How did the last four picks of the 2015 Draft pan out for the Sharks so far?

This is part two of a two-part series looking back at the Sharks’ 2015 draft class. Part one included prospects like Timo Meier and Jeremy Roy and comprised of the Sharks first five of nine picks in the 2015 draft. Part two will now cover the last four picks for the Sharks, starting in the fifth round.

Rudolf Balcers

Fifth Round, 142nd Overall

Position: Forward

Handedness: Left

The Sharks obtained this pick from the Islanders in return for the rights to then-UFA and fan-favorite defenseman Dan Boyle in 2014. However, Boyle would not sign with the Islanders, opting to sign with the arch-rival New York Rangers, meaning that the Islanders essentially gave away a fifth-round pick to the Sharks for absolutely nothing in return.

And the Sharks might just make them pay dearly for that mistake.

With the 142nd overall pick, the Sharks picked Latvian forward Rudolf Balcers, the first time that the Sharks have picked Latvian players with back-to-back picks in franchise history. In his draft year, Balcers had nine points in seven games with the Stavanger Oilers U-20 team and eight goals and 13 assists with the Oilers’ senior team in 36 games in the Norwegian professional league. He also added another 10 points in 17 games as the Oilers won the league championship.

Balcers moved across the Atlantic to the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL for the 2016-17. In his first season in North America, Balcers posted 40 goals and 37 assists in 66 games on a decent Blazers squad. He also added three points in the Blazers’ run to the Western Conference Finals. Balcers also received a call-up to Team Latvia for the World Junior Championships, scoring two points in six games for a Latvian team that was clearly outclassed by other teams in the competition.

2017-18 saw Balcers make the leap to the AHL for his first season of professional hockey in North America. Despite the constant roster turnover over the course of the season for the Barracuda, Balcers was one of the few constants in the Barracuda lineup, scoring 48 points in 67 games, leading the team in goals and points while also having the second-most assists on the team. Not too shabby for a fifth-round pick playing his first season of professional hockey on North American ice.

Moving forward, Balcers will probably need another season at the AHL level, but making an appearance with the NHL team sometime next season could happen, whether it be because of injuries at the NHL level or because of his play for the Barracuda. There plenty of options at the forward position already for the Sharks, but a strong training camp could change some minds.

At this point, Balcers could definitely be considered to be the Sharks’ top prospect who has yet to make an NHL appearance.

As a bonus, here’s one of Balcers’ four goals from this year’s World Championships: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTStxnKskg0

Adam Parsells

Sixth Round, 160th Overall

Position: Forward

Handedness: Right



Selected out of high school, Adam Parcells has struggled ever since being drafted by the Sharks in the sixth round. After spending the next season in the USHL with the Chicago Steel, Parcells accepted an offer to play hockey for the Wisconsin Badgers.

However, new Badgers coach Tony Granato asked Parcells to defer enrollment for another year, sending Parcells back to the USHL. Playing for the Des Moines Buccaneers, Parcells only scored a measly six points in 40 games. His opportunity to play hockey at Wisconsin gone, Parsells instead took his talents to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire to play Division III hockey for the Blugolds. In his first season, he scored 13 points in 24 games.

Given how rare it is for Division III hockey players to make it to the NHL, Parsells’ career prospects look grim, at least for now.

Marcus Vela

Seventh Round, 190th Overall



Position: Center

Handedness: Right

Now teammates with fellow 2015 Sharks draftee Mike Robinson at the University of New Hampshire, Vela was selected in the seventh round after playing in the BCHL in his draft year. Now, the BCHL has had players make it to the NHL, such as Tyson Jost, Jamie Benn, Duncan Keith, and Milan Lucic. It’s rare, but it does happen. However, Vela isn’t likely to join these players in the NHL.

Vela is now entering his senior year at the University of New Hampshire, and he hasn’t been particularly dominant at any level he has played at. Last year, he had 15 points in 33 games with New Hampshire. Players who have made it from the BCHL to the NHL have put up much higher numbers than Vela. Granted, he was playing on a bad New Hampshire team, but even then, he was only eighth on the team in scoring. Vela is going to have to make some huge strides in his senior year to make it at the NHL level.

Jake Kupsky

Seventh Round, 193rd Overall

Position: Goalie

Catches: Left

The Sharks’ last pick in the 2015 draft, this pick also came from a trade. The Sharks sent Niemi’s UFA rights to the Dallas Stars in return for this pick. As it turns out, the Sharks used this pick to select a goalie, Jake Kupsky from the Lone Star Brahmas (yes, this is a real team) of the NAHL.

However, unlike Robinson, Kupsky has played well in the college ranks. After his one season with the Brahmas, Kupsky accepted an offer from Union College to play college hockey for the Dutchmen. His first two seasons were rough as he only played in 19 games over those two seasons combined, and when he did play, he struggled, posting save percentages below .900 in both seasons.

His junior season, though, was a re-birth for the kid from Wisconsin. Kupsky played in 25 of the Dutchmen’s 38 games and posted a .917 save percentage for a decent Union squad. He was also chosen as ECAC Hockey’s Goalie of the Month for the month of February after a month where he was undefeated in regulation and had a save percentage of .951 for the month, and he was even named a finalist for the Ken Dryden Goalie of the year, which is given to the best goaltender in the ECAC as voted on by ECAC coaches.

At 6’4″, 201 pounds, Kupsky has NHL size and has roughly the same measurables as Sharks goaltender Martin Jones. However, as everyone knows, especially Aaron Dell, size is just half the battle for goaltenders. Another solid year for Kupsky would do wonders for Kupksy and his future. At the very least, Kupsky is further along in his development than Robinson and other Sharks goaltending prospects not named Antoine Bibeau. After whiffing on Robinson earlier in the draft, the Sharks seem to have done well by selecting Kupsky here.

Conclusions

2015 wasn’t exactly a horrible year for the Sharks, but you can’t help but feel like they could have done better given their draft position. Meier was a decent pick, and he should still be a solid NHL player, but the Sharks definitely could have done better with that pick (see: Brock Boeser, Matthew Barzal, or Mikko Rantanen). But at least Meier is still further ahead in his development than some other players in that first round, like Dylan Strome, Lawson Crouse, and Pavel Zacha.

The success of this draft really hinges upon how Jeremy Roy pans out, especially given how much the Sharks had to give up for him. Looking back, it’s still a reasonable pick since he was considered to be a first-round talent at the time, but if he can’t stay healthy or the lost development time is just too much for him (or both), that is a huge black mark on this draft.

Furthermore, what could really swing things towards the failure side is that the Sharks completely whiffed on their third-round pick on what was already a reach to begin with. Late-round picks like Balcers, Helewka, and maybe even Kupsky could lessen the blow, but the Sharks could have done a lot better with that pick. Parsells and Cukste don’t look to be anything special.

Obviously, this group still needs more time to properly evaluate them, but looking at things right now, the only two picks that I feel comfortable with considering to be NHL players are Meier, obviously, and Balcers. Again, there’s still plenty of time for Roy to prove that his selection was warranted and his fall from the first round was unwarranted, but his injury history and loss of development time makes that less of a sure thing.

In the past, the Sharks’ drafting mistakes were mostly attributed to the fact that the Sharks have been picking from the back half of the draft almost every year. Yet, the one year that they are picking in the top ten, there is definitely room for improvement. Time will tell, of course, but it still feels like the Sharks didn’t take advantage of their draft position.

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