CHICAGO – After nabbing a center in the first round on Friday, the Sharks added four more forwards and one defenseman to conclude the second day of the annual NHL Entry Draft on Saturday, held this year at United Center.
The Sharks weren't explicitly trying to restock their forward cabinet, according to general manager Doug Wilson and scouting director Tim Burke, although the club did make two separate moves in surrendering some later round picks to move up in the fourth round (to take center Scott Reedy) and sixth round (to take left wing Sasha Chmelevski).
First, though, it was defenseman Mario Ferraro in the second round at 49th overall. The offensive defenseman was a player that the Sharks targeted, using the pick they acquired from New Jersey last Friday as part of the trade for Mirco Mueller.
"He's got a lot of speed, offensive guy, exciting," Burke said. "Puck-moving type of guy."
Wilson said: "We're very pleased with the d-man. He's a very dynamic, athletic guy, great skater. He was a guy that we moved up a little bit aggressively to get because that round, you could see people going after who they wanted. He is a guy that we identified."
After moving up from the fifth round to the fourth round last Friday, again because of the Mueller trade, the Sharks jumped up 21 more spots in the fourth round by obtaining the Rangers pick at 102nd overall for the 123rd and 174th selections.
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Center Scott Reedy is a player that Burke has high hopes for, projecting the Minnesota native as a "second line right winger [with] high-end potential." Burke pointed out that Reedy, who is friends with first round pick Josh Norris, occasionally played on the same line with Norris for each of the last two seasons with the U.S. Under-18 team.
"He's a big, strong forward that can play both positions (center and right wing)," Burke said.
Right wing Jacob McGrew, an Orange, CA native, went to the Sharks in the fifth round despite missing all of his first season in junior with a lower body injury suffered in training camp with Spokane (WHL).
"We knew about him before he went up there," Burke said. "He's a California kid. … If he was healthy he probably would have gone earlier."
The Sharks again moved up to snag Huntington Beach native and center Chmelevski at 185 overall, and made their sixth and final pick in the 212th position by taking left wing Ivan Chekhovich in the seventh round. Both players look to have some offensive skill, based on their numbers and Youtube highlights.
Burke was surprised that both players were around so late.
"I thought they had pretty good years and they kind of slipped in the draft," he said. "We weighed that versus some other more project-type guys, and we thought they had more offense and finish to their game. They just kept sliding, so we took a chance on them."
Wilson said: "We moved up for the guys we wanted, and then there were some skilled guys at the end that we were surprised were still there. … We'll go back and take a look how it all went, but we feel, I think, really good about where we ended up with this."
