Jake Gustafson is a big, two-way center the San Jose Sharks selected 174th overall, a genuine hometown pick: a San Jose native and Jr. Sharks alumnus whose father is a longtime executive with the organization.

At 6-foot-4 he plays a composed, defensively responsible game, most often deep in his own zone, and he posted 13 goals and 25 points in 68 games in his first Western Hockey League season with the Portland Winterhawks after arriving via Shattuck St. Mary’s. The tools are intriguing for the role. He protects pucks along the wall, frees his stick at the net front, and drives an inside game, with flashes of vision and skill that suggest more than a pure checker, and he models his game after Mark Scheifele.

The projection is a bottom-six, two-way center, contingent on turning those flashes into consistent impact and ramping up his physicality and engagement. He returns to Portland for 2026-27 before Colorado College. For fantasy he is a deep-league monitor whose value depends on the offense becoming steady, so track whether his scoring and compete take a step in a bigger role before any add.