As you must know, In the upcoming draft San Jose is picking 4th, the highest pick they’ve had they selected Brad Stuart 3rd overall in 1998. Consensus is that while Michkov could be the best player available at that spot by quite the margin, a Carlsson or Smith might be safer bets due to concerns regarding Michkovs contract in Russia and some “character issues” that I haven’t seen validated anywhere in my admittedly limited research.

My inclination is that the sharks can afford to wait for a player like Michkov as things stand now, and I think I would take him, but if I had to guess, I’d say they take Smith. I’m not super upset about this, but I’m interested to hear other people’s thoughts on the pick?