It doesn’t take a genius to see that San Jose left the first night of the 2024 draft with the best haul the team could have imagined, with a potential top-pairing defenseman in Sam Dickinson and a generational forward in Macklin Celebrini. But in snapping up the talented Russian forward Igor Chernyshov with the first pick of the second round, the Sharks may have added another potential star.
A powerful forward with a 6’3”, 205 lb. frame, Chernyshov rapidly gained admirers in his draft season for his explosive skating, his surprisingly deft hands, a solid shot and a disciplined game that lends itself well to any situation. Though he was widely viewed as worthy of a mid-first-round pick by many scouts and analysts, a bad sunburn took him out of the pre-draft showcase held in Florida by agent Dan Milstein, triggering his fall and allowing San Jose to grab him with the 33rd overall pick.
One year on, that decision by General Manager Mike Grier is looking more prescient by the day. Despite missing the first half of the season with a shoulder injury, Chernyshov has stepped in and lit up the OHL in his time there — with 42 points in just 16 games, the Russian dynamo leads the league in points per game, pacing comfortably ahead of more heralded prospects like Beckett Sennecke, Calum Ritchie, and San Jose’s own Quentin Musty.
Some of this is undoubtedly due to his chemistry with Michael Misa, the dynamic left-winger projected as a consensus top-5 pick in the upcoming 2025 NHL draft. But to fully attribute it to this would be doing him an incredible disservice — Misa has had several other players on his line this year, and none of them came close to posting Chernyshov’s numbers. Instead, the Sharks prospect has acted as a multiplier for Saginaw, elevating the team’s play and serving as a human cheat code in the offensive zone.
Watching him, you can instantly see why he fits so well with star players. His compete level exceeds what I’ve seen from other scorers like Musty in junior hockey, and he shows remarkable game awareness and surprising deftness for a prospect of his size. For an example of this, just take a look at the clip below.
Igor Chernyshov (#TheFutureIsTeal) with five points in his fifth career OHL game. 14 points so far in that span.
— Hadi Kalakeche (@HadiK_Scouting) February 9, 2025
Great details — manipulating defenders out of passing lanes, exploiting defenders' triangles, off-puck adjustments…
The Sharks got a top-15 talent at 33rd overall. pic.twitter.com/NSwQZvtqHT
Some of his ridiculous numbers are undoubtedly due to his physique and physical prowess. The same traits that made him so alluring as a draft pick also allow him to dominate immature competition, and the tests he will face against men in the AHL next season will far exceed anything he’s seeing in juniors.
But it’s also worth acknowledging that this simply isn’t normal. Second-round draft picks don’t put up 2.5 points per game in their D+1 years, no matter how skilled they are. Players who play with superstars in their draft years don’t generally put up numbers better than said superstars without being very good in their own right. Chernyshov is on track for one of the best-ever half-seasons put up by any prospect in their post-draft year, and it’s worth acknowledging that. If you want statistical comparisons, have a look at the one posted by Byron Bader of HockeyProspecting.
Igor Chernyshov update…
— Byron Bader (@ByronMBader) February 27, 2025
Yikes. Yikes. Yikes.
He and Artamonov are looking like the steals of the 2024 draft.
(Your friends at HP (myself) had them both in the top 32 though) pic.twitter.com/KzuKJ81wld
To nab a forward like him in the second round is nothing short of a steal, and Chernyshov’s production tracks with the pre-draft assessments of his top-six NHL potential. While there’s a long way to go before the Sharks can even think about seeing such an impact at the NHL level from him, it’s okay to admit that what they’ve seen so far is nothing short of incredible.
