I read your takes on McKenna and honestly i agree, he kinda feels like a version of Will but with a way higher offensive ceiling. It actually got me curious though, what do you think about Smith’s development so far, and what kind of player do you expect him to become?
And don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying he’s gonna be a bust or anything. But if the sharks are actually serious about pushing for the playoffs next season, he’s gotta take a pretty big step forward, especially playing on the first line with Mack. Plus we all know Warso has lowkey called him out publicly already lol.
Honestly compared to the rest of his draft class, he’s doing totally fine, even pretty good. It’s just that because the sharks have Mack, people’s expectations are naturally way higher. I don’t really think it’s fair to compare every young player’s development to Mack because realistically nobody’s gonna look as good as him, maybe not even Misa. But at the same time, i think sharks fans would be lying if they said they don’t subconsciously compare the other guys to Macklin.
Ok first of all I love this ask! Sorry for the delay, I wanted to really dig in with this one & I haven't had time.
So for starters, I wanted to say that I do really like McKenna as a player. Like he's so pretty to watch, silky mitts, crazy vision. I know he's dealt with a lot of noise over the past year especially & I hope Toronto is prepared to insulate him from that a bit. I hope he can billet with a current player & get eased into the NHL, and that they don't throw him to the wolves. And I hope fans have realistic rookie expectations for him.
Okay so moving on to a not-so-little essay I'm calling "In Defense of Will Smith-Hockey":
(More after the cut)
You hit the nail on the head about the critique for Will. I feel he's above-average with his development after just two seasons in the NHL, but with Macklin playing the way he is Will is always going to come out looking like he's behind. I see the comparisons to Mack with ALL rookies right now, this totally unrealistic expectation that they can all get over 100 points in their second season. Mack is not normal lol. He's an anomaly. I know people love to throw around the term "generational talent" but he is ACTUALLY a generational talent.
So Will of course gets it worse than anyone because the weaknesses in his game are so magnified with Mack right there. Also, he's over a year older than Mack. Even though they played in the USHL at the same time, were freshmen in college at the same time, started in the NHL at the same time, there's this expectation that Will should be further along because he's older. You never heard "20 year old Will Smith". Like, EVER.
So here's the thing about Will. Before he was drafted, every scout said the exact same thing: he's an offensive phenom, outstanding on the power play, very high hockey IQ. But they also had the same critiques: his skating needed to improve, he had to get bigger/stronger/faster & his play off the puck was lacking.
So this is not some new aspect of Will's play. After the draft he worked on his skating & put on some weight. But just like at the NTDP, in college he was still called on more for his offensive skill than he was for his two-way play. Which is totally common at that age & at the NCAA. Just like McKenna, he'd spent most of his time developing his offensive play (because let's face it, pretty plays LOOK cool & get on highlight reels) but not as much time worrying about defense. (I also think being on a line pretty much exclusively with Gabe & Leno for 3 years set them ALL back developmentally, but that's a different post.)
Here's another hot take. Will should never have played center. He was probably put there because he's smart, but with his skill sets he is WAY more suited as a winger. I firmly believe this is the best place for him. But he's still learning this new role. He has different responsibilities at wing than he did at center, and it takes time to adjust.
I do think his injury was rough for him & it set him back. I think he was shaken up & wanted to get hit even less than he did before. I think his shot was weaker afterwards & he was more likely to dump the puck if it meant he could avoid a hit. But he did start to try. I saw the effort towards the end of this season, a few good checks against the boards, a few more puck battles, more speed & determination to stick with a play until the end.
His stats have improved since last season, no doubt about it. 59 points is solid, up 15 points from his rookie year after playing 5 games less. His +/- went from a -15 to a +1. One of the more interesting stats is his play in high-danger areas, which is one of the best in the league at 16th. He's also playing much better in 5v5 than most people would expect, like his goals aren't just coming from power plays.
So yeah, I'm a HUGE fan of Will Smith. I don't know if people realise just how elite his vision is. He's reading the ice in real time, processing at a wayyyy faster pace than most players can and finding/ creating open ice in really unique ways. And these skills can't really be taught. You either have them or you don't. He can and will get stronger. He can and will get better at playing wing. He can and will get more responsible off the puck.
Will has cited Patrick Kane as someone he admires & tries to emulate. (Side note, Kane is famously a RH winger lol.) And he's not there yet, but I do see the similarities. Kane is so good offensively that he's also not known as a defensive-minded skater. Kane also has elite vision & makes gorgeous plays. Kane also shines when he has insane chemistry with a partner.
Which brings me to Mack, who has been compared to Jonathan Toews. (The similarities are actually insane, I'll probably do another post about this in the future.) Kane & Toews came into the NHL at the same time as rookies and played together for 16 YEARS on the Blackhawks. They won 3 Stanley Cups together. They are one of the greatest hockey duos of all time. They remain close friends to this day.
THIS is what Will & Mack envision. THIS was their idea from the start. They are actively positioning themselves as the next great hockey duo. And the crazy thing is, I think it's actually going to happen. They see the ice the same way, and they have the skill & creativity to pull off some truly impressive plays. Mack plays best with fellow elite players, and Will plays best with people he knows well & can predict. Mack is a combination of Leno & Gabe, so Will knows exactly how to play with him. Their friendship truly is creating better chemistry on the ice, anyone with eyes can see that.
The interesting thing about the NHL right now is it's trending younger, faster & flashier. Fans want to see special plays, killer passes that connect for highlight-reel worthy goals. I think, if you asked most fans, they'd rather watch a fun, high-speed, high-scoring 6-5 game that mmmmaybe isn't perfect than a slow & steady 2-1 victory that's textbook hockey.
Yes, Will sometimes goes for the more dangerous play because it's more interesting, and sometimes it ends badly. But you know what? It's not boring. So maybe he'll never have a true two-way game, not like Mack. But you know what? If he stays a fun & dynamic player who consistently puts up points & creates scoring opportunities for his line, does it really matter? Will & Mack put fans in seats. The Sharks should build the team around them. And I see those building blocks being put into place. A power forward to help them get more space & time, hopefully some solid defensemen to help out when things go awry, a consistent goalkeeper.
I don't think Will has even come close to hitting his ceiling. Not to say it's certain that he will, but I believe he can. I think he's way more competitive & cares way more about improving his game than people give him credit for. My prediction for him next season (assuming the Sharks give them some better defensive help) is 30+ goals and 80+ points. But if you told me it was 40+ goals and 100+ points I wouldn't be shocked. I think he's about to hit his groove.
Thanks for the ask, hope you enjoyed this dissertation lol.
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It actually was papa John's garlic sauce yes and this is how it happened:
I had brought pizza and unopened garlic sauce for lunch and cheerios as a snack, and by the time I was finished with my pizza I had like. Half the garlic sauce left. Now I had no safe way of conserving the sauce without it spilling anywhere and I wasnt about to waste good garlic sauce. So I looked at my cheerios, decided "fuck it why not" and drenched them in garlic sauce. Afterward, this happened:
I have a lot of similar asks so I'll just address them in one post:
- No, Will is not going to get traded
- Yes, Mack will be Captain
- No, Mack isn't going to become besties with Ivar & forget about Will
- No, I don't think the Willmack 1st-line pair will be split up
- Yes, I think we'll see Stenberg on PP1 by the end of the season
And just a general freebie:
I love that there's so much excitement around the new players we drafted, but don't expect to see most of these guys on the roster any time soon. Stenberg will be on the Sharks, but Verhoeff & Lin are heading to college for at least a year. There's a small chance we see them very late in the season, once their own college seasons are done. The later picks will need some time to develop & it's doubtful they'll crack the roster for a couple years (if at all)
Thanks for the asks, I love your enthusiasm, but some of you worry far too much! 💜
Where do you realistically see Wills ceiling and also how will it compare to others other than Mack in the team?
I talked about this at length here.
But I'll say again, I think Will's ceiling is very high. In the right circumstances, I wouldn't be shocked at all if he gets 30+ goals and/or 80+ points as soon as next season. I wouldn't be shocked if he gets 40+ goals and 100+ points within the next 2-3 years.
I think he'll establish himself as an elite RW & a crucial part of the powerplay. Once he's insulated a bit with better defense & a power forward on his line, has time to build chemistry with a consistent 3rd person on his line, becomes faster & stronger and more defensively responsible himself... I just don't see anything holding him back. He already has the vision, the accuracy & the shot. Nothing is a sure thing, but if I was a gambler I'd put my money on Will Smith-Hockey.
So I got a question about how NHL contracts & the salary cap work in the comments on one of my posts, and I thought it might be good to do a separate post about it in case anyone else here was interested.
Here's a quick(ish) explanation. (ETA: I lied, this is not quick at all lol.)
(More after the cut)
Salary cap- In the NHL, there's a minimum amount that each team has to spend on their players & a maximum amount they can spend. This system has been around for over 20 years now. It's a way to have parity within the league, so that you don't have a situation with the richer teams in big markets like NY or LA being the only ones who can attract the best players (because they're the only ones who can afford them). This evens things up, so that smaller markets are on the same playing field as bigger ones. Basically, it keeps things fair for everyone & puts the responsibility largely on the general managers to make good choices.
Cap amounts- The cap is based on how much revenue the NHL brings in annually. It's currently on the rise and expected to have a pretty massive growth within the next 5 years. Here's the current amounts & projections:
25/26 season- $70.4- $95.5 million
26/27 season- $76.9- $104 million
27/28 season- $83.9- $113.5 million
So next season, teams will need to spend a minimum of $76.9 million & a maximum of $104 million. (And you can see how much that's expected to jump the following season!) The best players on a team can expect to make about 15% of the max. Last season, that would've been $14.3 million per year. By 27/28, that number will be just over $17 million per year. It's a big difference, and something to keep in mind when discussing fair contract amounts & bridge deals.
Contract Extension- In the final year of their contract, most players are eligible to sign an extension. They still make the same amount from their original contract in that final year, but they can agree to add up to 8 years with their current team at a renegotiated salary (next season this will change to 7 years max). Mack & Will are both eligible for contract extensions this year. The earliest they can sign is July 1st.
ELC- (Entry-level contract) When a player is drafted, the NHL team that drafts them earns the exclusive rights to sign them to a contract. If that player chooses to sign, the ELC is their first contract. It ranges from 1-3 years depending on age, but most commonly it's the 3-year contract for 18-21 year olds. The salary for players on an ELC currently ranges from $775-$975k per year, with some additional performance-based bonuses added in. (Mack's base salary is $975k, Will's is $950k.) Undrafted players who are under 25 also have to sign an ELC (like Colin Graf). Since the Sharks currently have so many players on their roster under 25, and since they traded away a lot of their highest-paid players when they started their rebuild, they currently have a LOT of cap space.
RFA- (restricted free agent) Once a contract is up, if that player is under 27 years old or has played less than 7 seasons in the NHL, that player becomes a restricted free agent. At this point, another team can offer them a contract BUT their current team is allowed to match that contract. If they choose not to, that player will get traded & their original team will also receive draft picks for future drafts. (Trading is a bit complicated so I won't get into it here.)
UFA- (Unrestricted free agent) Once a player turns 27 or has played 7 seasons in the NHL (minimum 40 games to qualify as a season), they become a UFA after their contract expires. At that point, they can go to any team they want without additional compensation having to be made to the original team that signed them.
A recent reason for a bridge deal is the salary cap going up. Remember that number I mentioned above? Players don't want to lock in with a lower contract right now when there will be much more on the table within the next couple years. What may look like a great deal now might not look so good in 7 or 8 years. This is one of the reasons it would be totally reasonable for Mack or Will to ask for a bridge deal, or to opt to sign for maybe 5 years instead of doing a full 8. Five years still shows commitment to the team without potentially screwing yourself financially. The Sharks would get Mack until he was 25 & became a UFA, and at that point he'd likely lock into a massive longterm deal. (Assuming things are going well for both him & San Jose at that point!)
Bridge deal- This is a short-term contract between 1-4 years that starts after the ELC ends but before that player becomes a UFA. There are a few reasons for a bridge deal, but the simplest reason is either the player or the team or both is saying "let's try this out for now & see what happens". So the player isn't locked into a longterm contract with a team they're maybe not 100% sure about, or the team isn't locked in on a player they're not 100% sure about. (There's a rumor Connor Bedard may go this route.)
Yet another reason for a bridge deal is a younger player who knows they haven't performed as well as they can, and wants a chance to have an amazing season so they can get a much better, longterm deal in the future.
Hope this was helpful @pisces00! And hope other people found it informative too ❤️
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can you also talk about why mack was easily able to adapt playing wing? like i thought he would take a few games to get used to playing wing at the olympics but he clicked immediately. what about mack’s skills made him good at wing too? because as many people know it’s kind of hard to play as davo’s winger.
Again, Macklin is kind of an anomaly lol.
(More after the cut)
He's said in interviews that he watches & tries to emulate players that he likes, which basically means he's studying them to figure out what makes them tick & mapping out their patterns. So when he first moved to wing at Worlds last year to play with Crosby, he already had a strong understanding of Crosby's play. (It also helps that they have such a similar style.) It took Mack a bit to adjust though. He passed too much, should have taken more shots on net instead of trying to get the puck back to Crosby.
I think he learned a lot from that experience when he played on McDavid's wing at the Olympics. You could see the increased confidence, like he absolutely did not shy away from taking shots himself. And I'm sure Mack has also watched McDavid for years, knows his style of play & had the ability to adapt to what McDavid needed.
Mack's hockey sense is incredible, he understands pace of play & has the ability to speed up or slow down the game as needed. He's wildly adaptable. As a kid he played defense before he moved to center, and I think that helped him see the game from a different perspective & gain a broader sense of how to play.
I also think moving around from team to team through his youth forced him to quickly analyze his teammates & learn the best way to play with them. A lot of kids stay on the same team with the same teammates for years and years. Mack went from Vancouver to San Jose to Shattuck to Chicago to BU to the Sharks. 6 different teams in 6 years. Each time, he needed to learn how to work with a whole new set of people.
(I know you didn't ask, but again I'd like to point out that Will played with the same line during his most critical developmental years, and how that has been a detriment to his NHL development.)
One last thing with Mack. Everyone says how humble he is. There are guys who would refuse to move from center to wing, because they see themselves as centers and that's that. Mack doesn't appear to have an ego. He goes where he's asked & does what's best for the team. That attitude is honestly part of what makes him such a great player.
So yeah, that's my best guess on why Mack can so easily slot into that winger role. Thanks for the ask!
everyone is on here so scared about willmack divorce meanwhile last off season we were in the trenches aside from halifax and look at how these boys were even more so attached at the hip this season
We already got immediate Marmon and Boston adventures, Mack is at worlds rn so obv we won’t have any wm, Mack’s bday and hopefully will coming to van, possible cape cod 4th of July wm and Mack back in Boston training with will (based off of wills trainers dm to the fan), anddddd still Halifax again possibly. (I’ve probably missed some stuff like awards and Stanley pup, and maye day but wtv) There is legit so much wm content this summer so I don’t think we have anything to worry about guys trust
Seriously, last summer was a famine and this summer has been an absolute feast so far. And aside from all the juicy stuff you just mentioned coming up, Will & Mack are wayyyyy more recognizable now than they were last year. So I think we'll keep getting some nuggets from outsiders throughout the summer as well.
I'm not worried at all. There is no "divorce". These are the two most codependent people I've ever seen in my life. Once contract extensions are signed in July, and we know how many more years they'll both be Sharks, hopefully everyone will start to relax a bit around here.
people are actually spiraling because a lot of people are saying if grier picks steinberg then he'll have to trade a current player for a great defenseman because sharks is very forward heavy rn and will smith has a great trade value for a defenseman that will attract a lot of teams rn.
do u think there is a chance of grier even thinking of will getting traded?
Ok, first thing's first: no. I think there is *zero* danger of Will Smith getting traded. I have a whole post planned about Will Smith's value to the team, and it might surprise some of you.
Second, I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about what it means to draft a player, and how long it typically takes for a drafted player to have an immediate impact.
Celebrini is *not* a typical player. There's a reason people call him a generational talent. The type of game he plays, referred to as a "200 foot game", means he plays responsibly both on & off the puck. This is something that usually takes *years* to develop. His hockey IQ, his compete, his skating skill, it's all miles above average. For him to be dropped into the NHL at 18 years old & have the kind of impact he's had, it's insane.
When a team drafts a player, what they get is the right to sign that player. And more often than not, that player will continue to play elsewhere for 1-2 years to keep developing & working on their game. Will Smith, for instance, played at Boston College for 1 year before he signed his contract. Ryan Leonard chose to play in college for 2 more years after he was drafted.
Once they sign their ELC (entry-level contract), most players are still not just dropped full-time into the NHL. They will often get some playing time at the AHL level (the minor league team associated with their NHL team). For the Sharks, that team is the Barracuda. A lot of our prospects spend the majority of their time with that team, continuing to develop. (This is where Cherny was before he got called up.)
So. Getting back to drafting a defenseman. Best available is Chase Reid, who is in the OHL now but has committed to Michigan State. So soonest we'd see him is likely next season, or possibly even 2028/29. Reid getting drafted would essentially have no impact on our current defensive needs. (But could still be a huge defensive piece in a couple years.)
What we'll see is San Jose dipping into the free agent market, looking to re-sign players who have expired contracts and carefully considering our current prospects (looking at you Pohlkamp!). There will probably be some trades, yes. But they have to make financial sense & they have to make sense for the overall growth of the team.
