San Jose Sharks
How Can Grier Get Sharks Into Playoffs…What Are His Realistic Free Agency & Trade Options?
BUFFALO — And on the second day of the draft, Mike Grier rested.
That’s just a joke — after a whirlwind first round of the draft, the No. 2, 9, and 21 picks set up by three trades in 10 days, including a draft day deal on Friday — no doubt that the San Jose Sharks GM was hard at work the next day. It just felt like a break with just three picks in six rounds (and a signing) on Saturday.
But Grier’s hardest work is at hand, the challenge of turning the Sharks, out the playoffs for seven-seasons-and-counting, into a playoff team this summer.
What can Grier do to get back — responsibly — to the post-season?
The San Jose Sharks are on two timelines: In the present, Macklin Celebrini is a superstar and needs lots of help. And in the future, the Sharks’ enviable farm system lords over the league.
You can’t ask Celebrini to simply wait three years for everybody else to catch up to him.
Grier did serve the future well with three picks in the first round and three to close the draft.
“He’s more hard skill, more F.U. skill than [Lucas] Raymond,” an NHL scout, not with the Sharks, said about No. 2 pick, winger Ivar Stenberg. Raymond is a point-per-game winger for the Detroit Red Wings.
“I had Verhoeff as the best [defenseman] in the draft,” the scout said about No. 9 pick Keaton Verhoeff.
“He’s just one of the best players in the draft, period,” the scout said about No. 21 pick, smaller defenseman Ryan Lin.
“Our goalie group with Ryan Miller really believes in Brady, and really likes the upside and potential,” Sharks director of amateur scouting Chris Morehouse said about No. 127 pick, 6-foot-5 goaltender Brady Knowling. “The skating, the quick feet, the athleticism, those are all things that profile really well at the next level.”
“He’s a big kid, we like his development path,” Morehouse said about No. 174 pick, 6-foot-4 center Jake Gustafson, also the son of SAP Center vice president Jon Gustafson. “He’s going to fill out his frame, he’s a good athlete, and on top of that, he’s a fantastic kid…we liked the upside.”
“There’s athleticism there, untapped,” Morehouse said about No. 201 pick, 7-foot-1 defenseman Alexander Karmanov, the tallest player ever drafted, “Raw project…we just like the potential that could be here…it’s going to be a long-term project, but kid’s a great kid, he wants to work.”
Besides expected-to-be NHL-ready winger Stenberg, however, all this doesn’t help the Sharks today. And Stenberg’s addition, theoretically, is canceled out, at least in the short-term, by the subtraction of winger William Eklund for the No. 9 pick.
So how will Grier address the San Jose Sharks’ needs today, up front and on defense? The goaltending appears set, between young Yaroslav Askarov and veteran Alex Nedeljkovic.
Here are some ideas, a few days before the beginning of free agency on Jul. 1.
Read the Full Article at NBC Sports Bay Area
I think it’s just a one word answer really. Time. That’s it. I don’t think the Sharks need to be in a rush to get into the playoffs. I posted this but their future core Celebrini, Misa, Smith, Chernyshov, Stenberg, Graf, Dickinson, Verhoeff average out to 20 years old at the start of next year. Add in Askarov and that number doesn’t budge much. I don’t think the Sharks need to only be looking at acquiring players that are 24 and younger but I think anyone that is 28 or older should not be viewed as a core piece so… Read more »
One of the interesting effects of the Eklund move is that the Sharks have more cap space now, maybe too much. Its not a big challenge to get to the cap floor but they will have to spend.
Short term overpays are on the table. Or grabbing a bad contract and getting something with it.
Nikishin seems most interesting among the players that won’t cost a fortune. Werenski will cost a ton, but obviously, he changes the game. Depending on what GMMG has to part with.
I don’t think the floor should be an issue. They just signed Kesselring to a 3×4.5 according to puckpedia. That puts them $12M below the floor with Graf, Muk, and Vinny (assuming he re-signs) all still needing a contracts and then a few more roster spots needing to be filled beyond those three.
I wonder if a Laine is in the cards? Would be cheap and you could pay him probably more than any NHL team out there. Doesn’t offer much more than offense, but what better way to revive your career than playing top PP minutes in SJ? Maybe a Brendan Gallagher to play on the 3rd line and add some leadership to go along with the new C Cellebrini? Could maybe get an asset back for taking his full contract given his production last year. I think the forward depth lost some juice with Eklund gone. You can’t assume that Stenberg… Read more »
Interesting comments by Sheng. I hadn’t heard that Nurse doesn’t want to come to SJ. He’s doing us a favor, *question mark*. I think they should just overpay for Trouba for 3 years, front loaded, so he can make way for Keaton to take his spot.
dodge that bullet …
Kesselring comes in at 3yrs x $4.5mil.
Not sure why it was quite so pricey for a guy who’s had only 1 good season. But he could well exceed the contract if he more resembles the Utah version than the Buffalo version
This might be an overly optimistic take, but I actually think the work Grier did at the draft on Friday buys him the leeway to make a purposeful mistake in the UFA market this summer. I’ll use Jacob Trouba as an example. The Sharks would probably love to give him a two year deal, maybe for as much as $8.5-9M per season. He’s probably going to be looking for four years at a slightly lower number, which is not ideal for the Sharks. But they can sign that deal anyway. Because by the time it’s problematic, you’ve got cost controlled… Read more »