The San Jose Sharks, who will likely have two picks in the first round of this year’s NHL Draft, have some more clarity now about where that second selection will land.
The Sharks acquired a top-10 protected first-round draft pick from Pittsburgh as part of the trade that sent Erik Karlsson to the Penguins last August. And with the Minnesota Wild losing in regulation time to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday, the Penguins finished 19th in the NHL’s overall standings with 88 points.
The Penguins would have fallen to 20th overall had the Wild, who finished with 87 points, won or earned a point against the Kraken.
So, if the Penguins do not move up into the top 10 after next month’s NHL draft lottery, the Sharks will take ownership of that selection, which will be 14th overall.
The NHL uses a lottery to determine the first and second overall selections. If the Penguins win the first lottery, the Sharks, as the NHL’s last-place team, will automatically get the first overall pick. That’s because teams can only move up 10 spots in the first round’s draft order if they win one of the two lotteries.
Assuming the NHL keeps the same draft lottery odds they had last year, the Penguins, being 14th from the bottom, will have a 1.5% chance of winning the first lottery.
After the first lottery draw is held, the odds for the remaining teams will increase on a proportionate basis for the second lottery draw, based on which team wins the first one.
If they move up in the draft, the Penguins can keep that first-round draft pick and defer the pick they owe the Sharks to 2025. That pick would not be top-10 protected.
Suppose the Sharks have the No. 14 overall pick. In that case, some of the players that could be available include defenseman Carter Yakemchuk and Adam Jiricek, or forwards Konsta Helenius, Liam Greentree, Tij Iginla, Ryder Ritchie, or Beckett Sennecke.
The Sharks, by finishing in last place, have a 25.5% chance of selecting first overall, an 18.8% chance of drafting second, and a 55.7% chance of drafting third. They have never drafted first overall.
BYE-BYE EETU?: Goalie Eetu Makiniemi, acquired from Carolina in 2022 as part of the trade that sent Brent Burns to the Hurricanes, is slated to become a Group 6 free agent this summer, per CapFriendly.
Makiniemi, who turns 25 on Friday, has only played two NHL games, both with the Sharks, well short of the 28 games required for San Jose to retain his rights. Had Makiniemi played that number of games or more, he would have been a pending restricted free agent.
Still, it’s questionable as to whether the Sharks would have given him a qualifying offer, anyway.
He’s battled injuries throughout his time in the organization, and in just 40 games over two seasons, Makiniemi had a .900 save percentage. The Sharks, along with Mackenzie Blackwood and Vitek Vanecek, also have Magnus Chrona and Georgi Romanov under contract for next season.
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The Sharks can still sign Makiniemi to another contract between now and July 1. But if they let him walk, all that’s left in the Burns trade from the Sharks’ perspective is defenseman Jack Thompson, a 2024 third-round draft pick, and forward prospect Brandon Svoboda.
The Sharks acquired Steven Lorentz from the Hurricanes in the Burns deal but sent him to Florida for Anthony Duclair, who was then sent to Tampa Bay last month for Thompson and a 2024 third-rounder.
Also in the original Burns deal, the Sharks got a conditional 2023 third-round pick. That pick at No. 94 overall and a 2023 fourth-round pick at No. 100 overall was sent to Carolina at last year’s draft for the No. 71 pick, used on Svoboda, who had 20 points in 40 USHL games this season.
Burns had 43 points in 82 games this season for the Hurricanes, who finished second in the Metropolitan Division at 52-23-7 and will face the New York Islanders in the first round of the playoffs.
