San Jose Hockey Now Podcast #29: Sharks Mid-Season Awards, Trade Predictions

San Jose Hockey Now Podcast

Welcome to the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast Mid-season Award Show! We hand out all sorts of awards, as well as predict a breakout candidate and predict some trades for the back-half of the season.

But first, there's more!

Sharks are...bad. (02:30). Sheng and Keegan briefly recap this week's losses and how they keep finding new ways to lose (03:15). We talk about the status of the Tankathon for this season, and a little about Macklin Celebrini and the upcoming 2024 draft (10:30).

We discuss the ending of the WJC and the play/grades of Will Smith, Eric Pohlkamp, Filip Bystedt, Mattias Havelid, Jake Furlong and Kasper Halttunen (12:58). We plan on having a longer episode recapping the WJC in the coming weeks, with some expert opinions as well.

Sheng and Keegan dive into the Kaapo Kahkonen trade rumor from Elliotte Friedman (24:00).

Jack Studnicka was sent down to the AHL this week (33:40), and why a CBA detail forced the Sharks' hand on this move.

We have some IR updates on Logan Couture and a season-ending move for Matt Benning (42:30).

Tomas Hertl is an NHL All-Star for the second time (47:30), and why we think the selection was obvious this year for the Sharks.

Finally, it's our mid-season awards. Find out who won the following from both Sheng and Keegan:

Mid-season MVP (48:10)

Best Forward (52:10)

Best Defenseman (54:20)

Most Improved Player (1:00:50)

Unsung Hero (1:09:00)

Most Disappointing Player (1:15:40)

Sleeper Prospect (1:25:55)

Most Surprising Prospect (1:33:30)

Lastly, we have a few predictions for the last half of the season. Who are the second-half breakout candidates for the Sharks? (1:38:50).

Finally, Sheng predicts a Kaapo Kahkonen deadline trade, including some historical comparisons (1:47:20) and Keegan predicts an oddly specific Alexander Barabanov trade (1:51:45).

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