We love the moves that San Jose Sharks General Manager Mike Grier has made in the past few weeks, but it makes it a bit hard to take care of our business, i.e., the Top 25 Under 25. We’ve moved stuff around and are ready to roll out the list.
The votes are in from both the writers and you, the readers. Thank you to everyone who took the time to rank what looks like an exciting pool of hockey prospects now in the San Jose Sharks system! This is where the rebuild starts and given the level of competition compared to past years, things are looking way up.
Some of this outlook is reflected in the five players we’re focusing on in the honorable mentions for this year’s 25 Under 25. A few of them appeared on last year’s list and have now been knocked down to the Honorable Mentions by members of the 2024 draft class or new additions via trade.
That’s not to say that these players aren’t promising young talents, only that the depth of the Sharks’ prospect pool is much greater this August than last. As a result, they’ve landed on our Honorable Mention list this season.
Brandon Svoboda
Position: Center
Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 207 lbs.
Age: 19
Date of Birth: February 4, 2005
Draft Year: 2023 (71st overall by San Jose Sharks)
Shoots: Right
2024-25 Team: Boston University
2023 draft pick Brandon Svoboda is picking up some fans as he begins year two following the draft. Svoboda won the Clark Cup for the second season in a row, this time with the Fargo Force. He was traded in the middle of the USHL season from the Youngstown Phantoms (the 2022-23 champion) to the Force. Once there, he impressed his coach, former NHLer Brett Skinner.
“There are times where a college or a pro team might be excited about a big kid, but he’s got to get his feet under him, maybe get a little bit stronger,” Skinner told the Black Bear Sports Group. “But Brandon, to be at the age that he’s at and to be able to skate the way he does and his size, it’s a little bit unique. He’s a big boy. He’s all of (6-foot-3), and he’s a thick kid. So you can see why San Jose invested the draft capital that they did in him. For us at this level, to back (defensemen) off and hold onto pucks down low and have the skillset on top of his size and skating was something that we were very fortunate to get.”
Svoboda had 20 points in 40 games combined between the Force and the Phantoms. In the playoffs, he had five points, including four goals, in nine games.
The work was enough to earn him an invitation to the World Junior Summer Showcase with Team USA. While he’s an outside shot to make the U.S. team that will play at the World Junior Championship in the winter, he performed well enough to give the coaches something to think about.
Svoboda is now gearing up for college hockey. He’s headed to Boston University.
Gannon Laroque
Position: Defense
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 201 lbs.
Age: 21
Date of Birth: August 20, 2003
Draft Year: 2021 (103rd overall by San Jose Sharks)
Shoots: Right
2024-25 Team: San Jose Barracuda
Laroque’s drop down the list has less to do with his skill and more to do with the recent injury trouble that he’s had. His first-year post-draft was excellent, with 52 points in 63 games for the Victoria Royals in the WHL.
But, following that, Laroque had two major surgeries. In the summer of 2022, Laroque had surgery on his hip. He returned to play for a few games, only to be sidelined again soon after. In April 2023, he had surgery on the other hip.
The recovery from the second injury led into the 2023-24 season. When Laroque finally returned to the ice, this time with the Witchita Thunder, he had two assists in nine games. He finished the season with the San Jose Barracuda. He played nine games in the AHL and had a goal and an assist.
This season, barring an injury, Laroque will have the opportunity to start with the Barracuda. He told San Jose Hockey Now last preseason that he believes he can be a 200-foot defenseman. This year, we’ll get to see if that’s the case.
Brandon Coe
Position: Right Wing
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 190 lbs.
Age: 22
Date of Birth: December 1, 2001
Draft Year: 2020 (98th overall by San Jose Sharks)
Shoots: Right
2024-25 Team: San Jose Barracuda
After taking a step forward in the 2022-23 season, Brandon Coe appeared to hit his ceiling in 2023-24. The forward scored just one more point than he did in the 2022-23 season. Coe had 17 points (12 G, 5 A) and 43 penalty minutes in 57 games this past season. He had 16 points in 56 games in 2022-23.
Coe signed a one-year, two-way deal this summer, and it really feels like this is a make-it-or-break-it kind of year. If he finds a way to force himself onto the Sharks’ roster, all the better. However, he’ll have to leapfrog a lot of very talented forwards on the way.
If Coe doesn’t manage to make significant progress, it’s hard to imagine the Sharks will make an effort to maintain his rights beyond this season.
Carson Wetsch
Position: Right Wing
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 203 lbs.
Age: 18
Date of Birth: May 4, 2006
Draft Year: 2024 (82nd overall by San Jose Sharks)
Shoots: Right
2024-25 Team: Calgary Hitmen WHL
This is the first player from the 2024 NHL Entry Draft to make our list, but Carson Wetsch will not be the last. The 82nd overall pick in the draft is a power forward who hits hard and drives the net. Wetsch played well for the Hitmen in his pre-draft season, scoring 50 points in 67 games and splitting those points evenly between goals and assists.
Wetsch will return to the Hitmen again this season, where he’ll look to build upon his success.
Here’s what we wrote about Wetsch post draft.
Valtteri Pulli
Position: Defense
Height: 6-foot-6
Weight: 209 lbs.
Age: 23
Date of Birth: March 13, 2001
Draft Year: Undrafted
Shoots: Left
2024-25 Team: San Jose Barracuda
And barely making the cut this season is Valtteri Pulli. Honestly, none of the writers had Pulli in the top 25, though a few of our readers are still excited about the defenseman.
In his first season on North American ice, Pulli was good, though not impressive, considering he was one of the most sought-after undrafted European prospects in 2023. Pulli had 10 points in 59 games with the Barracuda last season. While he wasn’t bad, he wasn’t exceptional either, putting him in the middle of a middling pack of defensemen.
This season, Pulli will have to be more reliable defensively, or he might continue to fall down the Barracuda depth chart. With the arrival of players like the above-mentioned Laroque, as well as Jake Furlong and Luca Cagnoni, and the potential addition of Mattias Havelid, if Pulli does not show improvement, he could find himself watching more than he is playing.
