The Sharks have some BIG decisions to make...

The San Jose Sharks Rookie Showcase has wrapped up and with it, we've shown everyone why they should be absolutely terrified of the future of the San Jose Sharks. What an outstanding Rookie Showcase, unbelievable, undefeated, great performances all around, so much fun to watch, just incredible. You guys know I love, love, love Ivar Stenberg, so it was really, really fun to get to see that first appearance of him actually playing in a Sharks jersey. And there was so much to unpack with this showcase because there is a lot of hidden meaning with a lot of the stuff that happened and there are a lot of decisions that need to be made. I've been talking about this for a few weeks now, but this showcase really solidified that. But before I unpack the amazingness of this Rookie Showcase, I just want to remind you guys that we're still on Twitter and our handle is still at Sharks Digest and we're still there to give you the latest news, trades, reports, and rumors about the San Jose Sharks. We can't always top on a video, but we can always send out a tweet and it's just another way to talk to you guys and we absolutely love doing that. So give us a follow and a shout at Sharks Digest on Twitter. Now let's dive right into the Rookie Showcase. You know I have to start with my beloved second overall in the 2026 draft, Ivar Stenberg. The man that you are, he was so good. He was, I will say though, I will say before I get into how amazing he was, he is so good. He knows he's so good. However, that can backfire a little bit. There were a couple of times where he was trying to do a little bit too much and it just didn't work for him, but simplify the game and you got a hell of a player in Ivar. He's already a hell of a player. Stopped on several breakaways. He was outstanding. In the first game, they had him playing left wing with Misa in the center and Chernyshev on the right wing. Yes, Chernyshev. He has made it clear that we have been pronouncing his name wrong this whole time. So from this moment on, we are pronouncing it correctly. Igor Chernyshev. He was fantastic too, but Ivar was just incredible in that first game. He had two goals. He was great, just spectacular, and he was just loving every second of it. It was just so fun to watch him just have the time of his life in this. So look at his little face in this interview. He is trying so hard not to just cheese the whole time. Here's talking about fighting with Max Miller because in the Swedish Hockey Leagues, you were not allowed to fight. So Ivar had really never seen that before and he was just in awe of it. Breaking local Swedish kid witnesses fight for first time. Would like to see more. It got pretty chippy, especially against the Kings, but we had Chernyshev fighting and we had Karmanov, of course, fighting because what else do we have him for? But Ivar was loving every second of it. Again, look at that face. He was just like, this is the best thing ever. And you know what, Ivar? You in a shark's jersey is the best thing ever. I love it and I cannot wait to see so much more of it. That line with Chernyshev and Misa was so much fun. So maybe we'll be seeing more of that line. It was a little interesting to see Chernyshev on the right wing, but they also had him playing on the right wing in the second game, but didn't know he could do that, but apparently he can. And he was really good and Ivar was really good. Again, can stand to simplify sometimes, but really just an outstanding player. He's gonna be so much fun to watch, especially with guys like Chernyshev and Misa, but also the potential Macklin-Celebrini of it all because I have mentioned it many, many times. Head coach Ryan Murzikowski has repeatedly said, we need players who can play with Mack. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Ivar Stenberg can play with Mack. He's going to be just outstanding. I love it. I love the kid. And again, look how much fun he's having. This kid is just having the time of his life and that's just going to make him an even better player. He loves it here already. Don't love the fact he's living in a hotel, but he loves it. He's having a good time. Good stuff from Ivar Stenberg. Not a surprise there, but I will say I was very pleasantly surprised by Carson Wetch. I haven't talked about him much, but he he's a sneaky good guy. We drafted him 82nd overall in 2024. Those really good depth drafts. Last year he was in the WHL wearing the seat and he was really, really good. He's a right wing, 20 years old, 6'2", and he had 72 points in 65 games in WHL. 22 goals, 50 assists. So in game one, we had him playing on that third line. This dude, he had four points in that first game! Two goals, two assists. Carson Wetch, you are unbelievable. I wouldn't be surprised if we actually did start to see a little bit more of him. He's not playing opening night. He's not. But he could be called up a few times during the season. We'll definitely see him in preseason. He's definitely going to be good for the Barracuda this year. I'm really excited about him. I do wish I had talked about him more in the past, but you know what? I'm talking about him now and that's better than nothing. Again, outstanding in that first game in particular. Four points, two goals, two assists. Really, really fantastic stuff from him. And we have another guy who really surprised me in that second game, and that is the local kid, Jake Gustafson. He is not a very highly-doubted prospect, to be honest. He was drafted 174th overall this past year, but last night in game two of the Rookie Showcase, he had two goals. He was really, really great. So will we be seeing a lot of him? Probably not. Almost certainly not. But good to know we have him, especially for depth purposes, Barracuda purposes. He was really great in that showcase, but again, I don't expect to be seeing a whole lot of him. But what we did see was a lot of fun last night. So really, really good stuff. And another guy who I was very pleasantly surprised by, who also not a highly-touted prospect, that is Andre Gasso. Gasso was not even drafted by the Sharks. He was actually drafted 213th overall by the Boston Bruins in 2021. He graduated from Boston College last year. 25-26 season was his last season. He was wearing the C. Senior, graduated, so that's how we ended up with him. Because if you graduate from college, the team that drafted you doesn't automatically retain the rights to you. You don't have to sign with them. You can end up really anywhere, and that's how he ended up with the Sharks. And in that first game, we had him centering Gustafson and Wetch, and that line went crazy in that first game. Again, Wetch had four points in that first game, and Gasso had three. He had two goals and an assist. Again, not a really highly-touted prospect. If you go through his stats, they're nothing crazy special. But he's still, again, like Gustafson, a good guy to have just in case, especially for the sake of the Barracuda. He's got a really quick shot, so that's something that's really fun to watch with him. And that's true for a lot of our guys, actually. I feel like a lot of our guys are just so, so freaking fast, and that's part of what makes them so much fun. And speaking of really fast guys, I do want to hit this really quickly. We did see Philip Bystet in that first game. He did have a goal. He looked great in that game. He's so, so fast. His shot is so fast. I love it. I love watching him skate. I love watching him crash the net. However, that being said, we did not see him in Game 2. It seems like he's dealing with some injury. He got banged up a little bit. That first game against the Kings, ooh, that was a beatdown. Mainly on the Kings, but he did not escape untouched, and he missed that second game. So hopefully, we'll see him next weekend, this weekend, in the preseason. But that stresses me out a little bit. I don't love it. I don't love that he got hurt, but again, they're taking care of him. They seem to be evaluating him. Hopefully, they get it figured out soon. Another person who did get hurt, but did play. I love this guy, Quinton Musty. Oh my god, I cannot wait for him. He was fantastic. He was playing on a line with Bystet. He actually got the final goal of the game last night. He was just incredible. Quinton Musty, I love what he brings to this team. His physicality, his size, he is so good. I've mentioned it before, the Sharks are really, really lacking physicality. I mean, we brought in Marchment, we brought in Nurse, we brought in Truba, but still a very finesse team. I mean, Ivar Stenberg has never seen a fight before this weekend. Do we really think he's going to be dropping the gloves? No. Do we really think he's going to be chasing after someone who hits Macklin Celebrini? No, but you know who is Chernyshev, and Quinton Musty will do that again. I really, really love the physicality piece he brings to it. He's a big, big guy. He is 6'2", but he's 200 pounds. He's only 21 years old, so he could get even bigger than that, but I really love the physicality that he brings to this team. He is so much fun to watch. I really love him. I would not be surprised if we were seeing a lot of Quinton Musty this season again, because he really fills in that gap of physicality on this team, and that is so, so valuable, especially when it comes to leveraging play and advancing it, and he is so good in board battles, and that is really, really important. He will always, or almost always, come out with the puck on those board battles because he's big, and he will use his size, and that is so, so valuable. I love it, and of course, can't talk about physicality and people I love without talking about my absolute goat, Eric Polkamp. I love this guy. You guys know I love this guy. It's honestly a toss-up of who I love more, him or Ivar Semberg. Very different roles they play, though, but he was great in this showcase. He showed that he is the wrecking ball that I've been calling him for four years now. He is going to be so, so much fun. I really hope he cracks that roster. I definitely think Luka's getting an opportunity, maybe before he does, but different, though, because Luka's left-handed, and he's right, but I would love to see Eric Polkamp on that roster opening night. I just love everything about his game. There is just, it's just perfect. Like, he's just so good offensively and defensively. He uses his body. Even though he's not that big, he certainly plays like he is, and if he's coming at you, I've said this a million times, but if he's coming at you, you are not holding on to that puck. You are either passing it just to get it off your stick, or you're just straight up losing possession because he's going to steamroll you and take it away from you, and I love Eric Polkamp for that. I cannot wait for what he brings to this team. Hidden gem to the max. Shouts to the scouts at the Sharks for getting us this gem. I love, love, love him, and I'm sure you guys are going to love, love, love, love him too, especially considering our precarious state of defense. But also, speaking of defense, we unfortunately did not get to see Leo Salin Valenius in this showcase. That just breaks my heart. He was hurt. He didn't play. It seems to be like a week-to-week basis type thing, kind of like bi-stat is, like bi-stat seems to be continuously being evaluated and seeing if he's going to be ready for preseason and stuff. It seems like Salin Valenius is also continuously being evaluated, but it was kind of disappointing not to get to see him in this showcase, but no fault of his own. He's hurt. He can't do anything about that. I would rather protect him, help him recover. Don't push it. Let's take care of the children, okay? Let's take care of them. Let's make sure they're in a comfortable spot going into the season so we can make sure that they succeed. And of course, I do want to talk about Karmanov because this guy is just, he's a menace! We drafted a demon! This guy is, I love this picture of him next to Wedge because Wedge is not a small guy. He's 6'2", but Karmanov is 7'1". Tallest guy ever drafted at the NHL and first Meldobian, but oh my god, what a menace! He is so funny. The way he's just going at people in front of the net, like going after everyone. I love it. I don't think we're really gonna see that much of him, but he's still fun to have anyway. Again, we didn't draft him with the expectation, oh, he's gonna be an NHL player. We drafted him because he's a big guy, he's fun to watch. Why not, right? Like, he was a really late pick, so might as well. There's really no harm in doing it, and he's just been fun. He's incredibly slow, but he's 7'1", and all things considered, he actually does move kind of better than I thought he would at that size, but he was so fun to watch. But of course, my favorite to watch in this showcase was Ivar Stenberg. He was just spectacular. Just seeing all the stuff he can do, his creativity, his movement, so, so good. And of course, I have to bring it into the context of, oh my god, I hate this guy, of a guy like Ty Delandria. Why the hell do we, why did we sign that contract? I have been saying since the day we signed it, what the hell is up with that? This guy has a zero war stat, which means there is not a single person worth putting him in the lineup for. He is just not good. There was no reason to sign that contract. I hate that contract, and we have, I mean, at the time, we didn't need him, but now we definitely don't need him. And unfortunately for a guy like Tafoli, probably true for him too. We all knew we were well past Barkley Goudreau, but even maybe Gaudet, like those guys, their spots are in danger specifically because of guys like Ivar Stenberg, Quinton Musty, Philip Bystet. They are all just too good not to play. Why would we have signed this contract with Delandria? I do not know. I still will never figure that one out, but it was incredibly stupid, and we are just showing, the showcase in and of itself showed a lot of those contracts were not very good ones, or why are we holding on to these guys? I don't understand. We have so many older guys and a lot of really, really good young guys ready to make the jump, so we are going to be seeing a lot of changes and cuts to this roster, definitely for the better, but that Delandria contract honestly just makes me so, so freaking angry. But I love the state of the future of the San Jose Sharks. I love watching Ivar Stenberg. I love watching Eric Polkamp. I love watching Quinton Musty and Philip Bystet and everyone in between. Everyone should be terrified of us because we are going to stomp on them like we did to the other rookies this past weekend. I am so excited. Drop a comment below. Cannot wait. We're so, so close. Go Sharks!