It’s Armchair GM Season, as the SB Nation NHL sites come together and simulate the first round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
When thinking about how the San Jose Sharks and the Dougs Wilson, both junior and senior, will approach the seventh-overall pick, I feel certain that they will be targeting a forward. Between the contracts currently bogging down the defense, Mario Ferraro becoming a mainstay and Ryan Merkley waiting in the wings, I’m confident that the Sharks are fine passing on the many defenders projected to go in the first round.
That’s also because this pick theoretically gets the team closer to a player that is near-NHL ready than they’ve been since taking Timo Meier at ninth-overall in 2015, and they need help scoring as soon as possible.