When you look across the National Hockey League, and when you look at the futures of all 32 teams, the one that should jump out at you right away, is the San Jose Sharks. San Jose is currently one of the worst teams in the league, but they have an incredibly bright future. Lets take a look at some of the most exciting prospects for the San Jose Sharks.

Macklin Celebrini

Over the last 2 drafts, the Sharks have held 4 (!!!) first round pick selections. Last year, they held the first overall pick, drafting Macklin Celebrini out of BU. Macklin is the best prospect in the NHL today, taking the jump right away to the big leagues. Celebrini is a great centerman, with his strength giving him the ability to win draws against veteran players. Celebrini carries a high-end shot as well as great speed which allows him to separate from opponents. He’s immensely talented as a forward, and he should be a perennial 30-goal scorer, highlighting a strong two-way game. Macklin Celebrini is locked in to center the Sharks into their bright future.

Will Smith

The next tier of prospect talent includes guys like Will Smith, Sam Dickinson, and Yaro Askarov. Before they won the 2024 draft lottery, the Sharks won big with Will Smith. Top-line potential with a high-end center upside, the Sharks already will have one of the best 1-2 punches down the middle. Two short years ago, he posted one of the most productive seasons in USA Hockey National Team Development Program history with 51 goals and 127 points, finishing off with an MVP award and a gold medal at the U-18 World Championship.

Sam Dickinson

Sam Dickinson is a guy who personally, I really like. He’s a big, yet smart hockey player, who has the size and the speed to be effective on both ends of the ice. He moves really well for his size and he had one of the best seasons of any CHL defender. Dickinson measures up to be San Jose’s top defender in 2-3 years time, and other than Mario Ferraro, there’s not much competition that he will have to battle with for the top spot. He will eventually be one of the best two-way defenders in the league soon enough, competing for a spot in the NHL’s top-10 defenders.

Yaroslav Askarov

Yaroslav Askarov is a weird talent to look at, but he is one talented goaltender. The one thing that was missing from the Sharks prospect pool if you looked in July, was a sure-fire number one potential goaltender. In the back-half of August, the Sharks traded prospects David Edstrom and Magnus Chrona, along with a conditional first-round pick in 2025 for the Russian netminder. Askarov is one of the most talked about prospects in all of hockey, known for his high energy celebrations on the ice. Nashville would’ve had the best goaltending duo in the league (and it wouldn’t be close) in the next 3 years, but Askarov and camp thought the signing of Juuse Saros shut the door on Askarov being the top goaltender in the Music City. He was the top-rated European goalie in NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings for the 2020 draft, showing his true potential as a top goaltender prospect in hockey. The 6-foot-4 goaltender will soon be ready for full-time NHL duty, and both Sharks goaltenders are signed until the end of this season, so Askarov should be the top option for San Jose come the 2025-26 season.

We could go on and on with the amount of depth that the Sharks have, with talent like Quentin Musty, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Igor Chernyshov, Filip Bystedt, and Thomas Bordeleau. This doesn’t even highlight the talent that the Sharks already have in the NHL, like previously mentioned Mario Ferraro, William Eklund, and Fabian Zetterlund. The Sharks have one of the most exciting prospect pools that the NHL has seen in a long time. Skill, size, versatility, positional abilities, you literally could not ask for more. While a lot of these players are about 2-3 years away, there is no doubt in my mind the Sharks will see the top of the Pacific Division soon enough.