NEW: Will Smith Signs! His Agent, Sean Coffey, Takes Us Inside Decision To Sign With Sharks

[Kcoyote3]

Craig was a delight. Love him or hate him, I really enjoyed getting his perspective on this year's draft and the Sharks prospects.

 

[sharks_dynasty]

Craig was a delight. Love him or hate him, I really enjoyed getting his perspective on this year's draft and the Sharks prospects.

Really enjoyed the episode and Craig’s take on how he projects prospects over time. It looks like he is high on our prospect pool, including Musty and Halttunen. With the high picks we have this year and next, we are restocking our cupboard full of talent!

 

[Grinner]

Button lost me with Emery at 14

 

[hohosaregood]

i'm generally pro-Button. he's confident in his takes. i think that's important for media scouts to have.

 

[DG93]

i'm generally pro-Button. he's confident in his takes. i think that's important for media scouts to have.

Lmao

 

[tiburon12]

I'm reading these Kunin takes.....Y'all are wild with the Kunin hate, epsecially when someone like Labanc is right there for the attacks.

IDK what it says about us here when we are arguing about a 4th liner making 2.5M on a team that was dead last by design and will struggle to reach the cap floor next year.

I'm seriously lost with this one lol

 

[OrrNumber4]

I feel like Kunin's story may echo Noesen's; a guy who can play well and put up good numbers in the right system. Kunin is versatile and physical, has a good shot, and is solid defensively...what I've noticed is that he's great at finding open ice. His finishing skills leave something to be desired, but also, no one on the team can get the puck to him. Playing with Joe Thornton, I could see him having 30+ goals!

 

[sharks_dynasty]

According to Sheng’s recent article, it looks like his sources are saying that Will Smith is planning to sign with the Sharks and will be joining them this coming season. Looks like a decision has been made.

 

[Jargon]

I feel like Kunin's story may echo Noesen's; a guy who can play well and put up good numbers in the right system. Kunin is versatile and physical, has a good shot, and is solid defensively...what I've noticed is that he's great at finding open ice. His finishing skills leave something to be desired, but also, no one on the team can get the puck to him. Playing with Joe Thornton, I could see him having 30+ goals!

I mean Eklund is a fairly high level playmaker and Granlund isn’t too bad. I don’t super get the Kunin hate but he definitely had a very difficult time finishing.

 

[timorous me]

I'm reading these Kunin takes.....Y'all are wild with the Kunin hate, epsecially when someone like Labanc is right there for the attacks.

IDK what it says about us here when we are arguing about a 4th liner making 2.5M on a team that was dead last by design and will struggle to reach the cap floor next year.

I'm seriously lost with this one lol

Labanc? Who? He's gone, we can celebrate not talking about him anymore by instead talking about someone else!

I think the main thing about Kunin, though, is that if he were actually used as a 4th liner, there wouldn't really be any issues. I also think that a lot of the frustration came about because of all of Kunin's time playing with Eklund, whose success we craved this year (for what it might speak to for the future), and a lot of the time it felt like Kunin with his stone hands was a detriment to the success--points-wise, at least--of Eklund.

A couple more things on Kunin for the coming year: I expect he'll be making more than the $2.5 million you mentioned on his new deal, but I also think he'll be better next season--especially if used in more appropriate roles--as he'll be farther removed from his ACL injury and surgery.

 

[Patty Ice]

I'll go against the grain here, I hope Grier gives Kunin a Sissons/Goodrow type multiyear deal. I love the dude's game and he is the type of character you want in a young locker room. The effort is always there and he's willing to listen and find ways to help the team.

 

[Star Platinum]

Craig was a delight. Love him or hate him, I really enjoyed getting his perspective on this year's draft and the Sharks prospects.

That was an excellent interview. My only nitpick was that I wish he had talked in more detail about why he's so high on Will Smith (although the bit about not being concerned about him not playing much at the World Championships was good stuff), but great info on a ton of different Sharks prospects, good discussion the possibility of trading up to get a Top 6 defenseman, and some good info on the next tier of defensemen below that.

 

[fasterthanlight]

I like how positive Craig is. He clearly has opinions (including some negative ones, e.g., he produces a ranking), but, the way he talks usually makes the best possible case for each prospect, which I think is a good vibe

 

[Anomie2029]

I'll go against the grain here, I hope Grier gives Kunin a Sissons/Goodrow type multiyear deal. I love the dude's game and he is the type of character you want in a young locker room. The effort is always there and he's willing to listen and find ways to help the team.

The Sharks were actively worse when he was on the ice. The best way for him to help the team is to be a 4th liner or 13th forward with very limited on-ice minutes.

 

[Kcoyote3]

 

[Munnyro]

The agent fella pulled back the curtain a lot more than I would have expected.

 

[landshark]

The agent fella pulled back the curtain a lot more than I would have expected.

 

[matt trick]

Seriously great interview. I've always (since I was a teen) loved the business of hockey- fascinating to get this level of insight. I also love that Sean Coffey subscribes to you guys, that's awesome! His callout of- now all eyes are on you for San Jose's next coach is pretty cool. Won't spoil but Sean's connection with two other Sharks' parties is pretty cool!

Loved the Button interview as well!

 

[The Nemesis]

The Sharks were actively worse when he was on the ice. The best way for him to help the team is to be a 4th liner or 13th forward with very limited on-ice minutes.

I agree that he was terrible and he was a boat anchor on any line he was part of. But a bit of that was because Quinn kept deploying him in a top 6 role with guys who had a reasonable expectation of being able to provide offence and in spite of his history of having like 15 goals in a season once upon a time, that's not Kunin's game at all. If the new coach puts him on the 4th line and he gets like 10-12 minutes per game that's fine. But I will riot if we see him anywhere near Celebrini or Smith except for the odd line-change situation.