It’s hard to believe that a 2023 fourth-overall pick would slide down a prospect pool listing just one year removed from his draft season, especially when that player follows up the draft with one of the best scoring seasons in college hockey, but here we are. Coming in at number two on Fear the Fin’s Top 25 Under 25 is San Jose Sharks draftee Will Smith.
Position: Forward
Height: 6-foot-0
Weight: 181 lbs
Age: 19
Date of Birth: March 17, 2005
Draft Year: 2023 (4th overall by the San Jose Sharks)
Shoots: Right
2024-25 Team: San Jose Sharks
Smith is still, as our own Lakshya Jain put it last season, a “special talent.” We’re not saying that his skill level or potential has dropped one bit. The prospect pool has just gotten a little deeper with the addition of potential superstar Macklin Celebrini.
Smith was exceptional in his first season post-draft, putting up 71 points in 41 games as a freshman at Boston College. He led college scoring and did most of his work on a line that included fellow first-round picks Ryan Leonard (WSH) and Gabe Perreault (NYR). The trio was also included on Team USA at the World Junior Championship, where Smith scored nine points in seven games for Team USA, eventually going on to win a gold medal.
What we like
For a 19-year-old, honestly, what’s not to like?
“Smith has tremendous puck skills, vision and overall offensive creativity and projects to be a major asset on an NHL power play. He skates well and makes so many high-difficulty plays at a strong pace, which lends well to his pro projection,” said The Athletic’s Corey Pronman in his NHL Pipeline rankings for the Sharks. “Smith is a high-end passer who finds a lot of O-zone seams and can finish chances from the dots.”
The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, who recently ranked all of the NHL-drafted prospects, placed Smith eighth on his list, highlighting his ability to handle the puck.
“A brilliant handler and manipulator of the puck, including at full speed, Smith is a tantalizing and slippery talent who blends deception, baits and fakes (with his eyes, shoulders and head) into his movements to not just make opposing players miss but often send them the wrong way,” wrote Wheeler.
He called Smith “crafty.”
“He’s the kind of player who can beat you with a pass, a dangerous wrister (which beats goalies with timing and accuracy more than power) or a deke. He’s a treat to watch in possession and processes the game at such an advanced and rapid level,” wrote Wheeler. “The way he wheels across the top of the circles and then playmakes from the high slot, or slips off the wall to the middle, is special. The way he walks through coverage and hangs onto pucks is special. He’s just so hard to get a hand on. There’s just this elusiveness to his game where you never know where he’s going with the puck. I like the growth he has shown in the last year and a half to hunt and come up with more pucks, too.”
“With a blistering shot, an incredible hockey brain, and puck skills that would already rival or surpass those of many current NHLers, the Sharks’ superstar prospect could pair well with Macklin Celebrini and form one of the most potent 1-2 combinations in the NHL in the years to come,” wrote Jain.
Areas of improvement
But just as his youth is an asset, it’s also a hindrance. Smith’s game is far from perfect. Pronman believes that the fact that Smith is not “overly physical” or a “high-energy player” is a knock against him. I would argue that the way the NHL has changed in recent years, overly physical might be overrated if you know how to play the game at a high level.
Wheeler also highlights the lack of physicality and says that “he’s a little too eager to flee the zone.”
We believe that Smith will rise to the challenge in the NHL and that these will not be a problem as much in a year or two.
This season will be about adapting his game to different styles of play. Watching him in the NCAA tournament, there were teams that clearly stifled Smith’s ability to make the plays we’re used to seeing. He was less than stellar against Quinnipiac, which played a more shutdown style of game. Learning to play in all situations against all types of offenses and defenses will be a key area of improvement for Smith this season. There will be times when he will struggle at the NHL level.
As a 19-year-old entering a men’s professional hockey league for the first time, Smith will also need to adjust to the speed and pace of the game. College hockey prepared him a bit for the size that comes with players in their early to mid-20s, but professional hockey players play at a much faster pace and think about the game at a much higher level.
So far, Smith has looked like he’s keeping up with the steep curve, but as the season wears on him, it could become more difficult.
Highlights
This video from the 2024 World Junior Championship not only shows off Smith’s shot but also his ability to find space all alone in a high-danger area. Smith was so open that he had an easy goal in this one.
Will Smith 🤝 backdoor goals #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/b9kJ5VlpSV
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) January 4, 2024
Then there’s his ability to identify scoring opportunities with this shot pass. Think about what it would look like with Luke Kunin or Ty Dellandrea battling it out in front of the net. Thomas Bordeleau has also been working on that aspect of his game, he might also offer Smith an outlet.
Will Smith has looked great in gold medal game. His shot pass to Gabe Perreault's tape makes it 1-0 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/U9u9yOo1pH
— BucciOT.Com (@Buccigross) January 5, 2024
Top 25 Under 25 so far
3. William Eklund
4. Yaroslav Askarov
5. Quentin Musty
6. Sam Dickinson
7. Shakir Mukhamadullin
8. Filip Bystedt
9. Thomas Bordeleau
10. Henry Thrun
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