Sharks Have Three First-Round Picks. Here Is Who They Should Target at No. 9.

The San Jose Sharks walk into the first round of the NHL Draft on Friday holding not one, not two, but three picks in the top 27. That kind of ammunition could reshape a rebuild in a single night. The big one everyone has eyes on is the second overall pick, where Ivar Stenberg is the heavy favorite. But the Sharks also own the ninth pick thanks to shipping William Eklund to Ottawa, and that selection might be where they actually find their cornerstone defenseman.

Most mock drafts have the top two blueliners, Albert Smits and Chase Reid, gone by the time San Jose picks again. So the Sharks need a realistic plan for the ninth slot, and there are three names that make sense depending on how the board falls.

Keaton Verhoeff Could Be a Steal at Nine

The dream scenario for San Jose is that Keaton Verhoeff is still there. He is six-foot-four, 212 pounds, shoots right, and put up 20 points in 36 games as a junior at North Dakota. He made the All-NCHC Rookie Team in 2026 and has the kind of size and offensive instincts that usually go top-five in a draft. But here is why he might slip: Verhoeff went the NCAA route while other draft-eligible defenders stayed in junior hockey, and that jump exposed some kinks in his skating and slowed his turnover production. Teams get nervous about that. If the Sharks get him at nine, they are getting a potential top-pairing defender who just needed a tougher league to adjust.

Dax Rudolph Offers a Safer Floor

If Verhoeff is gone, Dax Rudolph out of the WHL is the kind of pick that fixes a specific problem. The Sharks gave up far too many odd-man rushes last season. Rudolph is maybe the best one-on-one defender in this class. He is 18, played for Prince Albert, and went from 41 points in 2024-25 to 78 points this past year. James Connelly of Dobbeer Prospects described him as a guy who smothers attacking players with stick work and physicality. He is already 6-1 and 195 pounds. His shot is underrated, and his vision in transition is solid. The floor here is a bottom-four shutdown guy. The ceiling is a two-way top-pairing defenseman who makes life miserable for opposing forwards. San Jose does not have that type of player in the pipeline right now.

Ryan Lin Brings High-End Mobility

Then there is Ryan Lin, and this is where the Sharks would be betting on skill over size. Lin is listed at 5-11 and 176 pounds. That is small for an NHL defenseman, and he will get pushed around until he adds muscle. But over 113 WHL games the last two seasons, he racked up 110 points. That is not a fluke. He moves like a forward, joins the rush with confidence, and reads plays well enough to generate turnovers despite his frame. If the Sharks take him at nine, they are hoping he grows into a top-four guy who quarterbacked a power play and made people forget about the height chart. The weight room will decide that one.

Either way, San Jose walks into Friday with the assets to grab a real defenseman and still have another first-round pick at 27 to grab a forward or double down on the blue line. That is a good place to be for a team that is not done building.