We’ve reached the top ten in our Top 25 San Jose Sharks prospects under 25, and defenseman Henry Thrun starts things off. Thrun came in at number seven on our list last season, but when you add players like Yaroslav Askarov, Macklin Celebrini and Sam Dickinson to the prospect pool, players like Thrun are going to get bumped down.
That said, the Harvard University product holds steady in the top ten because he continues to develop into a player who could be a reliable piece of the Sharks’ blueline moving forward.
Position: Defenseman
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 190 lbs.
Age: 23
Date of Birth: March 12, 2001
Draft Year: 2019 (101st overall by the Anaheim Ducks)
Shoots: Left
2024-25 Team: San Jose Sharks
Thrun completed his first full season at the NHL level in 2023-24, and the results were “mixed,” as we stated in our player review at the end of last season. While Thrun played 51 games and had 11 points, including 3 goals, there were games when his pairing was a major liability on the ice. For example, on March 19, the Sharks lost to the Nashville Predators 8-2 and Thrun was a minus-6.
What we like
Thrun has NHL-level skills. He’s a good puck distributor. He can skate.
However, Thrun’s intellect is possibly his biggest attribute. Not only does he have a high hockey IQ that allows him to read plays well, but he has a maturity that serves him well, especially in this current iteration of the Sharks. The Athletic’s Eric Stephens talked to Thrun at the end of the brutal 2023-24 season and the 23-year-old spoke with the understanding of a much older, more experienced player.
“We haven’t had as much team success as we’ve wanted, and sometimes that can be difficult as a player to kind of thrive in those situations. But it’s something you got to figure out,” Thrun told Stephens. “You got to find a way to string together good games and be a reliable player. I think for me, the biggest thing in regard to that has just been game management and understanding there’s going to be nights where, as a group and as a team, we might be fighting it a little bit. Just trying to manage and learn to keep it simple and try not to beat ourselves.”
In that same article, former Head Coach David Quinn praised Thrun for not allowing a single bad play or bad game to get in the way of his development.
Thrun won’t be the flashiest of players. He won’t score loads of goals. He won’t go end to end, weaving through an entire team. However, as he gets more confidence in his game, he will be the guy who stops a rush the other way or makes just the right move to break up a potentially dangerous scoring chance.
Fans will like him because they won’t have to worry when he’s on the ice.
Areas of improvement
Consistency in his game will be a big indicator of whether Thrun lasts with the Sharks or not.
It’s no mystery that the Sharks’ defensive depth pool has a lot of left-shot defensemen and seems to be lacking the ones that shoot from the right side. As a result, Thrun, as a left-side shooter, has a lot of competition for just three spots on the Sharks’ roster.
With players like Jake Walman and Mario Ferraro already established in the NHL and younger defensemen like Shakir Mukhamadullin, Luca Cagnoni and Jake Furlong expected to play with the Barracuda this season, there are plenty of left-shot defensemen to offer Thrun competition. And, if he doesn’t prove himself, there’s also veteran defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic available to slot in at any time.
If Thrun wants to stick with the Sharks, he will have to prove that he can be a reliable defenseman who can move the puck out of the zone night in and night out. This season, he can’t afford to have off nights.
What’s next for Thrun?
As of right now, I’d pencil Thrun into the third pairing on the Sharks blueline. Last season, he played with Jan Rutta and there were definite inconsistencies. While no one in the Sharks defensive corps played well, that pairing was taken advantage of brutally in some games. A pairing of Thrun and new addition Cody Ceci might give the young defenseman a different look and possibly allow his game to take another step.
If, as the season wears on, Thrun is unable to find that next gear, it’s possible that he will find himself on the trade block as the trade deadline nears. With Mukhamadullin waiting in the wings, the Sharks will have to make a decision soon.
Thrun has two more seasons with a very affordable $1 million cap hit. He could be packaged with other players like Mikael Granlund, Luke Kunin or Jan Rutta at the trade deadline to help the Sharks acquire what the team really needs, a high-end, right-shot defensive prospect or first-round pick.
Highlight
Scoring your first NHL goal is special.
Henry Thrun's first career NHL goal! pic.twitter.com/n9BKrYHh5f
— JD Young (@MyFryHole) January 10, 2024
Top 25 Under 25 so far
11. Kasper Halttunen
12. Igor Chernyshov
13. Luca Cagnoni
14. Danil Gushchin
15. Leo Sahlin Wallenius
16. Collin Graf
17. Jack Thompson
18. Ethan Cardwell
19. Cameron Lund
20. Eric Pohlkamp
21. Ty Dellandrea
22. Mattias Havelid
23. Jake Furlong
24. Georgi Romanov
25. Tristen Robins
Honorable Mention: Brandon Svoboda, Gannon Laroque, Brandon Coe, Carson Wetsch and Valtteri Pulli
