05/10/23: Gaudreau’s agent, Eddie Mio of Octagon Sports Management, added some clarity to Gaudreau’s situation today. He told Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now that Gaudreau has decided to re-enter the draft and not sign an entry-level contract with the Sharks.
The stated reason was “because of what is developing with their goaltending prospects,” which could be a reference to the Sharks’ current situation with Chrona, Romanov, and Makiniemi already in their system. For what it’s worth, Mio disputed that notion saying “I’m confident in Ben, that he would have prevailed. We’re not afraid of competition. Just didn’t feel like a good fit.” So instead of signing with the Sharks, the 20-year-old 2021 third-rounder will now re-enter the draft process.
05/09/23: The June 1st deadline to sign prospects drafted from the CHL in 2021 is fast approaching and while many players unsigned at this point are likely going to be let go, not every team has made a final decision about whether they’ll be signing their players. That appears to be the case in San Jose as GM Mike Grier told reporters including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link) that they’ve yet to decide if they’ll sign goalie prospect Benjamin Gaudreau. A final decision will be made in consultation with Director of Goaltending Evgeni Nabokov and Goalie Coach Thomas Speer over the next couple of weeks.
The 20-year-old was a third-round pick (81st overall) back in 2021 and has spent his entire major junior career with OHL Sarnia, becoming their clear starter over the last two years. Gaudreau played in 44 games with the Sting this season, posting a 3.07 GAA and a .889 SV%, ranking him ninth and 20th league-wide, respectively. Gaudreau was also named to Canada’s team for the World Juniors; he got into a pair of games but posted a .828 SV% in those appearances.
On the surface, Gaudreau’s numbers, while not the strongest, are good enough to typically earn an entry-level deal. However, San Jose will have two other prospects vying for playing time in the minors next season in Magnus Chrona and Georgi Romanov while it’s likely that they’ll want to re-sign prospect Eetu Makiniemi as well. That doesn’t leave much room for someone like Gaudreau to come in and get some playing time. If they decide that they aren’t going to sign him, the Sharks could be able to flip Gaudreau’s rights for a late-round pick to at least get some value from that selection.
After losing Johansson to the SHL, I could see Colorado attempting to sign Gaudreau if he becomes available?
@RichP – They might be better off giving Trent Miner a shot over the suspect Benji Hockey.
I watched Gaudreau play live in the Knights-Sting series… I don’t think this guy is an NHL goalie. I’d be shocked if he ever makes AHL starter. Has a really strong game low in the net, but the Knights absolutely clobbered the Sting by shooting high on him. He cannot make saves over his shoulders, even in warm-up. And I say that as a Sting fan.
Now if you wanna talk about goalies that SHOULD be drafted… Brett Brochu is unbelievably talented. I had not seen much of him before this series, but that guy has NHL potential.