Macklin Celebrini’s historic rise transforms San Jose into a fantasy goldmine. Target physical wingers and undervalued goaltending as the Sharks’ revamped roster looks to snap their playoff drought.
San Jose enters this fantasy draft season with real momentum for the first time in years, after finishing 39-35-8 last season behind a historic sophomore campaign from Macklin Celebrini.
The 19-year-old put together one of the great teenage seasons in NHL history, posting 45 goals, 70 assists and 115 points, the third most points ever by a teenager, trailing only Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby.
The offseason's biggest move came as little surprise. Celebrini signed a five-year, $94 million extension worth $18.8 million annually, briefly the richest contract in NHL history before being topped weeks later, a deal that underscored how central he is to the Sharks' future.
San Jose also added veteran reinforcements on the back end in Darnell Nurse and Jacob Trouba, along with forward Mason Marchment. With Celebrini leading a young core that also includes Will Smith, Sam Dickinson and Michael Misa, general manager Mike Grier believes San Jose is finally positioned to snap its playoff drought.
Sleeper: Mason Marchment
Last season, both Celebrini and Smith spent the year skating alongside veteran wingers Tyler Toffoli and Collin Graf, and each of those complementary pieces finished with more than 46 points as a result.
Now, with Marchment signed to a significant five-year deal, the physical, gritty winger looks like the Celebrini-Smith duo's new long-term running mate. A 45 plus point season has been the norm for Marchment throughout his career, and playing alongside two elite young talents while also drawing top power play minutes should give him the most productive setup of his career.
After a down season last year that saw him finish outside the top 200 fantasy players, Marchment looks like one of the better value plays available late in drafts.
Breakout: Yaroslav Askarov
San Jose made a clear point of fixing its defense this offseason, adding Nurse, Trouba and Michael Kesselring after finishing with a bottom three backend a year ago, allowing 3.54 goals against per game on average. Nobody stands to benefit more from those additions than Askarov.
The 24-year-old Russian netminder got his first real opportunity as a starting NHL goaltender last season, and he'll look to build on that in his second full year atop San Jose's depth chart. He remains without any real competition for the starting job, yet his average draft position sits as late as 127th overall, behind names like 38-year-old Sergei Bobrovsky, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Kevin Lankinen.
With a significantly improved defense in front of him, Askarov has a real chance to outperform his draft price by a wide margin.
Bust: Dmitry Orlov
The 35-year-old defenseman is coming off a career year, posting 37 points across a full 82-game season, and he's currently being drafted late, around pick 140. That price point may look appealing on the surface, but Orlov's ice time, which averaged 21 minutes a night last season, is likely to take a hit with San Jose's offseason additions on the blue line. With his role set to shrink, other defensemen going in that same range of the draft offer considerably more upside.
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