Let’s just say the San Jose Sharks did something big with their seventh-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
With the 201st overall pick, San Jose selected defenseman Alexander Karmanov out of Moldova. At 7-foot-1, he is the tallest drafted player in the history of the NHL. If he plays a single NHL game, he will become the league’s tallest ever player, surpassing the 6-foot-9 triumvirate of Zdeno Chara, Matt Rempe and Viktor Svedberg.
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The 18-year-old Karmanov also weighs in 280 pounds, which would make him one of the heaviest NHL players ever. He is also the first Moldovan player to ever be drafted.
He spent the 2025-26 season with the Brantford Titans in the Greater Ontario Hockey League and the North Bay Battalion in the Ontario Hockey League. Per SooToday’s Chris Dawson, Battalion president Adam Dennis spoke glowingly of his development:
“We certainly watched him last season, heading into the import draft, and just to see some of the improvements that he’s made in his game,” he explained.
“He’s developing at a rapid rate, and I think when you have that will and determination, you can really go a long way with it. So he sacrificed a lot to be here. He has done things that the average 17-year-old hasn’t been through yet, but he wants to be a hockey player, and we’re looking forward to working with him.”
Per ESPN’s Ryan S. Clark, he is set to play next season with the Battalion before playing college hockey with Penn State in 2027. The tallest player on Penn State’s current men’s basketball roster is the 7-foot Ivan Jurić.
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Karmanov was the final pick of a successful draft for the Sharks, who had previously won the second pick in the NHL Draft lottery and used it on talented forward Ivar Stenberg. They also nabbed Keaton Verhoeff with the ninth overall pick, thought by many to be one of the best defensemen in the draft, and Ryan Lin at No. 21, another defender ranked well ahead of his draft position.
