{"id":500292,"date":"2026-10-18T17:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T17:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/500292\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T17:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T17:22:08","slug":"san-jose-sharks-ivar-stenberg-knew-maple-leafs-would-not-draft-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/500292\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks’ Ivar Stenberg knew Maple Leafs would not draft him"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2013 With his dynamic playmaking ability,<\/a> hockey acumen and NHL readiness, San Jose Sharks winger Ivar Stenberg was considered by most to be one of the top two players available<\/a> in June\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n

Yet, Stenberg never felt like the<\/a> Toronto Maple Leafs were interested in taking him with the No. 1 overall pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pretty sure I would not go first overall,\u201d Stenberg told Bay Area News Group earlier this week. \u201cI didn\u2019t have good meetings with Toronto and didn\u2019t feel like it was the team for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As expected, the Leafs selected Penn State forward Gavin McKenna<\/a> with the No. 1 overall pick they unexpectedly won<\/a> in the draft lottery a month earlier. The Sharks were then eager to select Stenberg with the No. 2 pick they also won in the lottery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had met with (the Leafs) during the year, but I don\u2019t know,\u201d Stenberg said. \u201cThey wanted another guy, and I accept that. But I\u2019m super happy I\u2019m with the Sharks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stenberg and McKenna, the slick 18-year-old winger, will face each other as NHL players for the first time<\/a> on Monday when the Sharks play the Leafs at Scotiabank Arena to continue a six-game road trip. They also met in a World Junior Championship pre-tournament game last December.<\/p>\n

Stenberg was behind McKenna in most 2026 draft prospect rankings<\/a>, so it came as no surprise to see the Leafs take the Yukon-born forward, who was considered the best offensive talent available. Based on his conversations with members of Toronto\u2019s front office, Stenberg also saw it coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou kind of feel when a team wants you or not, or how interested they are,\u201d Stenberg said. \u201cYou get a feeling, and I think that feeling was pretty (accurate).\u201d<\/p>\n

Stenberg, now 19, has fit right in with the Sharks and is tied for second<\/a> in rookie scoring in the NHL with six points in seven games. McKenna, despite some recent drama involving Leafs coach Jim Hiller, is right behind with five points in nine games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met him at the combine and at the draft,\u201d Stenberg said of McKenna. \u201cHe\u2019s a good guy, really good on the ice, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both the Sharks and Leafs have shown at times this season why they were both in last season\u2019s draft lottery.<\/p>\n

The Sharks (4-3-1) are off to a decent start but have blown a two-goal lead in the third period four times in eight games, including Saturday, when they lost 4-3 in a shootout<\/a> to the Detroit Red Wings.<\/p>\n

The Sharks built a 3-1 lead by the 2:48 mark of the third period when Stenberg scored on the power play off assists from Alexander Wennberg and Macklin Celebini for his second goal of the season.<\/p>\n

Stenberg, moved to the first power-play unit last week, also assisted on Dmitry Orlov\u2019s first-period goal with the man advantage, as the Swedish forward recorded the second multi-point game of his NHL career.<\/p>\n

But in a troubling pattern, the Sharks once again simply couldn\u2019t hold a lead, allowing an even-strength goal to Red Wings forward Emmitt Finnie at the 5:00 mark of the third period before Alex DeBrincat, with an extra attacker on the ice, tied the game 3-3 with 1:33 left in regulation.<\/p>\n

Orlov took the loss on his shoulders after he failed to check Finnie, who got behind him, or block Michael Brandsegg-Nygard\u2019s pass to Finnie on a Red Wings rush chance for a tap-in goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe probably lost that game because of me,\u201d Orlov said Saturday. \u201cThe puck was rolling, and I wasn\u2019t sure if I should touch it or not \u2014 it can go anywhere off my stick. I needed to be closer to him and not even give him a chance at the puck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Stenberg and the Sharks couldn\u2019t convert on a power play in overtime, and he, Celebrini, and Will Smith were unable to beat Wings goalie John Gibson on their shootout attempts. Lucas Raymond beat Sharks goalie Alex Nedeljkovic for Detroit\u2019s only goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had chances, but there were a couple rolling pucks and a couple missed shots that we would really like back,\u201d Celebrini said of the overtime power play. \u201cThat was true throughout the game. We didn\u2019t finish chances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Including their 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday, the Leafs have won just one of their last five games and are now dealing with injuries to forward John Tavares and defenseman Chris Tanev.<\/p>\n

Against the Islanders, McKenna had four shots on net and was a minus-2, with a career-high 17:56 in ice time. Two days earlier, McKenna had just 6:36 in ice time as he sat the final 32:54<\/a> in the Leafs\u2019 5-4 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say it\u2019s ever happened (to me before),\u201d McKenna said Friday of being benched, \u201cso that was a first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stenberg is also experiencing many firsts as he competes against players he grew up admiring.<\/p>\n

When the Sharks played the Edmonton Oilers last Saturday at SAP Center, Stenberg, then on the wing with Wennberg, the Sharks\u2019 top shutdown centerman, matched up a lot against Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who have four Hart Trophies between them, during 5-on-5 play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt still feels unrealistic,\u201d Stenberg said. \u201cSomebody at home (in Sweden) texted me and was like, \u2018How was it?\u2019 I was like, \u201cYeah, it was a fun game, but when you\u2019re out and trying to win hockey games, you don\u2019t think about it too much. But when you see McDavid come with his speed, it\u2019s pretty cool to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that stuff is becoming more normal, like every day, especially when you see guys in this room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stenberg feels he\u2019s in the spot he\u2019s supposed to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like all the guys, young team,\u201d Stenberg said. \u201cEven if it\u2019s hard speaking English, I still believe that in some months we\u2019re going to have a lot of fun. A good team on the way up, getting better every year, and we have some really good players here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2013 With his dynamic playmaking ability, hockey acumen and NHL readiness, San Jose Sharks winger Ivar Stenberg…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[401,402,181,404,88,90,89,98,403,94685,127],"class_list":["post-500292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-hockey","tag-inside-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nhl","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sharks-alert","tag-social-alert","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500292","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=500292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}