Takeaways From Grier’s State of the Sharks Availability (+)

The San Jose Sharks held a State of the Sharks season ticketholder event on Thursday night.

The event featured a Sharks executive panel with GM Mike Grier, President Jonathan Becher, and Director of Player Development Todd Marchant. It was MC’ed by Dan Rusanowsky.

Of course, the star of the event was the unveiling of the Sharks’ new Cali Fin third jerseys.

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Attending media also spoke with Grier afterwards, and here are my key takeaways from that.

But before I get to that, my suggestion for this event?

More questions from the season ticketholders, the fans suffering through five years and running out of the playoffs, two double-digit losing streaks just this season.

There was a 45-minute panel, followed by about 20 minutes of season ticketholder questions, then the jersey unveiling.

Personally, I think the fans deserve a louder voice, even if some of the questions are repetitive or unfocused, even if that means double the time allotted for their questions.

The fans with you through this rebuild are the ones who should be with you on the other side of the rainbow. Making sure your most loyal fans feel heard should be the utmost priority.

Anyway, a fan-Mike Grier interaction probably brought forward one of Grier’s most candid moments of the night. Which, I get it from a PR perspective, might be why you want to avoid too many fan questions!

A fan, I’m paraphrasing, basically asked what Will Smith was still doing in college when an 18-year-old Patrick Marleau was able to step into the NHL right out of juniors in 1997?