Sheng Peng
Mike Grier believes that he’s made the San Jose Sharks better now, and in the future.
On the first day of free agency on Wednesday, Grier made his boldest moves yet as GM, signing Jacob Trouba and Mason Marchment, and trading for Darnell Nurse.
Between the three 30-something veterans, winger Marchment, and defensemen Nurse and Trouba, Grier took on over $100 million in contracts. Marchment’s five-year, $33.75 million pact is the largest outside free agent contract signed in franchise history. Trouba’s four-year, $33 million agreement isn’t far behind. And Nurse is owed $37 million in value over the next four years.
These were not the most popular moves for a fanbase that was singing Grier’s praises last week, after he added a very different trio to the San Jose Sharks organization, first-round picks Ivar Stenberg, Keaton Verhoeff, and Ryan Lin.
“This week in general has been a good week for the organization,” Grier said. “For the short-term and the long-term, we improved our group.”
Grier explained his Jul. 1 moves, why he feels good that these veteran contracts will age well, if they affect future contracts for his young stars, Collin Graf’s extension, if he’s done adding to the team, and the Zach Werenski rumors.
Mike Grier, on the busiest July 1 in his tenure as GM:
We were looking to improve our team, and I think we did that yesterday. This week in general has been a good week for the organization, I think, for the short-term and the long-term. I think we improved our improved our group, so we’re excited about the players we added…It was an opportunity to try and make us better and try and push this thing forward.
Grier, on financial support of San Jose Sharks owner Hasso Plattner:
Hasso’s great, very fortunate to have him as our owner. He’s very passionate about the Sharks, and he’s given me everything I’ve needed to make any moves we felt necessary to try and improve the hockey team. He’s a great owner. I think not only myself, but the fans here, everyone should be pretty thankful that he’s in charge here. He’s given us all the tools and all the money and resources we need to try and build this team.
Grier, on how these moves signal a push for the playoffs:
We’re just trying to get better. You guys are the ones who are always trying to put the finish line and the goals on things. It’s to get the team better, improve. So, I think we’re a better team now than we were last year. So, if that gets us in the playoffs, great, but you never know how the season’s going to go. But, it’s a step in the right direction, where we were able to address some of the things we wanted to address.
Grier, on his team’s additions:
I think we’ll be able to have a little bit of continuity back there now with [Trouba] and [Nurse] to add to the group, and Kesselring and [Dickinson], so we’ll have some guys, hopefully, that can grow together a little bit.
With [Trouba], I was with him in New York. He’s kind of a different animal. There’s not many people like him in the league. He’s someone, when you’re out there, you’ve got to know when he’s on the ice. You’ve got to have your head up. Strong character, leadership. So, I think he’ll be really good to mentor our young [defense]. So, very fortunate to have him. He can play heavy minutes. He can give you some PK time, he can even fill in on the PP if need be. Play against other teams’ top lines. I think he’ll definitely make us harder to play against, and he’ll help us out in the room
[Nurse is] similar. Really athletic, great skater, length. Can defend, but he also jumps up into play and can add a little bit of offense himself. Another guy who’s a high character kid, so I think they’ll both be great additions to our room.
And you add that with Mason [Marchment]. These are three guys who have been through the wars in playoff series, tough playoff series, into the Final and conference finals. And that’s important for our group to have some veteran guys around who have been through it to help us grow and insulate our young players. Having these two guys on the back-end will allow us to not have to rush any of our young [defense] prospects, and not force them into roles maybe they’re not ready for.
So, it gives them some time, and it gives the Verhoeffs and Lins and Pohlkamps of the world some time underneath too; to not rush them up here. For us it was, it was a pretty good situation to be able to add these types of people, and character, to the organization. The leadership, you can’t speak enough about it. I think [Trouba] won the Mark Messier Award a couple years ago. And if you talk to everyone in Edmonton, [Nurse’s] leadership and character is through the roof. So I think they’ll really help our group.
Grier, on whether these veteran contracts will affect future contracts for the younger players like Macklin Celebrini and company:
We’ve done our work on the numbers. We made the deals we made, and we’re happy with it.
Grier, on Nurse and the Edmonton market:
When you play in a Canadian market and a passionate hockey market, it’s difficult. I loved my time in Edmonton, but I saw the good and the bad of the media coverage and the fan pressure. Some of the stars we had on our team, [the fans] can get on you hard, but it’s because they’re so passionate and they want the team to do well, and I think Darnell unfortunately went through that, where sometimes it’s tough to get out of when the media starts getting on you, and then the fans start getting on you.
It’s a tough cycle, and I think coming here will be a breath of fresh air for him. I think you saw a little bit of that with Mitch Marner getting out of Toronto. Just to be able to breathe, play hockey, and not have—sometimes you kind of feel like the weight of the world’s on your shoulders to perform, and if you lose, it’s your fault, if you win, no one really says anything.
That’s just the life of a player in a big, big Canadian market, and if you’re a marquee player there, that always adds extra pressure to it. We think him coming here and getting out of that environment will only help his game.
Grier, on why he thinks that there’s a good chance that Marchment, Nurse, and Trouba will be productive over the life of their contracts:
Well, I think Mason has got the ability to play on our first line or our third line, so I think for us that’s a big, big thing for him. Even though he’s been through the wars a little bit, I don’t think he has the hard miles. He’s a little bit of a late bloomer, so we feel confident his game will translate in age well.
Darnell’s so athletic, in great shape, skates so well that I don’t have any concerns about his skating or anything dropping off over the next few years. You watch him skate, he’s powerful, he gets around there, gets around on the ice really well. We think it’ll translate.
Troubs, the value that he brings of how hard he plays, and in the presence he has. Even if his game maybe drops a little bit, I think it’s still something that’ll be extremely, extremely valuable for us. He’ll always be hard to play against and be a smart, reliable player.
Like you said, there’s always some risk when you have a little bit of term, but we think these guys will be fine. I think we felt like we were able to kind of keep the term to a manageable number on all of them.
Grier, on how free agency helps address cutting down goals against:
I think we’re a better team defensively, for sure. We’ll be harder around our net. I think we’ll be able to kill more plays, the length alone of Kesselring, Troubs, and Darnell will make it harder on teams in the o-zone to make plays and find time and space. I think we feel good that we’ll be a better team defensively, but at the same time, we have to go out there and execute and play well. [We’re] assuming some internal growth from Dicky as well in his second year now that he knows what the league’s about. I think he’ll be better too, so we should be better, but we still have to go out and play the games.
Grier, on letting UFA defensemen Vincent Desharnais and Mario Ferraro walk:
We didn’t really circle back with those guys over the last couple days. I’m happy for both of them. They did well, and they got the money that they deserved, and they were hoping they could set themselves up and their families up, so happy it worked out for them.
Grier, on potentially matching Mario Ferraro’s three-year, $12 million contract with the Winnipeg Jets:
We had kind of talked early in the process, and then what they were looking for—or hoping to get—just didn’t line up with what we were trying to do.
Grier, on how extending the younger players factored into free agency decisions:
I mean, it’s just making sure when you know those extensions kick in that we still maintain some flexibility to improve the group and add players if need be. With the cap going up, we’ll still have some younger guys on cheaper contracts, we’ll be able to maneuver over these next three or four years.
Grier, on discussions with Celebrini, Will Smith, and Collin Graf’s camps about extensions:
The time leading up from the draft and free agency is a busy time for not only us but for agents as well. I think all sides, and in all three of those cases, just thought it’d be better to get through this wave of free agency, and I’m sure we’ll start to have some conversations here shortly.
Grier, on how the market for an extension like Celebrini gets determined, in comparison to RFAs Connor Bedard and Leo Carlsson:
I think a lot of it’s up in the air, even talking to the other managers who have those guys. I don’t know if it’s a “who blinks first” type of thing. I don’t know if someone’s waiting for someone to go first or not. On our end, we haven’t had any discussions with Mack about what he’s looking for or what his number might be. For me, I’m not sure how worried he is about those other guys, he’s kind of a step above them in my view.
Grier, on Marchment and the San Jose Sharks’ forward depth:
To bring him back here, it’s kind of special.
He was just a little kid running around the locker room when I was in Edmonton, and his dad and mom were great to me as I was starting my NHL journey, so I’ve always followed his career and always had special interest in him.
His dad [Bryan] is a special guy here and means a lot to a lot of people here, so we’re excited. That’s part of it, but the main reason we brought him back is because we thought about what he could bring to our group. There’s some size, some net-front presence, he can play with good players. Like you said, he’s kind of been through the battles before, so we just felt like he’s a good fit and something different than what we have up front.
There’s some bodies up there, but like I said, we’re trying to get better. There’s always competition for spots, so the young guys are going to have to take a job from someone. That’s the way it should be in the National Hockey League. It’s the best league in the world, so if you want a spot, you have to go grab it, and it’s tough to win with all young guys.
If you look at our guys that are up front, we got Mack, Will, Grafer, possibly Stenberg, Chernyshov, Misa, Chucky, these guys are all what, 22 and under? It’s a tough league to win in, and if you’re just going to go young all over, you know to add someone like Mason, who’s been through it and is a little bit older. We just thought it’s something our group really needed.
Grier, on trying to manage contract length, and avoiding maximum-length contracts:
We’re trying not to go down that path. Some of it is like you guys mentioned, the extensions that are coming up, but the longer the term is, the more risk it is in there, but I understand why teams do it. We’re not quite at the level of the Floridas and places like that who are in the trying to win the Stanley Cup [mode] right now, so it makes sense for them to kind of kick the can down the road a little bit, and get a little less AAV for more term.
As we’re still growing this, we’re trying to be cognizant of the future, and of our young guys and giving them room to grow, and being aware that these guys are all going to need some money down the road too.
Grier, on a potential Ryan Reaves return:
Unfortunately, probably not. I think Reavo was great for our group, added an element of toughness, but also had the personality and some charisma, which I thought our group needed. It was great, but the way it shook out once we were able to get Mason, the forward group started to fill out. Then you had Darnell and Troubs along with it. I think we kind of have enough team toughness, you know—Goody and Chucky, those guys will stick up for one another, and Mason as well. Unfortunately, we just kind of ran out of spaces and pieces of the puzzle to be able to fit him in.
Like I said, I think there’s enough team toughness in there to help our group. I think we feel good about that right now, and obviously we’ll see what happens, but I think we feel like we got enough guys that are willing to answer the bell and stick up for one another.
Grier, on Verhoeff turning pro or going back to school:
He’s looked good, he’s got a great personality. I think people are kind of attracted to him, and spend time with him on the ice. He’s been pretty smooth with his puck movement—how clean he is on his retrieval work and things like that have been great…He looks good, we’re excited to have him.
I’ll have a conversation with him and his agent as we go on here, but you guys still got to remember, I don’t even know if he’s 18 yet—he’s a young pup still, and it’s a tough league to be a young defenseman in, so we’ll see, we’ll have discussions. Like I said, part of the reason to get Kesselring and Troubs in here was so we didn’t feel like we had to rush these guys and give them too much too soon.
Grier, on Collin Graf negotiations:
We haven’t gotten too far. We had like one sit-down at the Combine just to go over some of the parameters of what they might be looking for, and where we were, and it was a good conversation, but we haven’t really [gone further]. I talked to his agent yesterday, and the plan is to once free agency calmed down, to circle back with him. He’s someone we got high hopes for, and he’s been developing well. There could be even more there as we go along. Hopefully, we can get something done with him as well.
I don’t think we’re too far off [with] the initial conversations, but there’s also probably been some contracts that have been signed since then that maybe changed the outlook a little bit, but we’ll see. He’s obviously someone we want to get back here and make sure he’s here and hopefully we can get him in and before the start of camp.
Grier, on the “glut” of top-nine forwards and if there’s any plan to trade one of them:
The plan is to let these guys come to camp and compete for spots.
Whoever plays the best will have the opportunity to get their ice-time, and the guys that don’t might be out of the line-up, and they’ll have to work their way in. It’s where we’re getting every year, we’ve been creeping towards this—this is the point where you have a roster where the competition is real and guys have to come to camp ready to go and earn their spot. I’m looking forward to it.
Grier, on potentially adding more defensive depth, especially to help the power play:
I mean, that’s a possibility. We’ll kind of see what’s out there, but at the same time, if there’s not anyone out there, maybe it’s Dicky early, maybe it’s Cags, maybe it’s Pohlkamp [on the PP]. I don’t know. Some of these guys, if we don’t fill it, I’m not going to stress about it too much. I think we have some internal options too that could probably handle it.
I mean, you never know what’s going to come up here in the next two months before camp starts. If this is the way it shakes out, we’d be happy to let Cags and Nolan Allan and Pohlkamp, and those guys kind of battle it out, and see who emerges from the competition.
Grier, on Luca Cagnoni:
He’s had two good years in the American League, and when he came up, he played well at the end of the year.
For him, he got some size back there now, so if he does make it, the team would probably insulate him a little bit, but he needs to just keep working on his game, he’s got to work on his defending, keep working on his shot, so if he is with us, he’s got to be a shot threat up top.
I think a little bit of quickness and explosiveness will go a long way, especially when you’re a smaller guy and you’re an offensive guy, you got to be able to create some separation with the puck, so I think those are all things he’s aware of, and he’s working on, and we’ll see how he looks in September.
Grier, on the younger core of the Barracuda competing for NHL spots:
[Quentin Musty, Filip Bystedt, Cam Lund, and Ethan Cardwell], I think those guys are all in the conversation. Cards and Cam have played NHL games, have done well, Q and Filip haven’t yet, but they had really productive AHL seasons, so they’re definitely in the mix, and they’ll have every opportunity to come in and beat someone out, and if they do, we’ll figure it out and make room for them.
Q, it’s about continuing to get stronger, his explosiveness, and just rounding out his game. I think some of that will happen naturally, maturity-wise.
Filip, it’s getting the engine going so he can play at a consistently higher pace more often, and being competitive on pucks and loose puck battles and things like that, but he’s got all the traits, the skill, and the talent to be a center in this league.
We know what Cardsy is. I don’t think Cardsy has a ton to work on development-wise. I think he knows how he needs to play, it’s probably more of a mentality thing.
Cam’s the same thing. I thought Cam had a really good second half of the year until he got hurt. He was probably the best player down there, and was probably knocking on the door of a call-up, and with his size and strength, he’s got an opportunity, someone who can play in your bottom-six or in your top-nine, but him and Cardsy, we just need them to get healthy.
They look good out here, and the rehab seems to be on track.
Grier, on Zach Werenski rumors:
I think if there’s a chance that any type of player like Zach’s caliber would become available, I think we’d definitely be interested in him.
I think for Zach, it’s a complicated thing. I think it’s kind of reported that he didn’t want to come to San Jose. It’s not San Jose, I don’t think he wants to be on the West Coast, but that’s a whole ‘nother issue—he’s not my player and not my issue, I think he and Donnie will sort it out—but to your question, if players like him become available, I think we’re getting to the point now where we’ve made a lot of picks, we have a lot of prospects and young players that if we can really make our team better and add a real All-Star caliber type player, we’ll definitely be looking into it.