Fear the Prospects: Catching up with the Sharks 2015 draft class

Merry Christmas if you celebrate and happy Sunday regardless if you don’t. I’m picking up where I left off yesterday and profiling the San Jose Sharks prospects taken in 2015 not currently with the Barracuda to give an update on their progress. I’m afraid we start with some bad news as the most exciting prospect in the bunch, Jeremy Roy, suffered a season-ending knee injury. It gets better from there, though.

Jeremy Roy 2015 2 Blainville-Boisbriand (QMJHL)

Jeremy Roy

Draft Year (Round): 2015 (2)

Team: Blainville-Boisbriand (QMJHL)

Status Report: At just 19, Roy entered his third QMJHL season averaging 0.75 points per game as a defender. His season-ending injury is a major blow, but expect to see Roy join the Barracuda next season after rehabbing. Roy figures to be a big part of San Jose’s future.

Mike Robinson

Draft Year (Round): 2015 (3)

Team: New Hampshire (NCAA)

Status Report: The goaltender committed to the University of New Hampshire and is currently in his final year of high school. He’s splitting time between the United States Hockey League and the North American Hockey League, making it a bit difficult to read too much into his numbers. This is a guy we’ll be waiting on for a while.

Karlis Cuktse

Draft Year (Round): 2015 (5)

Team: MK Riga (MHL)

Status Report: The Latvian is going to singlehandedly make the World Junior tournament worth watching for Sharks fans this year. He’s the only San Jose prospect headed to the annual tournament as best I can tell, but he likely won’t be there long as Latvia is stuck in a group with the United States and Canada.

Rudolfs Balcers

Draft Year (Round): 2015 (5)

Team: Kamloops (WHL)

Status Report: Other than being a part of the Great Name Group, Balcers has adjusted quite nicely to his first year of North American hockey. He’s got 38 points in 35 games and at 19 will be up with the San Jose Barracuda next season. It’s not a bad time to get in on the ground floor of the ‘Cuda bandwagon, folks.

Adam Parsells

Draft Year (Round): 2015 (6)

Team: Des Moines (USHL)

Status Report: Parsells was originally slated to go to Wisconsin this year but is now in the USHL with Des Moines where he’s played in just six games with one point to show for it. At 19, the defender has a ways to go before we see him in San Jose.

Marcus Vela

Draft Year (Round): 2015 (7)

Team: New Hampshire (NCAA)

Status Report: In his second year with New Hampshire, Vela is averaging 0.42 points per game as a center. That’s nothing spectacular, but given that the Sharks picked him up in the seventh round you can figure he’s a project. The 19 year old is 6’1” and still has a couple years ahead of him to improve while playing for a good, not great, college team.

Jake Kupsky

Draft Year (Round): 2015 (7)

Team: Union College (NCAA)

Status Report: Now in his sophomore season at Union College, Kupsky’s size (6’4”) is a lot more impressive than his save percentage after 14 games (.891 last season, .875 after four games this season). It’s still early.