Welcome to the September 2021 edition of the DobberProspects 32-in-32 Series! This month, we will be diving into the depth of each organization, looking at their recent graduates, risers, fallers and top 20 prospects.

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As stated last month the Sharks seem to be in a place where management believes they are still a contending team, essentially one that needs one of those “competitive rebuilds” that never works. This teams needs a lot of players to bounce back, especially on defense, to be competitive for a playoff spot. Not to mention they are now down a top six forward as Evander Kane was not invited to training camp due to more off ice issues and awful allegations. They can still make the playoffs though as they have all new goaltending, still some dangerous forwards, and it is the Pacific.

With Kane possibly gone for the season the Sharks have at least two forward spots open. The same defense will realistically return, but the Sharks mainly hope stable goaltending turns the team around.

Graduating Players

Jonathan Dahlén, LW – Dahlén is moving to North America for, as of now, at most one year. Playing in either the AHL or the NHL is a step above the HockeyAllsvenskan league

Dillon Hamaliuk, LW – After four full seasons in the WHL for the Kelowna Rockets Hamaliuk is moving to the AHL with the San Jose Barracuda where he hopes to develop further and become a future NHLer

Artemi Knyazev, D – Knyazev is moving up from the QMJHL to the AHL as well. He may also have a chance to play a few NHL games later in the season if the Sharks are out of the playoffs

Jasper Weatherbyv, C/LW – After three seasons in the NCAA Weatherby will also play in the AHL and he too will also potentially have a chance to play in the NHL

Potential Graduates

Lane Pederson, C/W – Could secure an NHL role this year after improved AHL production and 15 games with Arizona in 2019-2020

Risers

Jonathan Dahlén, LW – He kept dominating the HockeyAllsvenskan league and now has a chance to play in the NHL. Hopefully, he stays in North America if he does have to spend most of the year in the AHL

Thomas Bordeleau, C – There were times when Bordeleau was the best player in the NCAA last year, and it is still a mystery to me that he did not make the roster for USA at the World Junior Championship

Alexander Barabanov, LW/RW – Though he could not make any more than 13 Maple Leafs games, but he scored seven points in nine NHL games for the Sharks

Joachim Blichfeld, RW – Blichfeld led the AHL with a ridiculous 4.72 shots per game, and was often the best player for the Barracuda. He has earned an NHL shot but needs to play top six time, and not seven minutes on the fourth line

Fallers

Ivan Chekhovich and Vladislav Kotkov both terminated the contracts with the Sharks

Ryan Merkley, D – His first season in the AHL did not show enough offense to make you forget about his poor defensive play. However, that is not to say he has not improved on defense as he is working on improving it, he is just prone to lots of mistakes

Prospect Depth Chart

Top 20 Fantasy Prospects

1. William Eklund
2. Ryan Merkley
3. Joachim Blichfeld
4. Jonathan Dahlen
5. John Leonard
6. Sasha Chmelevski
7. Thomas Bordeleau
8. Lane Pederson
9. Ozzy Wiesblatt
10. Rudolfs Balcers
11. Alexander Barbanov
12. Alexei Melnichuk
13. Brinson Pasichnuk
14. Brandon Coe
15. Tristen Robins
16. Artemi Knyazev
17. Jasper Weatherby
18. Yegor Spiridonov
19. Daniil Gushchin
20. Benjamin Gaudreau

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Thanks for reading, follow me on twitter: @FHPQuinn

Pat Quinn