Sheng Peng
If San Jose Sharks GM Mike Grier was disappointed to not get the first-overall pick in the Draft lottery, he didn’t show it.
Instead, the Chicago Blackhawks won No. 1 and the opportunity to select consensus top prospect Connor Bedard. The Anaheim Ducks and Columbus Blue Jackets followed, and the San Jose Sharks received the fourth pick.
At least the Sharks, fourth-worst record in the NHL, didn’t drop in the Draft.
And they’ll have a wealth of Grade-A prospects to choose from at No. 4, most likely Leo Carlsson, Matvei Michkov, or Will Smith.
Grier spoke on each of those prospects in his post-Draft lottery availability, disclosing his personal relationship with Smith, if the Sharks will avoid Michkov because he likely wouldn’t be able to come to North America until 2026, and what stands out about Carlsson’s game.
He also touched on how interested he might be in trading up or down from No. 4, Filip Bystedt and Ben Gaudreau’s possible entry-level contracts, and more in this mostly-complete transcript of Grier’s availability.
Mike Grier, on his reaction to getting the fourth-overall pick:
We hope to get some luck and [have] things go your way, but at the end of the day, we didn’t drop, which I think we’re all really happy about, the opportunity to draft a really good player at four.
Grier, on if he was hoping in particular that Bedard wouldn’t land with division rivals Anaheim Ducks or Vancouver Canucks:
You can’t really control any of that stuff. Probably didn’t want to see him in Anaheim with the young talent they have, and them being right down the street and having to face them all the time.
Anywhere in the first five, six, [or] seven picks, there’s lots of good players. Even though he’s on the special end, I don’t wanna get into too much picking and choosing of who we’re gonna be playing against.
Grier, on his emotions today:
It was a normal day for me, really. It was at the point where you didn’t have any control of what was going to happen. It was just a normal workday. Once we got down here to the rink, I’m starting to hope things [go] our way. It wasn’t anything where I was nervous or upset or anything like that. It was just a “wait and see” type day.
Grier, on what information he has about Matvei Michkov’s situation, in terms of coming to North America to play:
I know just the same as all you guys. He’s got a contract for another three years or so. He’s a good player. He’s a talented player. But he’s gonna be under contract over there for quite a bit.
Grier, on if he has any emotion about the San Jose Sharks’ late-season winning streak that took them out of the top lottery odds:
No. The guys go out there and play hard. It was a difficult season for them. It was nice for them to get rewarded, playing some good teams. [They] played hard and got some results. I was happy for the group.
You’ve got to do things and play as hard as you can, and then see how things shake out at the end of the day, things that are out of your control.
Grier, on if getting the No. 4 pick affects his big picture plan for the Sharks:
It didn’t affect it at all.
Grier, on if Michkov not being available to the San Jose Sharks for possibly three years would affect his decision on the Russian winger:
We’ll take in all the information and consider all the options. The good, the bad, and the pluses and minuses of all the players that will be options for us. It’s something that we’ll definitely discuss, but it’s not anything that’s going to take anyone off the table.
Grier, on his thoughts about Will Smith’s U18-leading scoring performance:
He had a great tournament. He’s a really talented offensive player. He made a lot of high-end plays over there and drove the offense. His line in general was probably the best line over there. He’s had a really good year this whole season, but the U18’s were a good showing for him, along with some of the other players over there.
Grier, on the Boston connection with Massachusetts-born Smith:
He’s a Boston kid. He was at high school with my oldest son for a year before he left for the [United States National Team Development] Program. I know Will fairly well. He’s going to BC, which isn’t great. (laughs)
Grier, on his thoughts on Leo Carlsson:
Leo’s another good player. He played well in the World Juniors as a younger player. He had a pretty good season in the Swedish League for a guy who’s 18 years old. He’s good. He’s another talented offensive player. Big, strong, can make plays. These guys are all exciting prospects where maybe we will have the opportunity to grab one of them.
Grier, on the possibility of moving up or moving down in the Draft:
I won’t rule anything out. It would have to be a pretty significant offer for us to move out of four. But like you said, you never know what happens when you get close to the Draft. If there’s a player another team really likes, we’ll listen. But it would take a lot for us to move out of four.
As far as moving up, I don’t know if that would make sense, probably [with] what it would take to move up.
Grier, on how content he is with the No. 4 pick:
We’re excited and we’re happy. We’re gonna get a good player that’s gonna be, hopefully, a building block here for this franchise for a long time, a core piece of the team for a long time. We’re pretty happy where we are.
Grier, on if he thinks his No. 4 pick will be able to play in the NHL next season:
It’s difficult. There’s no expectation from my end for these guys to come in and play right away. I think some of the kids nowadays kind of feel like when they get picked early, they should play right away.
I use the analogy of Matty Beniers. [He] had a good college year. But went back, played another year at Michigan, got another season of development and weight room time and all that stuff, and now it looks like he might win the Calder Trophy.
It’s a man’s league. It’s difficult. It’s difficult to expect an 18-year-old to come in and have success and do the things they’ve done their whole life.
I think we touched on it a little bit at the Trade Deadline with Jack [Hughes]. I was in New Jersey with Jack as an 18-year-old and we all see what he’s doing now. He’s a dynamic, high-end, 100-point offensive player in this league. But as an 18-year-old, it was really difficult for him to go against big, heavy, strong, 220-pound defenseman every single night, that their only job was to shut him down.
And to go against big centers. These guys are men, so it’s a difficult for 18-year-olds to come in and have success. Not saying that they can’t do it, but it’s a difficult league for them. There’s no expectations on my part, whether these kids are going to come in and play right away or not.
Grier, on how he feels about the San Jose Sharks’ re-shaped prospects pool:
I think we’re happy with them.
We’ve raised the bar of the prospect pool and the direction that it’s heading. Our development team of Todd Marchant, Tommy Wingels, Luca Sbisa, and Niklas Sundstrom have done a good job with these guys.
We feel like we’ve added depth, especially on the backend, we’ve gotten bigger, more athletic back there. I think in the playoffs, you need length on the back end. You need guys who can make it difficult for the opponent to score goals. I think we’ve gotten better on the defensive side of the prospect pool.
We added Romanov, another goalie along with Makiniemi. We feel like we’ve added some young goalies that hopefully turn out to [be able to] play and help the Sharks out soon.
Up front, Cam Lund and [Filip] Bystedt, both had really good years post-Draft. Hopefully, these players we can add with our first two picks, and our first pick in the second round, can add to what one day will be the core of the team, along with [William Eklund] and some of the other guys.
Grier, on if he’s had any contract negotiations yet with his RFAs or UFAs:
No, we haven’t. I haven’t gotten [to] any of that stuff yet. At some point, I’m sure we will. But getting ready for the Draft and starting to prep for free agency have been on the front burner. But, we’ll get to the UFAs and RFAs here in due time.
Grier, on building a team that can match up with the top teams of the Pacific:
We have a vision of what we want the team to look like, how we want to play, and how we want to build it. So I don’t want to get too concerned of who’s in our division or who’s in the Western Conference and who we have to go through. We just believe if we do this the right way and build this right way, that we’ll be able to compete with anyone down the road.
Grier, on when the Sharks will sign 2022 first-rounder Filip Bystedt:
We’re working on it. We’ve talked to his camp and everything. We would definitely like to have him in the fold here and sign here at some point.
Grier, on if the Sharks plan on signing Ben Gaudreau to an entry-level contract:
It’s still up for discussion right now. With [Evgeni Nabokov] and [Thomas Speer], we’re still going through that and we do have meetings here in the next couple of weeks where we’ll sort that out and figure out if we’re gonna sign Ben or not.
Grier, on if it’s a possibility that the Sharks might send Gaudreau back to the OHL for his overage season:
It could be.
Special thanks to Josh Frojelin for transcribing.