On the eve of the NHL Draft, Sharks’ General Manager Mike Grier held a media availability to talk about everything from the upcoming draft to the trade chatter surrounding Erik Karlsson to how San Jose will respond to the NHL’s ban on specialty pre-game warmup jerseys.
We’ll kick things off with what many fans are wondering about. With the NHL’s decision to scrap all specialty jersey nights, does it change the way the Sharks do business? Grier says no.
“I think kind of the main thing is that we’re still going to celebrate all the months – Pride Month and Black History Month and our Hispanic and Asian populations. We’re going to celebrate all those nights just as much as we would normally just without the jerseys,” said Grier. “It’s very important for us to be an inclusive organization and being in San Jose and the San Francisco area, I think it’s important for our fans as well.
“So we’re going to put just as much effort into celebrating and having these nights and celebrating these people and cultures as we normally would,” continued Grier. “You know as far as the jersey thing goes, I think, whether you disagree with people or not I think you have to kind of respect people’s views and opinion on certain things. I think the league is trying to do that the best they can. But like I said, for us, it’s very important that those communities all feel and know how much we support them and admire them and want to support them.”
The potential Erik Karlsson trade
The biggest question on the media’s mind was, what’s next with Karlsson? Grier says he’s talked to a lot of teams. Some of them have “serious interest,” and some of them are just “dipping their toes in the water.” No matter what camp they’re in, Grier promises that they will not get a player of Karlsson’s caliber at a bargain basement price. He was clear that whatever deal is made, it has to work for both Karlsson and the Sharks organization.
“Erik, he’s a leader on our team. He’s one of our best players. So, he’s not something I’m looking just to give away. It’s not a situation where I’m just gonna give him away,” said Grier.
“In this kind of flat cap world, we’re still in, it’s definitely tough to move out salary and we understand that. So, at some point, there’ll probably have to be a little bit of give on our side,” continued Grier. “But like I said, we’re not just going to…people think we’re gonna eat 50% of his contract and all this type of stuff, it’s probably not going to happen.”
Grier made it clear he does not feel pressured into making this trade and he would be just as happy to welcome Karlsson to training camp in the fall.
“If he happens to be back with the team at training camp, I think he would be fine with it, and he would give us our best,” said Grier. “For me, obviously having a player like that on the rosters, I’m never gonna complain about having a good guy, who’s a superstar talent on the roster. I think we would make it work if that’s the case.”
On potential trade for Mackenzie Blackwood
Just before Grier jumped on to the call, rumors were swirling that the Sharks had traded for goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood.
**Breaking News** 🚨 📰
I’m told the @NJDevils are trading G Mackenzie Blackwood to the @SanJoseSharks for a 6th Rd Draft Pick.@espn @NHL @NHLNetwork @TSNHockey @DKSportsbook #HockeyTwitter pic.twitter.com/k8po5G6brI— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) June 27, 2023
When asked, Grier could not/would not comment and said nothing is “officially” done yet.
Of course, the deal was done less than an hour later.
The #SJSharks have acquired Mackenzie Blackwood from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for the Sharks sixth-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) June 27, 2023
On Sharks’ draft plans
Anyone looking for clarity on what the Sharks plan to do with the number four pick of this year’s draft won’t get it from Grier.
Here’s what he would confirm, it’s likely the Sharks will stand pat at number four.
“We’ve considered everything. I don’t think we would trade back from there at this point unless we were completely overwhelmed. So I think we’ll probably stay there,” said Grier. “We’ve looked at some scenarios to move up. I think if that were to happen, it’d probably be something that more happened on draft day, but we’ve looked at all the scenarios. We’ll stay at four and if there was an opportunity to move up, it’s something we’ve discussed and looked at but it’s not an easy thing to do.”
As for who San Jose is picking, you can’t be 100% sure if the Sharks have met with Russian forward Matvei Michkov or not. When pressed to see if San Jose had met with Michkov, Grier was vague.
“We met with all the Russian players that we wanted to meet with,” said Grier.
When asked about other potential top picks like Hobey Baker Award winner Adam Fantilli, top U.S. forward Will Smith and big-bodied Swedish forward Leo Carlsson, Grier said the team had great meetings with all of them.
In terms of position, Grier wants the best player available, and if it happens to be a centerman, even better.
“When you’re picking this high up in the draft, I think, number one, you want to take the best player available. And this year looks like it’s going to be a center. But overall, I think the philosophy is when you’re that high is take the best player available,” said Grier.
“All that being said, I think every team in the league is looking for centers. For the most part, the only way to get centers is to draft a center. So I think that’s why you see a lot of premium being put on centers, and now you’re seeing it with the [Pierre-Luc Dubois] trade and things like that,” continued Grier. “Centers are hard to come by. And for the most part, you either have to trade to give up a lot together, or you got to draft and develop them. So, you know, it’s definitely a premium position.”
But, no matter who San Jose picks, Grier is confident that when rounds one and two are done, San Jose will be in a much better position in terms of depth.
“I think we feel very good about the work our scouts have done and the time and the effort they put in on the road. We feel at the top of the draft here, with our 4, 26 and 36, we’re gonna get three really good players that have a chance to be core players and building blocks for us moving forward,” said Grier. “To kind of piggyback those guys on top of the players we had at the top of the draft last year. It’s really encouraging and a positive sign and you add in Shakir and Henry Thrun, who we added this year. I think there’s some real positive, bright things for us to start looking forward to and building on.”
Also, look for San Jose to draft a goalie somewhere along the line.
What’s the deal with the RFAs?
When you’re the GM of a team, you have a lot of pieces moving at once. While the focus is on the draft, the deadline to get restricted and unrestricted free agents signed is also right around the corner. If no one is under contract by Friday, they can hit free agency.
Grier would not say who the team is working out deals with and who could walk on Friday.
Current Sharks’ RFAs include:
- Noah Gregor who had another somewhat unlucky season in the points department;
- Jacob Peterson who arrived in San Jose via a trade with the Dallas Stars;
- Evgeny Svechnikov who was remarkably unremarkable;
- Jonah Gadjovich who was injured for the majority of the season;
- Fabian Zetterlund, one of the pieces of the Timo Meier trade;
- Martin Kaut, one of the pieces in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche last season;
- Eetu Makiniemi, a top goaltending prospect;
- And Strauss Mann, another goaltending prospect.
Current UFAs include:
- Andreas Johnsson, a throw-in piece from the Meier trade designed to help make the money work;
- Jeffrey Viel who may have fallen too far down the depth chart;
- James Reimer whose numbers simply don’t warrant a new deal;
- Kyle Criscuolo, C.J. Seuss, Derrick Pouliot, Anrej Sustr and Aaron Dell, all of who will likely be with the Barracuda if re-signed.
Grier is also open to weaponizing the team’s cap space if the right deal presents itself.
“It’s something we’ll definitely look into. If we have an opportunity to do something like that, I think we will, as long as it’s worth our while, whether it’s draft capital or a young player or prospect coming our way,” said Grier. “We do have the ability to take advantage of that and go down that road if something presents itself.”
As for who the team will add during free agency, Grier says don’t expect any grand slams this go around.
“If there’s some players available and at the right price, then I think we’ll be interested in it, but I don’t think we’ll be chasing any of the high end free agents and then offering them term and lots of money. That really doesn’t make sense for where we are now,” said Grier.
The goal right now is to give the younger players a fair chance and see where they are in their development.
Other notes from the presser
If you think watching Vegas win the Stanley Cup sped up Grier’s timeline for a rebuild, you have another think coming.
“I don’t think there’s pressure to get better. We want to keep building this thing the right way. And hopefully that by doing that, hopefully, that makes us more competitive and a better team,” said Grier. “But as I’ve kind of said all along, I don’t believe in skipping steps, and we don’t want to skip steps to kind of maybe have one year or have short term success…we want to be good for a long time. If that takes a little time to do, then that’s the way it’s going to be. So, we won’t rush this thing to try and push it back any faster than we think it needs to go.”
In terms of the goaltending pipeline, while the Sharks expect to draft a goalie, the team has “high hopes” for prospect Eetu Makiniemi.
The Sharks 2023-24 schedule was released today. Last season, starting out in Europe seemed to throw the team off. Training camp was cut short, and new players and coaches had little time to acclimate to one another. Grier believes the stability of starting at home this season will help the team find its legs.
“We’ll have a normal regular training camp where we can assess the guys. [Quinn] can continue to work and build the systems and the things that he wants to implement with the team and the group,” said Grier. I think that’s the main thing.
“The schedule otherwise is the schedule. Yeah, we have a pretty tough schedule right out of the chute and a long road trip at the end of it where you got to kind of go through that gauntlet in the southeast. But I think the main takeaway is that we’ll have a normal training camp, which I’m sure plenty of the players will be excited for,” continued Grier.
Grier is open to the possibility of Joe Thornton joining the Sharks in some capacity or another, but he says there’s a barrier at the moment.
“I mean, I don’t think there can be anything official with Jumbo until he retires. So he might show up for training camp, I don’t know,” joked Grier.
When Thornton decides he’s ready to take on another role with a team, Grier says there will be space for him.
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