{"id":374911,"date":"2026-06-25T21:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T21:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/374911\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T21:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T21:18:09","slug":"stenberg-rudolph-would-be-excited-to-join-sharks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/374911\/","title":{"rendered":"Stenberg, Rudolph Would Be Excited To Join Sharks (+)"},"content":{"rendered":"

BUFFALO \u2014 The San Jose Sharks have three first-round picks today\u2026we\u2019ll see if that\u2019s the case tomorrow.<\/p>\n

But as of Thursday morning, the Sharks have the No. 2, 9, and 27 picks in the 2026 Draft.<\/p>\n

Ivar Stenberg appears to be headed to San Jose at No. 2, despite GM Mike Grier\u2019s parrying.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is pointing there,\u201d a league source told San Jose Hockey Now.<\/p>\n

Grier, however, wasn\u2019t having it, when asked about Stenberg in a media availability on Wednesday: \u201cIt\u2019s all speculation on your part here. 6-foot-3 right-shot D who can skate and create offense don\u2019t grow on trees either.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s referring to Chase Reid or Keaton Verhoeff, presumably Reid.<\/p>\n

Of course, Grier was full of praise for Stenberg, too: \u201cHe\u2019s a competitive kid, sees the ice well, competes hard, dual threat, pretty comfortable playing against men already, and had a historic season. He\u2019s a very talented player.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Stenberg looked pleased as punch by the prospect of joining the San Jose Sharks, speaking on Thursday morning at a pre-Draft prospects availability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be happy to go there, for sure,\u201d he said. \u201c[They] have something good going on. It would be a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

The No. 9 pick doesn\u2019t seem as clear-cut, though five mock drafts all had Daxon Rudolph<\/a> headed to the San Jose Sharks.<\/p>\n

Rudolph is a 6-foot-2 right-hander, considered a more offensive defenseman, a possible PP1 quarterback of the future, which is exactly what the Sharks need.<\/p>\n

Rudolph certainly wouldn\u2019t mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cA young, upcoming team with a bright future, so it\u2019d be a neat spot to go there and play alongside the great players they have there,\u201d he said. \u201cI think they\u2019re heading towards the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big winger Ethan Belchetz could also be a possibility for the San Jose Sharks at No. 9, along with defenseman Malte Gustafsson.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the NHL likes Gustafsson,\u201d a source told SJHN.<\/p>\n

Like all hockey fans, Belchetz has watched the top of the draft board move like deck chairs in the past few days, highlighted by the No. 9 getting passed around from the Florida Panthers to the Ottawa Senators to the Sharks, and the No. 4 going to the Buffalo Sabres.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the end of the day, we\u2019re all hockey fans here, and when we see all these things happening, it\u2019s pretty cool to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rudolph has an interesting connection to all this movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had dinner with Florida during the Combine,\u201d he said, smiling, \u201cthinking that could have been a spot [for me].\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of the Combine, SJHN was able to confirm on Thursday that the San Jose Sharks interviewed Oliver Suvanto and Ilia Morozov there.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Nikita Klepov, who was not at the Combine, said that he had spoken with the Sharks a couple times, including at the Gold Star camp in Florida last week. The Gold Star camp, agent Dan Milstein\u2019s brainchild, is a pre-Draft showcase mostly for Russian prospects.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t get sunburnt,\u201d the Russian winger laughed, when asked if he was aware of Igor Chernyshov getting sunburnt at that camp in 2024, and falling to the San Jose Sharks<\/a> in the second round. \u201cIt was a funny story with Chernyshov. They got really lucky, I think, with the type of player he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suvanto, Morozov, and Klepov are possibilities for the Sharks at No. 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUFFALO \u2014 The San Jose Sharks have three first-round picks today\u2026we\u2019ll see if that\u2019s the case tomorrow. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[62931,111610,35470,93,150463,75543,143280,150469,150470,88,90,89,98,4254],"class_list":["post-374911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-2026-draft","tag-daxon-rudolph","tag-ethan-belchetz","tag-featured","tag-ilia-morozov","tag-ivar-stenberg","tag-malte-gustafsson","tag-nikita-klepov","tag-oliver-suvanto","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sjhn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}