San Jose Sharks
Sharks Locker Room: Giles Showing Why Grier Traded Vanecek
The San Jose Sharks wanted to add a goalie at the Trade Deadline.
GM Mike Grier admitted as much, after dealing Vitek Vanecek and getting prospect Georgi Romanov stuck in the NHL (and unable to suit up for the AHL playoffs): “In an ideal world, we would have been able to bring in another goalie to kind of come in here and back [Alexandar] Georgiev up full-time and let Romanov go down there and play, but the price was high on some of the guys that we had interest in or teams didn’t want to move their goalie depth.”
Of course, the Sharks could’ve simply kept Vanecek, instead of sending him to the Florida Panthers straight-up for Patrick Giles.
But after watching Giles for two games with San Jose post-Trade Deadline, it’s clear to see why Grier traded for him.
The 6-foot-5 center scored his first career NHL goal on Tuesday night in a 3-2 loss against the Nashville Predators, flashing surprising skating and an effective north-south game in teal.
CONGRATS TO PATRICK GILES ON HIS FIRST CAREER NHL GOAL!#TheFutureIsTeal pic.twitter.com/doRMEPyYHK
— JD Young (@MyFryHole) March 12, 2025
“That was the whole thought behind the trade,” head coach Ryan Warsofsky explained on Monday. “We’re pretty excited about this kid.”
Giles may never be more than a fourth-line center, but he’s showing the tools to be a solid 4C, which Grier calculated was probably worth more than a struggling pending UFA in Vanecek and putting Romanov in a less-than-ideal position.
Remember too, Romanov is still getting NHL reps regularly in practice, it’s not like the Sharks are carrying three goalies, and he’s making big-league money for a month too. They’re not exactly doing him dirty.
Meanwhile, the 25-year-old late bloomer is opening eyes.
“He’s gotten better, if you looked at his track record of where he’s came from. Grew up in Maryland. If you watched him, he was a Bambi legs. Couldn’t really skate very well,” Warsofsky recalled. “He’s really worked on his skating a lot going into Boston College, worked really hard on his skating, crafted his game.”
It’s an open competition right now for jobs with the San Jose Sharks next year, and Giles, signed for next year at the veteran’s minimum, is off to a good start.
You’ve got to give something to get something, and Giles is showing that he is something at this level.
Ryan Warsofsky
Warsofsky, on another strong Shakir Mukhamadullin performance:
He was really good again. Seen some major development right now, which is good to see.
He bounces back. He’s extremely coachable. The game is starting to slow down for him.
Warsofsky, on what a struggling penalty kill can improve:
There’s a lot of things.
One, it starts with the faceoffs. That’s one way to kill a penalty is win a faceoff.
Second one is off an entry, in our forecheck and our stance at the blueline.
And then the third is understanding our assignments. When we watch the pre-scout, we see what they’re doing, their trends, have an understanding of we got to make sure we’re locked in and laser focused.
A lot of it has to do with our personnel has changed quite a bit. We’re trying some guys. We’re trying to get Grundy involved. We could try to get Patty Giles here involved soon. Obviously, Goody’s been there. Graffer, second half the year stepped up.
Our D core, we’ve obviously lost some guys.
That’s not an excuse. But we need to develop some PK’ers is really what it comes down to.
Warsofsky, on Giles:
He’s got poise with the puck. Gets the inside of the ice to score a goal…So we’ve been impressed.
Patrick Giles
Giles, on his first NHL goal:
Huge moment. I’ve been thinking about that one for a long time, and it’s a great play by my linemates, and I was able to finish.
I didn’t even see it hit the back of the net, so I was just praying that it went in. Then I was just super-excited. I don’t even know what I was thinking.
Probably give [the puck] to my parents. I think they’re gonna try and come next week, so it’ll be a nice gift for them.
Alexandar Georgiev
Georgiev, on what happened on Nashville’s game-winner:
Just miscommunication. Thought I was just leaving the puck for the D to [get at] the net, and it turned out that he wanted me to put it in the corner. And by the time I realized that I tried to put it, I’m not sure if they [intercepted] it. Just a quick play in front of the net. They got the bounce and the goal. It happens.
Georgiev, on his goals for the rest of the season:
Just play as perfect as I can every night. That doesn’t change
Just trying to do that, put the team in a good position every night. I feel like today, 2-2 in the third, that’s where you want to be, and just that unlucky bounce there. But I feel we’re right there.
Collin Graf
Graf, on what the penalty kill can improve:
I don’t know if it’s one exact thing. It’s just frustrating. The biggest way to improve is to take less penalties, and we know that, but I don’t know if there’s one thing to improve on.
Graf, on Patrick Giles:
He’s big, he’s fast, he’s strong, he’s a good centerman, I actually know him a little bit, just from going to Florida dev camp almost three years ago now. Really nice guy away from the rink, and he’s been good so far.
I don’t expect too much from Ostapchuk yet, but if he can come in and play with some energy and physicality like we’ve seen from Giles, then that will be good for us. AHL playoffs will be good his development too, and maybe he can get some PK time down there. Like Warsofsky said, we need to develop some PK’ers and Giles and Ostapchuk should be prime candidates for that.
https://youtu.be/qQrhu_uxLZ0. This is for Shorky and is the complete antithesis of what Warsos system is.
Just stop buddy. If you think that Warios system isn’t high pressure then you’re an idiot. He simply doesn’t have the horses to play the system He has at all the other levels when the talent of his teams matched his opponents. This is and always will be for this season a talent problem not a coaching problem. Pull your head from your butt hole, dude.
That L system is what Sturm runs fyi, he likes to run the 2-1-2, which is basically the L .Warso runs a 1-2-2, with the Dog-Fox-Hawk. There are other names but F1 flushes—Dog, one hunts — Fox and one swoops in for turn over — Hawk…some coach called it Cheeta – alligator – something (was a while ago I saw), for obvious reasons. Mack and Smith do this well as does Eky in dog/fox role. Vegas also Runs the 1-2-2 lots of teams do. Sorta Why that 70 line and Mack/Smith create turn overs cuz they are good and Toffoli… Read more »
Love the article, as always! 🙂 Nice to see the youth is constantly being primary contributors even though they are losing games. If Giles can become a younger and cheaper replacement for Sturm that would be a bonus. My question is where they will replace the faceoff wins Sturm provided? Still, having Giles, with his size and speed is paying dividends already. I really like how he tracks back and plays a pretty responsible game. Muk keeps getting better, very nice to witness. I like how the young players are developing overall but wonder when the might give Cags some… Read more »
The 4th line really brought it last night, they were getting rushes and chances and faceoffs in the offensive zone and getting O zone chances for the top line. Everything you want from those guys. It was winning hockey for sure. If the team can cut out the stupid penalties and play more 5 on 5, the wins will come. But at this point, might as well just run out the string and hopefully get Misa or Schaefer. 3 points for Dickinson last night, 4 for Musty… The future is looking good, we just gotta suck it up. It gonna… Read more »
GMMG is trending towards building with bigger, heavier players, which is fine, in general terms, especially if you look at LAK and ANA (go Battle of CA!). Both ANA and LAK are building their futures on big, strong players as a majority of their prospects, minus Zellweger, Spence, and Turcotte, are all 6’+ ~200+ lbs. That being said, both ANA and LAK are building systems that fit the combo of size and skill. Celi, Smith, Eklund, Toffoli, etc, thrive in a controlled zone entry system, e.g. COL/DAL whereas the bulk of the team and the players GMMG has recently acquired… Read more »
I don’t know, Vegas mixed in smaller players with a transition game skillset like Jonathan Marchessault, Chandler Stevensen, William Karlsson etc. with their big heavy fast team & it worked out pretty well for them.
Celi, Smith, Eklund & TT all thrive making plays in small spaces & the big guys GMMG has targeted can all skate. The team being built will be fast, skilled and have a high compete level; I have a feeling the boys are gonna be ok.
I don’t see why we can’t play both styles. What if we had a couple of skilled lines with a little size that can move pucks and play a fast transition game and also hold pucks in the offensive zone, and we also had a couple of lines that could really smash people and chase pucks and make defenders truly think about things when they are trying to escape their zone. That seems like it could work, right?
That’s a topic that came up recently in the context of Rantanen in Carolina. Sadly I’m now hazy on which podcast it was…maybe Spittin’ Chiclets. But some ex-NHL players explained why it doesn’t work. The short synopsis is: a team plays a system. Everybody buys in. It becomes second nature for everybody. Mix and match doesn’t really work. For example, what happens if you need to mix-and-match lines because of injuries? Or if you only manage a partial line change on the fly? The issue of system is different from a team might dump the puck more if they got… Read more »
Reasonable response, thanks! But my immediate counter is that anyone who sends out a 4th line and asks them to play like a Celebrini line is just being silly and setting his guys up to fail
Stephenson is not small. 6’ 200lbs
Actually, neither is Karlsson…
While we are starting to see some obvious long term pieces fall into place up front with Celebrini, Smith and to a lesser extent Toffoli, I don’t know if I’d consider any of the other pieces currently in the system “long term” solutions. In other words, no one is safe and I doubt anyone who proves to be a bad fit sticks around beyond a season or two. Right now, the biggest need the Sharks have up front other than the obvious and glaring want for skill is size. They’re small, especially, as you noted, the few skilled forwards they… Read more »
You hit on a key, but oft-missed, point. The prospect pool has very few players that will be NHL ready next season. This season was productive — ahead of expectations — with Mukh and Graf joining Celebrini and Smith as legit NHL players. Next season, that class might be Askarov and only Askarov. I hold out some hope for Thompson and Cardwell. I suspect those two get some NHL time, but don’t get to everyday player status until 26-27 — if they ever get there. Cagnoni is a bit of a wild card, but small + young is not a… Read more »
I think your definition of “NHL ready” is a bit cherry-picked to fit a narrative. Was Will Smith “NHL ready”? What about Graf? Mukh? I think only Celebrini fit that definition, which I think you’re saying means, “Will step on the ice and play well”… All these guys will take their lumps, but by this time next year, we could start talking about all of the guys who are slated to break in next year the same way we’re talking about Mukh. I think Will Smith is in a special category as a guy who was not physically ready (and… Read more »
What narrative? To address the semantics. Here’s a definition. They’re on the NHL team and not going back to the AHL. Graf and Mukh aren’t going back to the AHL, except for the Calder Cup playoffs, which doesn’t conflict with the NHL season. If the Sharks were in the playoffs, they’d stay with the Sharks. For next season, outside of Askarov, everyone else seems less than 50% to met that threshold. Some way less. That includes everyone on your list of Chernyshov, Dickinson, Musty, Haltunnen, Bystedt, and Ostapchuk. As for “we traded half the team and the only real drop-off… Read more »
You could also argue they outplayed both teams and smaller details were the cause of those losses. If they could stay out of the box, that’d be a good start. Just curious which camp you were in with Will Smith and whether he should have been in the AHL at some point this year. He started with 4 points in his first 18 games. Then he rattled on 7 in the 4, but then had only 4 in the next 18 games for a total of 15 pts in 40. On the morning of Jan 20, the team was in… Read more »
I had limited opinion on Smith for the most part. It was “wherever he develops the best”. Which is how I feel about most players in development because its really very individual. Though I did want to see him play some with the ‘Cuda and play with them in the playoffs. I like the idea of him getting in meaningful games at the AHL level. That and he’d potentially help the entire ‘Cuda team to make a deep run. My take is Blackwood, Walman, Zetterlund, Granlund and Sturm are better than ‘placeholders;, even if that’s how it played out. They’re… Read more »
I freely admit I was in the send him to the AHL camp especially after that lull. Seemed like he was making the same turnover mistake that led to a back breaking goal against nightly. The coaching staff deserves a shit ton of credit for his development and I won’t doubt them again when given another prospect to manage at the NHL level.
100%
I think Chernyshov with his KHL experience has a good shot of making the team if he has a good camp. Thompson will definitely be a part of the nhl squad next year, barring off season acquisitions of course.
My hopes and prayers include bringing in 2 impact RHD’s and Liljegren is 3rd pairing with Thompson as depth. Crossing fingers.
Just be patient with the kids. Give ’em 50 games like Smith got. Mukh would have been up earlier but he was hurt.
I would love for Haltunnen and Musty to be able to play together with Bystedt for the first couple months with the Barracuda before they join the big club.
Even if the simply bring in Ekblad I think it makes the depth players so much better.
Chernyshov is a bit of an unknown. Its really hard to judge player readiness when they are only playing against other players the same age. But he does have some experience playing vs men. Which is an advantage he has. Still, I think he’s more likely an AHL guy next season, perhaps getting some NHL time along the way.
I think Thompson sees a mix of AHL and NHL again next season. Pretty happy with the progress there. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if he takes an NHL job, unless its because there’s just no one else!
I think AHL is a good place for Chernyshov to start, maybe he has a few kinks in his game that he can take a little extra time to smooth out. But overall, I don’t think we could be asking for much more from him at the moment. The things he’s doing against the boys, using his body to keep defenders away from the puck, fishing pucks out of the corners, and oh by the way lighting the lamp and dishing dimes like an absolute monster… It’s nuts. And by now we can’t really worry it was a small sample… Read more »
There are a few cases that are harder to predict than others, but I think for the most part we can expect Grier and his team to take a patient approach to developing the next crop of incoming pros. Any rookie pros who are eligible for the AHL next season are about 99% certain to start there, whether that’s Lund, Halttunen, Chernyshov or Musty. I agree with those who project Chernyshov as the most likely to surprise and take a spot, but given Grier’s approach to player development it just feels unlikely. Graf and Mukhamadullin will be full-timers next year… Read more »
Very thorough rundown, thanks!
More guys than spots, so we will know a lot more about who’s going to be a part of the future and who’s not.
Don’t know much about a lot of those guys. Among the ones I’ve seen, I’m really down on Dickinson in the short term. He doesn’t look close to NHL ready. Think Graf is done with the AHL, except maybe the the ‘Cuda in the playoffs (forget if he’s eligible), He may not be good next season, but he doesn’t need anymore AHL time. He’s NHL level. Can’t find anyone who thinks Bystedt’s NHL time is just around the corner. Wouldn’t surprise me if Cagnoni gets in a few NHL games. it’d surprise me if its anything more than the 9… Read more »
My take on Dickinson is that he is absolutely wasting his time in London. They have such a good team and they play against mostly guys who literally aren’t capable of getting around him. I’m sure you watched the Scouching video and that forms the bulk of your opinion on him. Watch the highlights from his 3 point game last night. Watch his goals. Who on the Sharks right now can do that? As for defense, he needs to play against guys who can punish his mistakes. In the OHL, no one can, simple as that. And he plays 30… Read more »
I noticed that score ticking up in that video. It was almost comical how quickly the score changed. But I don’t think there was a lot of nitpicking. I agree he’s playing against guys who just aren’t good and that he needs to play against guys who will school him. The times I did see (preseason scrimmages) I was also not impressed. At the WJC, no one seemed to think he was good in that tourney (the own goal wasn’t an issue for me, just bad luck). In those games, the competition was better. he was playing against guys his… Read more »
I am not counting WJC. Canada’s whole team was a total tire fire and it’s funny that the guys who didn’t get dinged for it were Misa, Parekh and Sennecke, none of whom even made the team. With Schaefer getting hurt, every pairing had to shuffle and it was just a mess. Throw that out. Having said all that, he is going to take some lumps because he has bad habits to break. Will Smith got a chance to learn on the fly and he passed with flying colors. I think it’s worth it to give Dickinson that chance to… Read more »
Man I would love it if Cagnoni is the guy that beats the odds. My kids favorite player.
Except he’s not an unknown since he played against men in the year before his draft.
He had 5 pts in 39 KHL games. So maybe that’s not a deep read.
He wasn’t on a scoring line, he was like a 3rd or 4th line grinder and from the reports acquitted himself well defensively against men. It’s not always about the points buddy. Better to look closer. 😉 They sent him to the OHL so he could work on his offense and creativity because they see him as a scoring winger at the next level. He very much is ready for the next level. Like I said, he’s a good bet for the NHL by Christmas if not out of camp. He’s going to tear up the AHL in a similar… Read more »
We’ll see. That he even got time in the KHL is a plus. KHL coaches have a reputation for not wanting to play teenagers. Also not sure where he/how got injured.
Said earlier I think he’ll see some NHL time next season. Still, Sharks don’t have much incentive to rush him. They might want to keep him under the 9 game mark. But maybe he forces their hand.
They won’t be rushing him, he’ll be forcing them. This all depends on his summer and camp though. If he shows the confidence at camp that he’s showing in juniors we’re in for a show.
Chernyshov had the best shit but i he needs to adjust to top6 play in a mens league it will take time.
Thompson is going to.get traded or be a 7-8 dman next year. In my opinion.
You hanging around his toilet or something? How exactly does one judge a shit to be “the best”?
I have this exact opinion. Already played protagonist men and held his own.
“Pros against men”
Disagree. 2 prospects are likely to make the NHL next season other than Asky. Not sure which but 2 guys not on the NHL roster right now. Probably not to start the season but my bet is by Christmas.
You don’t need all 4 lines playing the same style.
True, They can all play the same system but the lines without a zone entry god like Celly can dump and chase. Wennberg is pretty good at zone entries to I believe.
And there are very few bottom 6 players in the league who are good at possession zone entries. The idea you can just have a full 4 lines of players who will play the exact same way just isn’t realistic. A system is far more than the decision to dump and chase or carry the puck into the zone.
Exactly.
Just wrong.
I’d like to see Bordy on the line with Giles.
I would rather see a prospect who is actually going to be with the organization next season.
Boyz playing with passion setting up for a turn around you won’t belive it will be fast an quick!! You can see an feel it coming what fun it will be!! Thanks Mrn Greir!!!
I agree it’s been mostly fun this year, if frustrating because a lot of these wins have been so close we could taste ’em. But that half full Shark tank went CRAZY during those 4 seconds last night where they got the two goals to tie it up. More of that, please!
Mike Bartner predicting new deals for some NHL free agents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw8nNpfolFU
RHD
Ekblad 6 yrs x $7.5mil per
Bouchard 8 x $9m
Dobson 3 x $6.25m (note, Bartner is a big Isles fan, discussion at about 16min mark)
Boeser 7 x $8m
Is this a prediction of re-signing or what they’ll get on the open market? It’ll take an extra million for SJ to get him at least.
Who is this kid and how would his predictions have any weight?
Predictions.
He’s an interesting listen. Covers a variety of subjects and does it pretty quickly and with explanations.
Does he have any weight? He’s not an NHL GM, so no.
Ekblad might get 6 years from someone. Feels like a stretch. He’s not that old, but … I do think most teams will want to keep the term short with him. Really liked his game in his earlier years, but he’s got a lot of mileage on that body and it shows.
If 6 years is right, we can give up that pipe dream! MGGM not signing a 29 yr old for 6 years…. And Ekblad probably looking for term and such as last big deal, I would think, with his skill and his position. Granted he had some recent issues but still… maybe that opens up for a short term over pay! But no one getting 6 yrs on Sharks even so at 29.
The Sharks may be in the defensive RHD market if they are going to try to run out puck moving LHD. Those guys are cheaper, too
Looking deeper I think I would rather the Sharks trade for a young #1RD who’s NHL ready. If they’re signing veterans grab guys who can end plays in the D-zone and break the puck out effectively.
The one thing everyone is nearly certain of is Ekblad isn’t going back to Florida. Rather than give him 6/$45M, I would try offering 2/$20M or 3/$28M or something. With the cap going up, the Sharks can pitch this to Ekblad as a chance to make some big short term cash and also sign one more big contract when the cap is high. The team can also commit to some kind of management where he is able to take the night off on back to backs or something to limit wear and tear and hopefully extend his career. Kovacevic only… Read more »
I like this idea. 2 to 3 years would be perfect.
Dallas only have $5.3M in cap space this offseason with only 8 F, 6 D, and 2 G accounted for. Robertson-Hintz-Rantannen Marchment-Johnston-Seguin ?-Steel-? ?-Back-? Harley-Heiskanen Lindell-Lundkvist (RFA I think they want to keep) Bichsel-Dumba/Lyubushkkn Feel like Dallas will almost certainly be shopping one of Dumba/Lyubushkin to clear up some more space to fill out their bottom 6. Should Sharks entertain a Ceci like cap dump trade for one of Dumba/Lyubushkin where we get an asset to acquire them? That would leave us with this for our D Ferraro/Muk-? Or ?-Muk Ferraro/Muk-Liljegren/Dumba/Lyubushkin Thrun/Dickinson/Cagnoni-Liljegren/Dumba/Lyubushkin Desharnais Vlasic on IR. It’s not great but… Read more »
All this feels like more of the same to me… My thinking here goes like this: The Sharks have 3 types of valuable assets. First, the cap space, then the picks and prospects, and finally the one we don’t talk as much about are the roster spots. If the roster spots are clogged by placeholders and we can’t plug in more promising guys who need the seasoning, we are actually setting ourselves back. Is Dumba so much of an upgrade on a guy like Thompson that it’s worth bringing him in? And if we got Ceci back, what role would… Read more »
No way in hell do I want Dumba!
Lundqvist is an interesting case though… He’s making not a lot right now and he’s probably in line to get about $3M as a RFA. Dallas has almost no money and they also have their Captain Jamie Benn and alternate Matt Duchene as UFA’s, not to mention Granlund. And they have a cap crunch for sure. He’s only 24, I don’t love his size profile, but he’s ok enough defensively that I’m mildly interested if he could be brought in maybe for the Ottawa 2 and signed reasonably for a 3 year term. That would free up mad cash to… Read more »
Big fan of Giles so far! But Romanov is indeed being done incredibly dirty considering he got the Cuda to playoffs and is being tossed aside on both levels of the org, as is Georgiev who’s being worked to the bone and it’s tanking his stats. And the team is suffering because of it, you can’t win with an overworked goalie! A completely angering situation for anyone involved and not a good look for the coaches for being completely unfair.
We want the first overall pick.Period
Would you rather A) play in the AHL playoffs or B) make literally 10 times as much money on the NHL roster?