The entire Sharks organization and fan base agree on one thing: it is time to start winning. The Sharks’ rebuild should be on the upswing, high draft picks are starting to crack the NHL roster, and everyone in the Sharks’ front office agrees that the time to win again is now. With budding young stars like Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith and Yaroslav Askarov only getting better, as well as an overhaul of 3 out of the top 4 defensemen, it should start to happen sooner rather than later.
Sharks owner Hasso Plattner thinks so as well, and he made it clear in an interview he gave for the first time in a long time, talking about everything Sharks and SAP center (Plattner Interview). Plattner made it clear what he wants from the team this year: to win.
“We have to show that the main purpose, [to] have a good team, is in the foreground again.” (SJHN Plattner article).
Plattner is done with the rebuild and does not want his team to do any more roster trimming for the sake of high-value draft picks. The consensus #1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL draft, Gavin McKenna, was mentioned by Plattner during his availability, but not in the way you might think. “I hope we don’t have to go for McKenna … I just talked to the coach … no McKenna here now!”
And Mike said, “Absolutely not, absolutely not.” (SJHN Plattner article).
There is a lot of discussion about whether Ryan Warsofsky is doing the right thing by playing veterans with low ceilings instead of high-potential rookies like Michael Misa or Sam Dickinson, but what Warsofsky does with the roster each night has been clear from the start of training camp. Warsofsky has said that he will ice whoever he thinks gives his team the best chance to win each night. “I love our fans, but we’re going to do what’s best for our team … we’re gonna put the line-up out there that prepares us to win a hockey game tonight.” (SJHN). This is consistent with the team’s messaging that now is the time to win again, and whatever player helps that happen will get ice time regardless of experience or prestige.
Saying the team needs to start winning and actually winning, are two very different things. The Sharks have not started the season well, and with a record of 0-4-2, they were the last winless team in the league as of October 22. While it was only the start of an 82-game season, this start is almost parallel to the last couple of years, which saw the Sharks finishing last in the NHL in back-to-back seasons. Preventing this from becoming fate relies on both the summer roster moves from upper management as well as strategies and lineup decisions by the coach working out.
The one aspect I have not mentioned yet, is Grier. He is the ultimate decision maker for everything hockey. While it seems as though he leaves Warsofsky to do his job without too much interference, he signs and trades for players with specific lineup spots and purposes in mind. However, the moves Grier has made this summer do not match with what he and the rest of the Sharks organization have been saying.
For context, there are only two defensemen, eight forwards, and one goalie signed through next year. For a team that currently has 9 defensemen and 13 forwards on the roster (including some players on IR), that means decisions must be made. Since math is hard, let’s recap; seven defensemen, five forwards and one goalie are on expiring deals, adding up to over $33.36 million in cap space that can either expire, be traded away, or re-sign (via PuckPedia).
The 2025-2026 collective salary cap floor is $70.6 million, something that, over the summer, looked like a daunting number the Sharks would have trouble hitting. Au contraire, Sharks fans, Grier has a plan, even if it does not match with his boss Plattner’s intentions.
If you are not as knowledgeable about the rest of the NHL or the salary cap, you might be wondering what on earth Grier was thinking, trading for future Hall of Fame goalie Carey Price, and a 34-year-old Ryan Ellis, neither of whom will ever play professional hockey again due to injuries. Neither of these players will ever wear a Sharks jersey, skate through the Shark head, or do an interview with the legendary Dan Rusanowsky. The reason Grier acquired them … *ahem* … their contracts was because of the cap hit they come with. Carey Price has a cap hit of $10.5m, and Ryan Ellis has a cap hit of $6.25m for a total of $16.75m in salary. The sole purpose of trading for these contracts (besides the minimal returns and contract limit help) is to help the Sharks hit the salary cap floor now, as well as after the trade deadline in season.
Grier tends to make a lot of his decisions around the trade deadline, getting assets such as draft picks or younger prospects for players on expiring deals. After Grier trades a lot of the expiring deals that I mentioned off the roster this year, the Sharks will have to hit the salary cap floor to be NHL compliant. That $16.75m of cap space from Price and Ellis on Injured Reserve, as well as the $14.45 million sitting on the Sharks cap from buyouts and trade retention for players like Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl, gives the Sharks around $31.2 million in dead cap (salary that is charged to the Sharks cap from contracts that don’t play for them). Surprise, surprise, that is almost the same amount of money in expiring contracts this year! What a coincidence! I know the math isn’t perfect, but the Sharks are by no means in a cap crunch, hence the ability to pick up the Price and Ellis contracts. And not all the UFA’s will be traded, some will re-sign, and some will have their contracts expire, keeping the Sharks above the salary cap floor. This makes the current season much more of a “tryout” year than a “start winning” year, as the players with expiring contracts have something to play for, even if that something is getting out of San Jose at the trade deadline or after the season.
Bringing in Nick Leddy, Dmitri Orlov, John Klingberg and Jeff Skinner to bolster the Sharks’ top four defensemen and add veteran presence is one way Grier is doing his part to put wins on the board. These players are by no means gamebreakers, and it is arguable if they are even an improvement over last year in the first place. Despite this, the fact is they increase roster competition between veterans and rookies that has not been there in recent years. Having them work every day to continue their NHL careers after this season should be plenty of motivation to compete for a roster spot and play well every night.
Sure, Grier acquired veteran players and remade the Sharks’ top 4 D in an attempt to win more games and increase intrasquad competition to make players earn spots, but he was also reluctant to give out any free agent a contract longer than two years. This kept the Sharks out of the running for signing or trading for big name players this summer, something many fans and pundits saw as a path to more wins this season. Debating when Grier will start making a push for superstar players and a more competitive roster is heavily dependent on when the young stars such as Celebrini, Smith, Misa, Dickinson, and Askarov start running the show. There is no point in spending assets such as draft capital and cap space on players that help the Sharks win now, if they are not ready to win now.
Being a huge Sharks fan, I love to watch the team win. I was not ready for the rebuild a few years ago, despite the obvious warning signs in front of us. Now that we are about to come out the other side it is easy to get ahead of ourselves as fans. The main goal of professional sports is to win, but with a rebuild like the one Grier is orchestrating, patience is key. Grier knows this. Whether he makes the right moves to turn the team from a young up and coming one into a contender remains to be seen.
There is a dichotomy between what the Sharks are saying publicly and what Grier is doing. Owner Platner, President Jonathan Becher, and Head Coach Warsofsky all want to start winning again. The only problem is, the Sharks’ roster, and the guy who put it together, are not acting that way. If the season continues the way it has been going, poor individual and team performances keep stacking losses instead of wins, this season will feel almost the exact same as the last, only with more frustration in and out of the organization.
