San Jose Sharks' rebuild turns a corner after several painful years

The seven players the Sharks took Saturday include Russian winger Igor Chernyshov at 33rd overall (ninth-ranked international skater) and Swedish defenseman Leo Sahlin Wallenius at No. 53 (seventh-ranked international skater). That, on the surface, appears to be good value for the first two rounds.

Filling out the rest of the Sharks draft were winger Carson Wetsch (third round), goalie Christian Kirsch (fourth round), defensemen Colton Roberts and Nate Misskey (fifth round) and goalie Yaroslav Korostelyov (seventh round).

Not every player will pan out. But the Sharks have bought a lot of lottery tickets in recent years, enough, it seems, to feel good about the team’s direction.

The Sharks already know Celebrini will do incredible things once he turns pro, and they also feel Dickinson is capable of becoming a top-pair defenseman.

“You add that with some of the other guys, Will (Smith), (Quentin) Musty, (Filip) Bystedt and (Kasper) Halttunen, (William) Eklund and (Fabian) Zetterlund are already playing,” Grier said, “you can start to see the foundation of hopefully what’s to come for us.”

“Personally, I like the look of our cupboard right now,” said Morehouse, the Sharks’ director of amateur scouting. “I give a ton of credit to Mike and management. … But in terms of what we’ve been able to accomplish in a very short amount of time, we’re excited, and I think we’re on the right track.”

Chernyshov is one of five players taken this weekend by the Sharks, including one goalie, listed at 6-foot-3 or taller. That group joins last year’s class, which had five players who were at least 6-2, including the 6-2 Musty and the 6-3 Halttunen.

Grier wanted big prospects because those players usually have more playoff success, and his lieutenants have followed orders.

But besides being big, the Sharks feel the players they’ve taken in the Grier era are also competitive.

“There’s no success without being competitive,” said Fitzgerald, who, as director of player personnel, focuses on pro and amateur scouting, including early-round selections and college free agents.

“That’s the number one thing. You’ve got to compete or you won’t be a Shark.”

That’s one reason the Sharks are so excited about the ultra-competitive Celebrini and are curious to see how he and the team’s other prospects interact at development camp next week.

“When you bring in talent and you surround talent with talent, oftentimes talent will push other talent,” Morehouse said. “So we have a combination of Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini — how can you not like that — and they’re going to push each other and fuel each other.”

Morehouse knows there’ll probably come a day when Grier uses first-round picks to add NHL players in the offseason or at the trade deadline rather than to select high-end prospects at the draft. But the Sharks are not there yet, and San Jose, as of now, has two first-rounders again next year. The job continues.

“We’re still in that phase of just hoarding as much talent as we possibly can,” Morehouse said. “I think everybody we draft to the Sharks, especially the last three years and moving forward, are going to be players that we truly believe fit a role in our organization.

“So, if we don’t have picks, then maybe it’s a little easier.”

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