Collin Graf reveals why he spurned several teams to sign with lowly Sharks

One of the more heavily pursued undrafted NCAA stars raised more than a few eyebrows in the hockey world when he spurned a variety of suitors and instead signed with the basement-dwelling San Jose Sharks. 

Quinnipiac's Collin Graf, who earned ECAC Hockey Player of the Year honors, decided to spurn the likes of the Colorado Avalanche and Pittsburgh Penguins to play with the Sharks, who have no hope at the postseason. 

"I think they were really honest with me," Graf told reporters of why he made the choice that he did. "There are a lot of Northeast guys, as a Massachusetts guy, it's familiar. I thought that obviously added to the decision for sure. I think it was just the honesty of what they saw in me and what they thought I could do."

He'll be joining Henry Thrun on the Sharks, a player he knows well.

"I know Henry Thrun. [I] played against him at Harvard," Graf said. "[I've] skated with him growing up; we had a similar skating coach, and in the summer, played three on three with him. Besides that, I don't think I know anyone [else here]."

Graf skated on a line in practice alongside Luke Kunin and William Eklund, and he's already looking forward to getting into game action. 

"It's really exciting. I know they are both really good players," Graf said of his possible linemates. "I just had one practice with them,  but I can tell they're really good already." 

Once standing at a diminutive 5'6, Graf hit a growth spurt and now stands at 6'1 and 195 lbs. 

“He’s always had the skill and hockey sense, but people didn’t draft him because he was undersized and had already made that book on him that, ‘He’s too small, he’s too small,'”a league source said.

In 112 career college games, Graf has scored 54 goals and 76 assists. 

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