In a forgettable season for the San Jose Sharks franchise, the California-based club found a positive aspect on Thursday, April 4, as they grabbed the widely acknowledged best NCAA free agent from all other NHL organizations.
Sharks’ General Manager Mike Grier announced on Thursday that the Sharks have signed forward Collin Graf to a standard, entry-level contract. Graf will earn $3.8 million over three seasons starting now, according to CapFriendly.
The Sharks will use the first year of the free agent’s contract and Graf will report immediately to San Jose,” according to a report published on Thursday, April 4, by Michael Russo and Corey Pronman of The Athletic.
Graf is expected to make his NHL debut with the Sharks in the next few days and through the final two weeks of regular-season play, so he will be using one year of his deal even if he only plays a few games or just one.
“Graf’s priority,” according to The Athletic, was to “join a team he could envision playing for long-term, not just five or six games at the end of the season.”
According to The Athletic’s report, Graf and his agent Jerry Buckley “examined every finalist closely to review depth charts, prospect pools, draft picks, coaching styles, management, and which teams may have a shortage of right-shot forwards.”
The Sharks are the poorest-performing team in the NHL this season with a mere 42 points from 75 games played and a 17-50-8 record. San Jose has the best odds of securing the No. 1 pick in the upcoming draft with a 25.5 percent chance of getting the first-overall selection in the draft lottery next month, as per Tankathon.
Collin Graf Was The Best NCAA Free Agent Available
Graf is entering the NHL after an exceptional collegiate career. He spent one year at Union College before moving to D-I hockey. At D-I, Graf scored 22 points in 37 games in his freshman year, though he didn’t participate in the postseason.
After his first year in college, Graf transferred to Quinnipiac in the summer of 2022, where he’s spent the rest of his NCAA career. He had an impressive 21-goal, 59-point season in 41 games played last year, and this season he’s achieved an equally impressive 22 goals and 49 points in 34 games.
Graf, born in September 2002, is still only 21 years old. He went undrafted multiple times, the last one in 2023 in his third and final draft-eligible season.
“One reason scouts say he wasn’t drafted in the mid to late rounds was his size,” The Athletic wrote in their story. “As a 17-year-old, Graf was 5-foot-8 and 145 pounds. Now he’s 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds.”
According to a league source quoted in the original article published by The Athletic, Graf “always had the skill and hockey sense, but people didn’t draft him because he was undersized.”
The source made it sound like scouts and other staffers had a preconceived opinion of Graf, and remained locked into it leading to not drafting him.
“[League people] had already made that book on him that, ‘He’s too small, he’s too small,'” the league source told The Athletic.
San Jose has never selected first in the NHL draft.
It's true that San Jose is not the oldest NHL team. The Sharks have never had the chance to pick first in the draft because they have never won the draft lottery.
San Jose joined the NHL in 1991. In their first 32 seasons, the highest pick they've had was No. 2, which has happened three times. This summer, the Sharks have their best chance ever at getting the No. 1 pick, which would be a first in their history.
Pat Falloon in 1991, Andrei Zyuzin in 1996, and Patrick Marleau in 1997 are the three former No. 2 picks made by the Sharks since they entered the NHL more than 30 years ago.
However, getting Graft must feel good for now. According to The Athletic, Graf “was pursued by roughly 25 NHL teams.”
Not only that, but the original report mentions a “final list” of six teams crafted by Graf ahead of making his final decision.
“[Graft] cut the list to six finalists and held Zoom calls with those teams,” The Athletic reported. “He met with each of the teams again before trimming his list of suitors to one.”
