As the Sharks build their new core, can Henry Thrun push himself into that group? (2024)

Silver linings.

They’re what the San Jose Sharks’ season was reduced to. The only lingering hope to come from having the worst record in the NHL was the best odds to win the draft lottery and possession of the No. 1 overall pick.

In this draft, that means Macklin Celebrini. And Henry Thrun, a rookie defenseman looking to build out his career with the Sharks, couldn’t resist imagining the Hobey Baker Award winner wearing teal just like him.

“He looks like a hell of a player,” Thrun said. “I’ve seen BU play a bunch. I don’t know the kid. I’ve only heard good things about him. If we can land a player like that, it’s somebody you can sort of structure your franchise around.”

The Sharks will get that chance. Holding the No. 1 choice, general manager Mike Grier has already let it be known that he’ll take Celebrini, the Boston University star, on June 28 in Las Vegas. It softens the blow of sitting at the bottom of the league and provides hope for a franchise in transition. Celebrini will be at the heart of a new core that Grier is assembling.

Thrun is trying to be part of that. Fourth-round picks, which is what Thrun was in 2019, aren’t guaranteed to make the NHL, and for Thrun to play in 51 games in his first full season, that’s something to savor. He finished the year as an everyday player. But with finding footing as a 23-year-old in his first extended run at the NHL level came the experience of learning and growing while doing it within an atmosphere of losing.

No true competitor likes that, and Thrun isn’t any different. His first goal wasn’t one he could fully celebrate at the time, as the Sharks were trailing 4-0 in an eventual 7-1 loss to the Maple Leafs on Jan. 9. When you’re on a team that won only 19 of its 82 contests, there are a lot of tough nights to endure, even if one is prospering in his own individual situation.

“It is challenging,” Thrun said. “We haven’t had as much team success as we’ve wanted, and sometimes that can be difficult as a player to kind of thrive in those situations. But it’s something you got to figure out. You got to find a way to string together good games and be a reliable player. I think for me, the biggest thing in regard to that has just been game management and understanding there’s going to be nights where, as a group and as a team, we might be fighting it a little bit. Just trying to manage and learn to keep it simple and try not to beat ourselves.

“And then there’s going to be nights where we’re playing better and it’s going to be a little bit easier to make plays. … Some players and some of the staff have really helped me keep a good head on my shoulders and try to learn through the environment that we’re in.”

The Sharks surely hope to have bottomed out. Their lineup was devoid of many difference-makers, and it showed in a hard and sometimes embarrassing season that eventually cost second-year coach David Quinn his job. But that also provided Thrun an avenue to their lineup, and his ascent can reinforce why Grier invested a third-round pick in this upcoming draft to bring him over from the Anaheim Ducks in Feb. 2023.

Thrun, who was a college senior, had informed Ducks GM Pat Verbeek that he wouldn’t sign with the team. Grier seized on that opportunity and signed him to a two-year entry-level contract before he could test free agency. As he builds out the Sharks’ roster for next season and beyond, Grier could have a smooth-skating all-around defender in Thrun entrenched on his future blue line.

Jan Rutta, whom Thrun played most with in five-on-five play, saw Thrun’s confidence grow as the season went on. That showed up most in making more plays beyond first passes or clearing pucks out of his zone. Later in the season, Thrun got time on the second power-play unit – which he felt his long look in all situations during the preseason prepared him for the bump-up in role.

“I think he’s more poised on the puck,” Rutta said. “Obviously he reads the game really well. He’s a good skater. If one thing jumps up to me, it’s probably his puck play.”

Early in the season, San Jose sent Thrun to its AHL club, the Barracuda, just two games into its season. Thrun had earned a spot following a strong training camp. But the demotion wasn’t about his play. It was more about getting him away from a Sharks club that was already in dire straits, in the early stages of a horrific 0-10-1 start.

By early December, Thrun was up with the Sharks for good. And Quinn trusted him with plenty of ice time. At times, they were the kind of minutes befitting a first-pair defender. He played over 25 minutes on New Year’s Eve in Colorado and hit a season-high of 25:41 twice. He hit the 20-minute mark in 23 of his 51 games.

It is what he hoped for when he opted to forgo a deal with the Ducks, which made him part of a draft class that included United States U20 teammates Trevor Zegras and Jackson LaCombe. All three were part of the gold medal-winning 2021 world juniors squad. As time progressed, Thrun would be part of a deep prospect pipeline populated with LaCombe and fellow left-shot defenders Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger and Tyson Hinds.

And as he looked at his own outlook, Thrun concluded that he wanted to forge a different path to the NHL. He mused over his decision before making the call to Verbeek as he was completing his final year at Harvard.

“It was hard,” he said. “I really like Pat. I’m a believer in the organization that he’s building.”

The path was perhaps more immediate than what it might have been with the Ducks. Thrun stressed that his relationships with people in San Jose — including player development head Todd Marchant, who also held the role in Anaheim — helped make the Sharks more appealing.

“It took a lot of thought, honestly,” Thrun said. “It was hard honestly, hanging over my head in the midst of a college season. Obviously, the decision had to be made, but it wasn’t something that came easily. I felt that there was good opportunity in Anaheim and it was something that it was hard to sort of look at elsewhere. Definitely wasn’t an easy call for me to make.”

The call did allow Verbeek to gain an asset in this upcoming draft for Anaheim. And the Sharks hope they’ve got a sustainable piece for their defense. Right now, there aren’t a lot, beyond the current leader Mario Ferraro, a past-his-prime Marc-Edouard Vlasic and some veterans that have moved around, such as Rutta, Kyle Burroughs and Matt Benning.

But the future could include Shakir Mukhamadullin next season. And there are prospects in Jake Furlong, Luca Cagnoni and Mattias Havelid. Perhaps there will be another if the Sharks go for a defenseman with the No. 14 pick, which they got from Pittsburgh in the Erik Karlsson trade. Thrun has positioned himself to be ahead of them now with the experience he gained this season.

His introduction to the Sharks came in an eight-game trial after he signed. It would include some time playing with Karlsson as he finished off what would be a Norris Trophy-winning season.

“The first day I got to the practice rink, I was sitting next to him in the locker room,” Thrun said. “Truthfully, I didn’t even know what to say to him. He was cool to have around. Going into the final three games, the opportunity to play with him – he was chasing 100 points at that time, which was pretty cool.

“To be able to be a part of that and just watch him play every day and be around him, it was definitely pretty special.”

Thrun finished the season with three goals and eight assists. That’s modest offensive output, and a minus-22 rating — along with subpar advanced metrics — weighed down his impact, but there were no positive standards to meet on a Sharks team that struggled to drive play or defend consistently well. He’d have forgettable nights, most notably in an 8-2 loss at Nashville, when he was a minus-6.

But Quinn, fired on April 24, lauded Thrun’s ability to move on. “The one thing I love about him is, he doesn’t let a bad play or a bad game get in the way of his development, which is very important at this level,” he said.

The Sharks essentially are starting over, and players suchas Celebrini and Will Smith, the No. 4 pick of the 2023 draft, will join William Eklund as the focal points of their future. Thrun loves the talent that is being cobbled together, and he’s determined to also be an indispensable piece.

“It’s something that was one of the reasons I was really excited to join the Sharks,” he said. “I want to be part of a group that builds together and slowly starts to add wins and competitive seasons on top of each other. That’s one of the things that really gets me going. Sort of thinking about being part of a good young core and hopefully growing as a group.

“Being able to bring the Sharks back to the playoffs, that’s something that is really exciting to think about.”

(Photo of Henry Thrun: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)

Eric Stephens is a staff writer for The Athletic NHL based in Southern California. Eric has been writing and talking about sports for newspapers and media outlets for more than 30 years. He has previously covered the NHL for The Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times. He is also an occasional contributor on NHL Network. Follow Eric on Twitter @icemancometh