San Jose Sharks’ rebuild turns a corner after several painful years

LAS VEGAS —  Scott Fitzgerald and Chris Morehouse were hired nearly two years ago as part of the San Jose Sharks’ front office overhaul and as the leaders of the team’s scouting department, were given a clear mandate by new general manager Mike Grier.

“Let’s get some size in here, let’s get multiple picks, and let’s try to restock the cupboard,” Fitzgerald said Saturday of Grier’s message. “After two years, I think I’m biased, but I think we’ve done a good job here.”

It’s been five long, lean years around the San Jose Sharks organization, with this past season’s 19-54-9 record representing arguably the lowest point in franchise history.

Since the Sharks’ last playoff appearance in 2019, three head coaches have come and gone, and with the departures of star players Brent Burns, Timo Meier, Erik Karlsson, and Tomas Hertl, the team bottomed out. So did attendance.

Tanking? Sure. Painful? Of course.

But it needed to happen, and it appears to be paying off.

The exit of those star players brought picks, prospects, and cap space to the Sharks — enough for Grier and his staff to believe that the worst of the rebuild is over.

Under Fitzgerald and Morehouse, the Sharks have come out on the other side with one of the top prospect pools in the NHL. There’s also enough cap flexibility for the Sharks to add more pieces once free agency begins on Monday.

After leading their 2023 draft class with forwards Will Smith, Quentin Musty, and Kasper Halttunen and acquiring forward prospects David Edstrom and Collin Graf earlier this year, the Sharks now have the crown jewel of their pipeline in Macklin Celebrini.

Amid the glitz and hoopla of this year’s draft at the Sphere, Celebrini was selected first overall by the Sharks before they took defenseman Sam Dickinson at No. 11. Celebrini was the top-ranked North American skater, and Dickinson was No. 7.

The seven players the Sharks took Saturday include Russian winger Igor Chernyshov at 33rd overall (ninth-ranked international skater) and Swedish defenseman Leo Sahlin Wallenius at No. 53 (seventh-ranked international skater). That, on the surface, appears to be good value for the first three rounds.

Filling out the rest of the Sharks draft were winger Carson Wetsch (third round), goalie Christian Kirsch (fourth round), defensemen Colton Roberts and Nate Misskey (fifth round) and goalie Yaroslav Korostelyov (seventh round).

Not every player will pan out. But the Sharks have bought a lot of lottery tickets in recent years, enough, it seems, to feel good about the team’s direction.

The Sharks already know Celebrini will do incredible things once he turns pro, and they also feel Dickinson is capable of becoming a top-pair defenseman.

“You add that with some of the other guys, Will (Smith), (Quentin) Musty, (Filip) Bystedt and (Kasper) Halttunen, (William) Eklund and (Fabian) Zetterlund are already playing,” Grier said, “you can start to see the foundation of hopefully what’s to come for us.”

“Personally, I like the look of our cupboard right now,” said Morehouse, the Sharks’ director of amateur scouting. “I give a ton of credit to Mike and management. … But in terms of what we’ve been able to accomplish in a very short amount of time, we’re excited, and I think we’re on the right track.”

Chernyshov is one of five players taken this weekend by the Sharks, including one goalie, listed at 6-foot-3 or taller. That group joins last year’s class, which had five players who were at least 6-2, including the 6-2 Musty and the 6-3 Halttunen.

Grier wanted big prospects because those players usually have more playoff success, and his lieutenants have followed orders.

But besides being big, the Sharks feel the players they’ve taken in the Grier era are also competitive.

“There’s no success without being competitive,” said Fitzgerald, who, as director of player personnel, focuses on pro and amateur scouting, including early-round selections and college free agents.

“That’s the number one thing. You’ve got to compete or you won’t be a Shark.”

That’s one reason the Sharks are so excited about the ultra-competitive Celebrini and are curious to see how he and the team’s other prospects interact at development camp next week.

“When you bring in talent and you surround talent with talent, oftentimes talent will push other talent,” Morehouse said. “So we have a combination of Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini — how can you not like that — and they’re going to push each other and fuel each other.”

Morehouse knows there’ll probably come a day when Grier uses first-round picks to add NHL players in the offseason or at the trade deadline rather than to select high-end prospects at the draft. But the Sharks are not there yet, and San Jose, as of now, has two first-rounders again next year. The job continues.

“We’re still in that phase of just hoarding as much talent as we possibly can,” Morehouse said. “I think everybody we draft to the Sharks, especially the last three years and moving forward, are going to be players that we truly believe fit a role in our organization.

“So, if we don’t have picks, then maybe it’s a little easier.”