This is a GREAT opportunity for the Sharks...

As much as it pains me to say it, we are more than halfway through the summer, and because of that, teams are starting to make their preparations for the upcoming season, including national teams. We have some news coming from Team Canada and the World Junior Championship Summer Showcase, and if you don't know what that is, it's basically a camp where a bunch of nations invite their players under 20 years old, because you have to be under 20 to play in the World Junior Championship. You can't be 20 under, it's under 20, which is why we are not seeing our beloved goalie Joshua Ravensburgen invited to this, because he will be 20 by the time the championship rolls around, so he's not eligible to play, so he did not get an invite. But they invite their under 20 players to see if they have a spot on their national team to evaluate them, see what they can bring to their program. And we have two players with sharks ties, two defensemen with sharks ties, invited to this showcase, and it is very exciting for a lot of reasons. But before I dive into it, this video is brought to you by PrizePix. PrizePix is America's number one sports fix app and the best way to get in on the action. Hockey's been over for quite some time now, but there's still a lot of other sports going on, so I'll give you a pick at the end of the video, but in the meantime, download the user link below, enter the code Digest when you sign up. The support is what keeps the channel going, we really appreciate it. And speaking of support, we are still on Twitter, and our handle is still at Sharks Digest, and we are still there to give you the latest news, trades, reports, and rumors about the San Jose Sharks. We can't always hop on a video, but we can always send out a tweet. And it's just another way to interact with you guys, so give us a follow at Sharks Digest, and we are currently setting up a TikTok account, so keep your eyes peeled for that as well, we will start posting on there as soon as it's set up. But again, give us a follow at Sharks Digest on Twitter. Now let's talk about, let's start with Keaton Verhoff, who got an invite. One of the biggest appeals for Verhoff, and emphasis on the word big, for Canada is his size. He just turned 18 right before the draft, and he is already 6 foot 4 and 216 pounds. He's a right-handed defenseman, and a big, big, big boy. Big boy! And that is something that is incredibly appealing for Canada. He is really good at breaking up plays and forcing offensive rushes because of his size. He uses his strength a lot for lifting sticks, which is a very, very valuable skill. I will say though, I know I've been very, very hard on him in the past, and I still hold my criticism of him because he really is not a good skater. This right here is case in point. The guy that's hitting him is about half his size. He should not be going down this easily, and there are a lot of pictures of him like this because he goes down really, really easily. It's like knocking over a pillow. I don't know why he's so easy to knock over. Maybe it's just because he's just not a good skater. I don't know. I want to see him improve there, and I'm sure he's going to. But for right now, his appeal is his size, and he has represented Canada in the past when he was playing in the World Junior Championship, the U18. He actually had the C for them, and in five games, he had four assists and actually put up exactly the same record when he was playing in the U20. Five games, four assists, but he was a plus seven for the U18, plus four for the U20, which shows that if he has the right support, he can do really well defensively. And that is, of course, again, improved this season in University of North Dakota, where he had 20 points in 36 games. He had six goals, 14 assists, and he was a plus seven. But keep in mind, he was surrounded by really, really, really, really, really talented defensemen in North Dakota, including my good friend Jake Livanovich, who is an incredible defenseman. He had great support there. So it's going to be interesting to see him go back to North Dakota this season with a lot of that defensive core gone. He's going to have to step up, and we're going to see the real Geert Verhof in that. And honestly, I'm excited for it. Again, I've been hard on him, but that's just because I want more from him. I know he can give me more. So this Canada showcase, great for him. He's going to show, hey, I'm a big guy. You need my size. And I'm sure they're going to take him because they had him last season when he was 17 years old. So I can't imagine them not putting him on this World Junior Championship roster in December. But I'm not surprised to see him get that invite. And just backtracking a little bit, we drafted him ninth overall. We got that pick in exchange for William Eklund and a couple other people with the Ottawa Senators. We did a really great job of collecting draft picks and just drafting this year. So awesome stuff. Not surprising to see him invited, but excited for him because it's not just great for his confidence, but it's great for his overall development, especially going back to North Dakota. That is a championship caliber team. They were in the Frozen Four. He looked terrible in the Frozen Four, but they were in the Frozen Four. And he's just repeatedly given opportunities right now to continue to grow and get better. And that's really exciting and really great for Sharks fans. And I'm excited to see it. I'm excited to see him be at least a marginally better skater than he was last season because he can really only go up from there. The bar has never been lower. So really great news for Verhof here. I'm excited for him. And again, I've been hard on him because I know he can do more. So this is going to be best case scenario for him. And of course, again, going back to North Dakota, another best case scenario, he's going to have to step up. And North Dakotas, they're a little bit weird, honestly. They're kind of a little bit clicky, where if you're not one of the top guys, the coaches kind of let you fall through the cracks. But Verhof is not one of those guys who falls through the cracks. So he will be given their full attention. So between Canada and North Dakota, he's only going to keep growing and getting better. And that's really exciting. Now our next guy that was invited, our 21st overall pick. Oh, I love this guy. We have Ryan Lin invited. Ryan Lin is significantly smaller than Keaton Verhof is. He's 5'11", also 18 years old and 176 pounds, and also a right-handed defenseman. But he is so talented and incredibly resilient. This season with the Vancouver Giants, they were not good. They really held him back a good amount, but he still managed to put up 57 points in 53 games, 14 goals, 43 assists. And he was, oh, this is tough, minus 19. But all things considered, it honestly could have been worse. And he represented Canada in the U18 World Junior Championship with Keaton Verhof. And in that tournament last year, he had six points in five games, one goal, five assists, plus seven. And he's going to the champions, the standard of college hockey, University of Denver next season. So another between Canada and NCAA. The sky is the absolute limit. He is going to keep getting better. And just a reminder, Denver put out a guy like Eric Polkamp. They are so good defensively. They are so good at developing their defensemen and having them involved in their plays. Best case scenario for Ryan Lynn. And his involvement in offensive rushes is exactly why he is so valuable to this Canadian team. Because if you look at their forward group, you can pause. It's a little bit hard to see. I apologize. It's honestly, and it's no shade to any of these guys, but considering past Canadian groups, it's a little bit of an underwhelming forward group. It's not as much offensive firepower as we're used to. But the defensive group in this showcase Canadian team is incredibly stacked. And that's where we get Ryan Lynn and Keaton Verhof thrown in. But with a forward group like this, you're going to need those guys, those defensemen to really contribute a lot. Because again, not as much offensive firepower as we're used to from Canada. So definitely a little bit interesting. But again, really shows the value that Verhof and Lynn have on this group. Verhof, his size and his ability to use it to disrupt plays and Lynn's ability to jump in offensively and move the puck as well as he does incredibly valuable. And again, underwhelming forward group here. So most of the success for Canada in this setting is going to be coming from their defensive group. Really exciting for Lynn, really exciting for Verhof. They can really only go up from here and it's going to be so much fun to watch. Now let's close with a prize pick. Caitlin Clark, she's the GOAT. I think you can take the more of her getting more than 16 and a half points. She in her past five games has only had two games where she got less than 15. I think you could probably take the more. I think her last one she had like 22 and a third and a half or so. 22? 23? I don't know. Something more than 16 and a half, that's for sure. So I think yeah, probably take the more. It's Caitlin Clark. She shoots, she passes, she gets points. That's what she does. Download, use the link below, enter the code digest when you sign up. And don't forget the tacos are going nowhere. Our board is serving up discounted projections on Tuesday, all day long, every Tuesday. So get in on the action with prize picks, download, use the link below, enter the code digest when you sign up. The support really helps our channel and again, we really appreciate it. Drop a comment below. Again, I know I've been harsh on Verhof in the past, but for the eight millionth time, I just know he can give us more than what he's been doing. So best case scenario for him and Lynn getting invited to the summer showcase and then going to the NCAA. Really can't wait for that. Drop a comment. Love chatting with you guys. Can't wait for this upcoming season. Go Sharks.