Morehouse: How do sharks scout Russians? Meaning of ‘Best Available Player’? Draft errors? (+)

Believe it or not, director of amateur scouting Chris Morehouse hopes for the day when the San Jose Sharks can trade their draft picks.

“My job is to execute Mike Grier’s plan for the Sharks,” Morehouse told NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman and Mike Morreale in a revealing interview early last week. “It’s about building that foundation and getting to the point where Mike can start trading all of our picks.”

Basically, that point means that San Jose, five years and missing the playoffs, is winning once again, trading futures to win now.

“I hope he doesn’t trade them all every year,” Morehouse told San Jose Hockey Now, laughing. “But if we’re at that point and we can get to that point, I know our (scouting) staff had a lot to do with that.”

SJHN met with Morehouse at last week’s Scouting Combine in Buffalo.

While Morehouse was understandably coy about the San Jose Sharks’ specific plans in the 2024 draft, he gave insight into how they’re addressing the “Russian factor” in the coming weeks, selecting based on positional need versus selecting the best player available , and Why Combine Interviews are Valuable.

We also argue, to quote “Arrested Development,” when a scout realizes that “I’ve made a big mistake.”