Brandon Coe Named 2021-22 'Sharks Prospect of the Year'

The San Jose Sharks announced today that Brandon Coe is the recipient of the Sharks Prospect of the Year Award, presented by Vision Essentials by Kaiser Permanente, given to the top overall prospect in the Sharks system as voted on by team management and staff.
"Last but certainly not least" is a fair way to describe Sharks prospect Brandon Coe's final season of junior hockey.

The 20-year-old forward dominated the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) for the North Bay Battalion this campaign, smashing previous career-highs in every major offensive category. He scored 101 points, good for fifth most among OHL skaters, and lead North Bay in assists and points. The forward, often lining up on the right wing, helped North Bay finish with the third best offense scoring 267 total goals and fourth best power play in the OHL, which clipped at a 25.9% rate. He directly factored in on 36 of the Battalion's 60 power-play goals, scoring eight goals and collecting 28 assists on the man-advantage.
Coming into the season, Coe had pedigree as a high-end player, having been selected third overall in the OHL's 2017 Priority Selection and showing enough potential and ability to warrant a selection by the Sharks in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. After that, however, the path wasn't as clear. Coe's December 2001 birthdate meant that he only had two seasons of eligibility in the OHL following the 2020 draft, when he was first able to be selected. With the OHL electing to cancel their 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Coe - like many players - sought playing time elsewhere, skating in 17 games for the San Jose Barracuda and registering five points. With just the 2021-22 season remaining, Coe certainly made the most of it.
If the beginning of his season was any indication, then we all should have been able to see these lofty offensive totals coming. After returning from a strong performance in the 2021 Rookie Faceoff Tournament in Arizona, he was named an alternate captain for the Battalion and set a new single game career high in his Oct. 7 OHL season debut, recording four points (two goals, two assists) and earning the Second Star of the Game.

He spent the next month building on that performance, recording points in his first eight games of the season before embarking on a monstrous 14-game point streak from Nov. 4 to Dec. 9. The forward quickly gained recognition for his play as a tall power forward with speed to spare. He earned OHL Player of the Week honors on Nov. 22 and signed his entry-level contract with the Sharks on Dec. 6. At the time of inking his entry level deal, he led all major-junior players in assists and points and had already matched or surpassed previous career highs.

Coe kept up his blistering pace all season, posting separate seven-game point streaks from Dec. 16 to Jan. 20, 2022, and Jan. 30 to Feb. 13, including factoring in on three of four goals in a Jan. 20 contest against Sudbury. The forward reached the 30-goal mark on Feb. 13 with a dramatic goal late in the third period to help cap off a four-goal comeback and lift North Bay above Sudbury.

In a common theme, Coe saved perhaps his best stretch of games for the end, notching 15 points (two goals, 13 assists) in his last seven games of the season. In keeping up with the dramatics, Coe crossed the 100-point mark, becoming the first Sharks prospect to do so in the OHL since Kevin Labanc, in the final game of the season on April 14. Coe was named the First Star of the Game for the performance and was named the most outstanding player of the season on Battalion Player Awards Night.

While the regular season is over, Coe still has work to do to complete an impressive major-junior career, with North Bay in an OHL playoff tie with the Ottawa 67's. To call his development exciting would be an understatement, and he'll be a player to watch coming into training camp next year.