San Jose Sharks are No. 4 in 2024 NHL prospect pool rankings

Welcome to Scott Wheeler’s 2024 rankings of every NHL organization’s prospects. You can find the complete ranking and more information on the criteria here, as we count down daily from No. 32 to No. 1. The series, which includes in-depth evaluations and insight from sources on nearly 500 prospects, runs from Jan. 30 to Feb. 29.

After acquiring prospects Shakir Mukhamadullin and Henry Thrun via trades and making nine picks in the 2023 NHL Draft, including two in the first round (which they used to select the No. 5 and No. 18 prospects on my board with picks No. 4 and No. 26), the San Jose Sharks’ pool has significantly improved year over year.

They now have a star prospect, an A-minus prospect or two behind him, and legitimate depth of B and B-plus grade guys into the double digits.

2023 prospect pool rank: No. 17 (change: +13)

1. Will Smith, C, 18 (Boston College)

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.

Crafty is the best word to describe his game. He went from a point-per-game U17 season (the only player on that team to do so) to more than two points per game in his U18 campaign and is now about to break the rare 50-point benchmark as a freshman in college.

Beyond his natural skill in possession, he also impresses with his smarts with the puck, his cerebral play style and his ability to play to his linemates. Smith is one of the very best slot-passing prospects in the game and uses his unique puckhandling ability to dodge close-outs, weave off of the wall (he almost always takes his first touch to the middle as a tool to draw attention), and make plays through holes in coverage in possession with ease, regularly hanging onto pucks to delay his way into his spots or carve in.

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. 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 bit to hunt and come up with more pucks, too.

He still has some work to do to round out his game (he’s a little too eager to flee the zone at times, isn’t very physically engaged and could use a little more jam, and can try to do a little too much occasionally). But his tracking on steals has become a borderline strength (I quite like him on stick lifts) and you can live with the rest….