EXCLUSIVE: Grier Feels Blackwood Trade Was ‘Offer You Feel Like You Can’t Refuse’

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — For Mike Grier, this was personally one of the toughest trades of his short GM career.

On Monday afternoon, the San Jose Sharks announced that they were sending goalie Mackenzie Blackwood and winger Givani Smith, along with a 2027 fifth, to the Colorado Avalanche for young winger Nikolai Kovalenko, goalie Alexandar Georgiev, a 2025 conditional fifth (can go up to a fourth if specific conditions are met), and a 2026 second.

“This one’s tough because Blacky and I go back to the New Jersey days together, been more than a hockey player. I love the kid,” Grier told San Jose Hockey Now in an exclusive interview.

Grier was a New Jersey Devils assistant coach before landing the San Jose Sharks GM job in the summer of 2022. The next summer, he acquired Blackwood from the Devils for a sixth-round pick.

Grier spoke at length with SJHN about the trade after informing Blackwood, who turned 28 today. Blackwood participated in Sharks practice this afternoon, before the team departed for Raleigh.

“When someone calls you with an offer you feel like you can’t refuse, and it’s going to help continue to build this and set you up for the future, you have to kind of take it,” Grier said.

Grier shared how much the San Jose Sharks like Kovalenko, how preliminary chats with Blackwood’s agent about an extension for the pending UFA goalie might have contributed to this trade, what he’s hoping for from Georgiev, Yaroslav Askarov’s place in all this, and more.

Read the Full Article at NBC Sports Bay Area