So to use that with another piece to maybe move up into the first round if there s a sportsman that we really like that starts to slide that s definitely a possibility as well The draft lottery-winning New York Islanders are expected to take defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the first overall pick and several longtime draft analysts such as TSN s Bob McKenzie and Sportsnet s Sam Cosentino have center Michael Misa the Canadian Hockey League scoring champion as the second-best athlete available Whether that means the Sharks take Misa is unclear The Chicago Blackhawks who own the third overall selection now reportedly believe the Sharks could take Anton Frondell at No Grier this week sang the praises of both Misa and Frondell a physical two-way centerman with a terrific shot and tantalizing playmaking ability Other players whom the Sharks might consider include center Caleb Desnoyers and winger Porter Martone The drumbeat for Frondell has been getting louder Is it a smokescreen or has there been an honest internal debate inside the Sharks war room Misa had points in games with the OHL s Saginaw Spirit this season Frondell competing against older players in his native Sweden had points in games in HockeyAllsvenskan for Djurgardens and also had standout moments in international competition Unlike last season when the No pick Macklin Celebrini stepped into the Sharks roster right away it s possibly a stretch to think that either Misa or Frondell are NHL-ready as -year-olds But long-term Misa or Frondell if taken by San Jose figure to play inside the Sharks top-six forward group for years to come along with Celebrini Will Smith and William Eklund I think I had the year to be able to go No Misa stated Thursday in Los Angeles It s what teams are deciding Coming out of this year I really had no regrets with how I performed It s not up to me at this point After Friday s first round rounds two through seven will be held Saturday morning The Sharks as of now are also slated to pick rd their own and rd from Ottawa in the second round th from Edmonton in the third round th from St Louis via Columbus and th from Winnipeg via Dallas in the fourth round th from Colorado in the fifth round and th from New Jersey in the seventh round Still the focus for now will be on the first round and what the Sharks and other teams might do San Jose is one of eight teams with multiple first-round picks this year and nearly every club outside of the Pittsburgh Penguins is actively seeking to improve or remain a Stanley Cup contender Related Articles Pending RFA forward will not receive qualifying offer from San Jose Sharks Sharks buying out Marc-Edouard Vlasic s contract ending his -year run in San Jose Sharks winger thought he might not make it after spending one day training with Macklin Celebrini San Jose Sharks set to move on from pending RFA per document Do Misa or Frondell have the identity of a Shark Grier talks both as draft decision looms If the Sharks package the th and rd overall selections to move up in the draft they would perhaps be looking to select a defenseman Suppose the Sharks were able to move up to the th to th overall range In that incident they could be looking at taking Boston University s Sascha Boumedienne Cameron Reid of the OHL s Kitchener Rangers or Blake Fiddler of the WHL s Edmonton Oil Kings When you have that kind of draft capital that s the whole reason you do it Cosentino informed Bay Area News Group earlier this month Because you get into a situation like this draft where there s not a lot separating the th through th guys Now you can use that draft capital to really hone in on a guy that you want