Sheng Peng
What a day for the San Jose Sharks!
Love it or hate it, GM Mike Grier had some stones to trade franchise icon Tomas Hertl to the freaking Vegas Golden Knights.
Grier spoke with the media after the conclusion of the Trade Deadline, explaining the rationale of trading Hertl, owner Hasso Plattner’s reaction to the deal, his excitement for David Edstrom, what he would say to angry Sharks fans, how he pushed the organizational philosophy toward a rebuild, the Vitek Vanecek and Klim Kostin acquisitions, and why he didn’t trade Mikael Granlund and company.
Mike Grier’s statement on trading Tomas Hertl:
First, from myself and the organization, it’s a tough day today. To lose a player like Tomas–who’s obviously a really good hockey player, but more importantly, is a great, great kid, great person. What makes the game…is being around people like that. We wish him the best. We’re really excited about the return we got for him, but it’s difficult to see him go.
Grier, on why he traded Hertl now, instead of the summer and getting more teams involved:
One, I don’t think there’s a better return out there than what we got.
Two, there were some feelers put out about it. You look at the term and the money involved, it’s not an easy contract. Even with the cap going up, it’s not an easy contract for teams to take on.
We felt like this was a good time, and I think Tomas himself thought that it was a good opportunity for him.
Like all the guys since I’ve gotten here, I’ve tried to have open and honest conversations with them about the situation, where we are. They’ve been able to tell me how they feel about the situation, if they’d like a chance to go somewhere.
Tomas got to the point this year where he felt like he’d like a chance to win the Stanley Cup, and I get it. He’s a good player, he’s getting a little bit older. We’re still in that phase of rebuilding this thing, and we’re years away from being that playoff team that he’s accustomed to–that everyone’s accustomed to.
He kind of came to the conclusion that his timeline of being a productive NHL player probably didn’t match up with the timeline of where the team’s going.
Grier, on what he would say to an angry San Jose Sharks fan:
The fans in general, I think they’re smart. It’s a smart fanbase. I think they have an idea of what’s going on here.
When I got here a couple years ago, we knew it was going to be something that wasn’t going to change overnight, it was gonna happen over several seasons. These are some of the decisions we knew from day one we might possibly have to make.
I understand if there’s some frustration from the fans’ side, but I think there’s also positives to it with the prospects we have coming. Adding this pick gives us two first-round picks three years in a row. You can almost say three last year with Edstrom being a first-round pick.
It’s all about taking a step back to move forward, and it’s part of the process. It’s gonna be–well, it is kind of painful–I think we kind of knew that’s what happens in the cycle we are in as an organization, but I also think that there’s good days ahead with with the players that we have coming.
Grier, on how long it took for this deal to come together:
It’s been in the works for a little bit. Like I said, it’s not an easy thing–I don’t think it was an easy decision on Tomas’s part, either, to come to the conclusion that maybe he wanted to leave the Sharks organization. I know he loves it here. I think he’s very thankful. I know it wasn’t easy for him and there was lots of moving pieces. There was some work done on it, but it wasn’t an easy decision or anything he or I came to.
Grier, on Edstrom:
I’m a big fan. Starting last year at U-18s, in my eyes, he was probably their best all-around player. You don’t often see 6-foot-2, 6-foot-3 centers who can skate, are responsible defensively, will go to the hard areas like he does, and he’s a great kid. We had a really good interview with him at the Combine. They played the US team. In the gold medal game, first shift, he went right to the net to the goalie, stood in his face, took the whack, and was almost setting the tone for his team against the roster that kind of bullied everyone throughout the tournament. He kind of stood up and said, “We’re here tonight.” They probably should have won the gold, but they came up short.
Then this year, as an 18-year-old kid in the World Juniors, third-line center, but he was the only forward there that played PK and PP. Coach put him out there in important draws at the games. You follow that tournament, it’s really a 19+ tournament. Those guys make an impact, but for him to be trusted as an 18-year-old shows a lot about the kid.
We’re very excited, as you can see with our season, you can never have enough centers. (laughs) We’re really excited.
Grier, on the pool of center prospects that the San Jose Sharks are building:
It’ll be good competition for those guys as well. Since center is a hard position to find, often the only way to get them is to draft them and develop them.
We feel good about it, and along with the picks, the prospects we have, and the financial flexibility this deal gives us allows us to possibly flip this even quicker. We can get into maybe things we couldn’t get into as far as the trade market or free agency.
At the same time, you almost go back a little bit to the Joe Thornton trade here, right? Where you have the assets, you have the prospects, the players, to go in there and maybe get a player who becomes available, that if we didn’t have these assets, we wouldn’t be able to get in on. It opens up some doors for us down the road. If things happen and players become available, we feel like we’ll be able to get them.
Grier, on Klim Kostin:
We’re excited about him. Big, fast, physical player who can really shoot the puck. The kid who’s a first-round pick, who’s taken a little bit of time to find his way, but as I’ve said before, as a group we need to get a little bit faster, a little bit harder to play against, and he definitely brings that component.
Grier, on if he’s spoken with Logan Couture about the Hertl trade:
I haven’t. From my experience as a player, it’s kind of like an open wound probably for him right now. No need for me to call him when he’s maybe emotional about the situation. Tomorrow, I will definitely sit down with him and have a conversation and let him know where we’re coming from and our thoughts behind it and how much he means to the organization, even though I know this was a hard day for him.
Grier, on if retaining on Hertl affected other trades today:
It definitely came into play today. Unfortunately, it might have knocked us out of maybe a deal, but I think teams have gotten smarter with the brokering thing. Maybe some possibility to do some things, but the price to broker kept going up and up. Teams weren’t willing to pay it.
Grier, on staying in touch with what players like Hertl and Logan Couture are feeling about the organization:
I try and have conversations with these guys all the time.
These guys, they’ve been great soldiers for the organization, great players. We want to try and do right by them as well, give them the opportunity to try and win a Stanley Cup, which is why we’re all playing the game.
Tomas, he didn’t have interest in [just] going anywhere, he wasn’t just trying to get out the door. If he was going to leave here, he wanted to go to a place where he felt like he had a chance to win the Stanley Cup.
There’s not a lot of those teams out there, and Vegas was one of them. Maybe it works out for him. For him personally, I hope it works out. We try and help them out. He’s been a good soldier.
Grier, on trading Hertl to their division rivals:
That crossed my mind, and was brought up in our discussions internally with our group here and management group. It definitely came up, and I tried to see if I could get a clause in there where he wasn’t allowed to play against us for six years. (laughs)
Grier, on Vitek Vanecek’s health and acquiring Devin Cooley:
Vanecek, there’s a good chance he doesn’t play this year. He’s dealing with a lower body issue. He’s gonna get checked out by the doctors again, maybe he can get back by the end of the year, we’re not sure.
We got to get Blacky healthy first, but Chrona will be here.
We made a trade for Devin Cooley, who our scouts had liked in the American League for the last few years, so he’ll get a chance to come up here and play some games with us. Junior Shark, Los Gatos kid. I think he’s super-excited to come, it’ll be a good opportunity for him.
Grier, on if the San Jose Sharks are where he expected:
It’s a tough question. I think we’re in the ballpark of where we [thought we] might be.
I think next year is a plan from my point of view, and Hasso’s point of view is to take a step forward. Whether we got to add some veterans and things that kind of supplement the young players, but we’ll have some young players that will be bringing some excitement and hopefully some energy into the franchise and into the building.
Hopefully this summer is a good summer–and hopefully, we get a little luck with the lottery. Hopefully next year, we’re in a season where we can kind of take a step forward, after two years of kind of peeling it back a little bit.
Grier, on how owner Hasso Plattner reacted to trading Hertl:
Hasso is great.
He’s one of the best owners in sports, loves the Sharks, and he’s willing to spend as much money as it takes to get a Stanley Cup contender, but it was difficult for him.
Hasso and Tomas had a good conversation, where I think they both expressed their admiration for each other and appreciation for what each has done for each other.
It wasn’t anything that was easy for Hasso. He understands what we’re trying to do and what we’re doing, but at the same time, he doesn’t like losing, he wants to win. Trading one of your best players is not an easy thing for him, but I think he realizes that it’s given us what we need to do to push this thing forward, so he was on board.
Grier, on how the philosophy changed from Doug Wilson trying to reload on the fly to now:
Well, I don’t think I’ve ever said it was going to be a quick turnaround.
That’s kind of a little bit out of my hands [what happened before].
You can look how the team was successful here–it was a young core that grew together.
Doug did a really good job of kind of supplementing it with players. To win in this league, that’s what you do, and that’s what you have to do. You have to draft well and develop your own players. You’re not going to build a consistent, contending team through free agency and trades. You can supplement your roster with that, but the core has to be through what you draft and what you develop. That’s what we feel like we’re well on our way on.
Grier, on what Jack Thompson brings and the Barracuda’s results this season:
Jack adds a right shot D to the Barracuda and in their age group that we don’t have.
We’ve been able to fill in some of the blanks of age groups that are kind of missing down there. That’s what happens when you’ve kind of been chasing Stanley Cups here for so long. Sometimes you trade picks and players away, so you end up with some blank spots in your draft birth year.
Jack fills a good spot down there. From him, to Gushchin, to Mukhamadullin, Cardwell, Robins, Coe, all those guys down there, it’s just about working and continuing to develop on the things the coaching staff and our development staff are asking me to work on. If that translates to wins, that’s great. I think their development is first and foremost.
Grier, on if Plattner had to be convinced to rebuild:
I’ve been pretty upfront with him from day one, even from the interview process to now, the road we needed to go down.
Like we said when we met a couple of weeks ago, this season’s been probably worse than I anticipated. But at the same time, we’ve seen some growth in in Eklund, Zetterlund, and Thrun. Some of the young guys who’ve gotten an opportunity. Even though the results have probably been a little worse than I anticipated, I think we’re still on track of the thought of taking a couple years to kind of peel it back a little bit, and then start building up.
Hopefully next year, we can start to take that step forward.
Grier, on if trading Hertl pushes back his recently-stated goal of at least being in the playoff conversation, though not necessarily in the playoffs, in 2-3 years:
I don’t think it puts the pushes it back, in my mind.
I think pushing it forward–as you can see with some of the teams like Ottawa or Montreal or even Buffalo, you might not be where you want to be in the standings, but you can see some development in your players and your team growing.
That’s the hope next year–obviously we want to win more games than we won this year, but want to see that continued growth in the group and in individual players, that it is moving in the right direction.
Grier, on when the Pittsburgh Penguins have to inform him of their plans for their top-10 protected 2024 first-round pick:
I think it’s 24 hours after the lottery.
Grier, on calling up more Barracuda players up as the season comes to a close:
I think we’d like to have those guys–[Mukhamadullin has] got a little bit of a taste and Jack [Studnicka] had a little bit of taste. Gushchin played a couple games here this year, Bords is up now. We’ll get these guys a little bit of NHL action to kind of see what it’s like, and hopefully make them hungry for more, and let them know what they need to work on over the summer.
Grier, on if there was an interest on a Mikael Granlund at the Trade Deadline:
There was interest in him, Sturmy, Kunny–guys who had a year left–there was interest in those guys. I think Quinny said it before, those guys bring a lot of value to us, especially as we start to bring in some of these young players. Those guys have expressed an interest in being here and helping us turn this around and working with young players. For someone to try and pluck one of those guys from us, we got a pretty good price tag on ’em.
Grier, on if Vanecek will be healthy next year and why the trade:
We think he’ll be healthy next year and ready to go. He and Blacky have a good relationship from New Jersey.
We thought it was an opportunity to get another goalie in here for [next] year. As you guys kind of saw, I think teams decided to spend their assets on other things than goaltending at this Deadline. I think maybe with all the goaltender talk about things going on, Jake Allen might have been the only one who moved.
[Vanecek will] be an unrestricted free agent next year, but we’ll see. He’s a good goalie, he’s won everywhere he goes. Even this year in Jersey, when he was getting a lot of flack, everywhere he’s gone, he’s won. He’s got a track record of winning and being a solid goalie in this league. As you saw this year, it’s important to have a good goalie, goaltending. With him and Blackwood, we got a good tandem.
Special thanks to Maddie Dutra for transcribing.