Sharks' Will Smith Will Flourish Alongside Phenom Celebrini This Season

And welcome back to thehockeynews.com. So let's talk about this excerpt from THS 2024 Future Watch. It's on Will Smith, the San Jose Sharks prospect. And I think the interesting thing, not just about the piece, but about Will Smith himself, is that you know he's going to be able to fly a little bit under the radar this year when he makes his NHL debut. With the Sharks, everybody's going to be focused on Macklin Celebrity, and rightfully so. He's he's a generational type player. But you know, Will Smith, last year he had 25 goals and 71 points in 41 games for Boston College. That's nothing to sneer at or discount. He's somebody that's going to be a difference maker. He's going to give the Sharks incredible depth down the middle along with Salabrini and he's just going to be able to do his own thing. I think that, you know, he's still going to get some press, he's still going to get some pressure, but with Celebrity on board, you know, it kind of takes the heat off of him. To allow him to develop at his own rate. And, you know, he's still a very young player still, you know, just getting his first taste of professional hockey. And it's going to be a bit of an adjustment period. So I don't think we can expect that he'll be, you know, a front runner for the caller trophy as the top player or the top rookie in the league. I think it's more about him just kind of developing his own pace. And, you know, being in San Jose where there's not that kind of media focus, there's not that type of expectation that he's going to lead them to the playoffs is is going to be good for him ultimately. So we'll have to see what happens. But I would keep my eye on Will Smith all season long next year. Because I think he's going to develop into an excellent player. And I think you can read the full story in Future Watch. And you can get that issue by going to thn.com/free, subscribing to the magazine and getting access to our incredible archive. And you can go to thn.com every day for all your news and analysis and video and written form. Until next time, folks, take care. I'm Adam Proto for thehockeynews.com.