Sheng Peng
Mike Grier has been a busy man.
Not just because of Tuesday’s William Eklund trade.
Grier has also had media availabilities on back-to-back days, one before the Eklund trade, and another after.
Here are extended highlights from both pre-Draft pressers.
Post-Eklund trade, the San Jose Sharks GM discusses how the deal came together, his interest in Bo Byram, and a “real interesting” offer that her got for the No. 2 pick.
Pre-Eklund trade, Grier talked about the Michael Kesselring and Andre Gasseau deals, what the Sharks will do with free agents like Vincent Desharnais and Shakir Mukhamadullin and Ryan Reaves and Pavol Regenda, how much interest that he’s received for the second-overall, Ryan Warsofsky’s contract, and the age range that he’s looking for if he’s adding a star from the outside.
Post-Eklund Trade
Mike Grier, on how William Eklund trade came together:
It came together fairly quickly. Eky wasn’t someone I was looking to move…Stevie got put in a tough [Brady Tkachuk] situation there in Ottawa, and I thought he did a great job of navigating it, difficult situation. I think once that happened, he was looking for a good player to fill a top-six role for his team. We had some discussions, and it came together fairly quickly.
[Eklund] was someone that Ottawa kind of zeroed in on and targeted as a player who could come in and help replace some of the production that they lost with Brady.
Grier, on how San Jose Sharks plan to use the No. 9 pick:
We’ll be more than happy to pick there at No. 9 and get a really good player there to add to our group, but if there’s a player that fits the age range and is a good player, that we like, and could potentially bring in to help us now, we would look at it. It definitely gives us a little bit of flexibility there.
Grier, on if Simon Nemec trade factored into the Eklund deal:
No, I had no idea about that deal.
Grier, on the San Jose Sharks’ reported interest in Bo Byram:
He’s a player we liked, we had some interest in him. Had some conversations with Jarmo about him going back to, we had interest in him going back to last year.
But obviously, [Jarmo] had a really good deal there with Chicago, and made the best move for his organization.
Grier, on how important it is to add an established top NHL defenseman this week:
That’s an ideal world thing. It’s not just this week, but we got a couple months to make our team better, and we’ll continue to look to do that. We’ve been pretty clear about wanting to improve the back-end, and we’ll continue to look.
Grier, on if the San Jose Sharks’ No. 2 pick is zeroed in on Ivar Stenberg:
First of all, you guys are [the ones] all speculating. I got our draft meetings here in 20 minutes, nothing’s decided about our board, how we have them, and how we lined up.
As far as Ivar goes, he’s a competitive kid, sees the ice well, competes hard, dual threat, pretty comfortable playing against men already, and had a historic season. He’s a very talented player. We got to keep digging in on him for the next few days and see where it goes.
Like I said, it’s all speculation on your part here. 6-foot-3 right shot D who can skate and create offense don’t grow on trees either.
Grier, on the sizzling trade market right now:
I think there’s a lot of movement, probably like you said, the cap’s going up, teams have money to spend, for the most part, for the first time in a while.
On top of that, I think the free agent market, the free agent class this year’s might not excite a lot of people, so I think that’s leading to a lot of trades and people being open to try and improve their teams in different ways. There’s some good players out there, but prices are high for sure.
Grier, on if he got lots of calls after the trade:
There was lots more calls on No. 9, Probably two more on No. 2. One that was real interesting.
It’s picked up. I think teams are curious what our plan is to do with No. 9.
Pre-Eklund Trade
On if this is one of the biggest weeks he’s had since joining the Sharks…
It’s definitely an exciting time, and a challenging time, as we try and make the team better and improve your roster. It’s that time of year where roster building and things like that are exciting, so to have a high pick, and then trade scenarios and free agency around the corner, it’s definitely an exciting time. It’s a time that we haven’t really been in this situation before to really try and push it forward and really make the team a lot better, so I would probably agree that it’s probably the most interesting summer so far.
On this being a more unpredictable draft at the top than past years…
A little bit. I think last year was probably similar, where the top 10 and top five was a little bit all over the place. If you asked 10 people, you’d probably get 10 different answers last year, and it’s probably the same this year. Lots of good players at the top of the draft, so we’re fortunate enough to be able to have the opportunity to select one of them.
On the interest they’ve gotten to trade the No. 2 overall pick…
There’s probably been, I would say, five teams that have been very consistently serious about it. We’ve received a couple legitimate offers that we’ve had to really think through and have conversations about, and I expect that’ll continue over the next three days here.
On how he sorts through the chatter about the top picks…
We’re not too focused on the outside noise. It’s more important for us to get our list right and go through our process of list building and make sure we have all the proper information from the combine, the medicals, our interviews personally, our interviews the Scouts do, and our psych evaluations, all that stuff. So just on our end is making sure we have all the right information, we go through it properly, take our time, and get the list the way we want it, without worrying too much about the outside noise, and how everyone else has players ranked. It’s just more about our group getting it right for what we believe.
On the importance of the Michael Kesselring trade…
It was important. Michael is someone we’ve liked here for a few years, and our analytics guys – Charlie Townsend and AJ Bernstein – have really liked him going back to his Bakersfield days. So to be able to get him, and to stay in the first round, was big for us. His age and upside, we still think there’s room for his game to grow and develop, and we’ll give him that opportunity here. So it checked a lot of boxes, and we’re excited.
On how interested they were in Darren Raddysh…
We didn’t talk to Tampa about that. He was someone on our list if he was going to make it to July 1st. But obviously he didn’t. So we didn’t get into it at all. He was a Tampa player, so we didn’t talk to Tampa about trading for him, so until July 1st we would have had to wait and see.
On managing the differences between forwards and defenders to understand the best player available…
Defenders have, obviously, different traits than forwards, so it’s about going through the process and putting all that information together, then trying to make a prediction of what you think the floor and the ceiling is of each player, and trying to make your decision based off that.
On what he would be looking for to trade the No. 2 overall pick…
It would have to make sense for us to move off the second overall pick and potentially get a new player like that who can be on our roster for a long time. It had to be, obviously, a very good young player or young players who are maybe a little bit further along the line than an 18 year old that could step in and do the same thing – be part of our lineup for a long time.
On if this is the most interest he’s received for a pick during his time as general manager…
I would say so.
On why he thinks there’s so much interest in this pick…
I don’t know. Probably a little bit of the fact that teams realize that we’re at the stage where we’re starting to turn the corner out of the rebuild and want to get better. So, teams probably feel a little bit more open to making offers to us. At the same time, there’s the possibility of a team going up to get a player that can really help them, whether that’s have an option to get a really good forward or really good D is enticing for teams.
There’s a guy, a right shot D, who skates, and has the profile, and the size, and athleticism, and the offense – I think every team in the league could use someone like that. Then you got a winger who had one of the historically great seasons in the SHL. Then you got McKenna, who held his own and had a really good second half, and had an unbelievable junior season the year prior. These types of players are guys that make other franchises excited about adding, so if you put those two things together, just probably made it a situation where teams want to try and maybe move up and see how willing we are to move off it.
On why top five picks don’t often move after the Draft Lottery…
I’m not sure. We have a high value on it, so I’m sure other teams who’ve picked in this spot have a high value on it. So it’s a matter of other teams meeting that valuation when it comes down to how much you’re willing to give to get. In the past…haven’t felt like their valuation has been met, so I can’t speak for everyone, but that’s how I’ve looked at it the last couple of years.
On if there’s contract talks going on with Collin Graf, Will Smith, Macklin Celebrini:
I haven’t had any with those guys – Graf, Smitty, and Mack. We haven’t had any negotiations yet with any of those guys. We’ll probably try and get through the draft here, and maybe even get through the early part of free agency before we even get into it.
On what they can get at No. 27 after moving there from No. 20…
Looking at our list, we felt like the players that we’d be looking at at 20, we’d probably be looking at a lot of guys in a similar bucket. We hope we will still be able to get a pretty good player there at 27. Last year we lucked out and feel like we got the best goalie in the draft at 30, so we feel good that we’ll still get a good player there.
On contract talks with RFAs like Shakir Mukhamadullin and Zack Ostapchuk…
We’ve had some initial conversations with Shakir’s agent, and same thing with Chucky’s agent. We’ve had some initial conversations with them, so they’re guys we would like to get done as well.
On contract talks with pending UFAs like Vincent Desharnais…
We’ve gone back and forth with Vinnie a little bit, and his agent. We’ll probably have some more conversations with them as we head into July 1st. But at the same time, there’s some other things going on that we’re trying to do that might take us off that. But we’ve had ongoing conversations with Vinnie, he’s probably the only one out of that group so far that we’ve had some conversations with.
On what ‘best player available’ means to him…
We’ll put our list together, and it’s about all that stuff. You can put it in position, skill, talent, but a lot of it’s going to come into the ceiling and the floor, and what we think these players can be as we project them. It’s a lot of work, our scouts have put in a lot of work, and we’ve spent a lot of time on these guys. It’s just about who we think is the best player, or who will be the best NHL player at the end of the day. Like I’ve said all along, I don’t believe in drafting for need when you’re at the top of the draft. It’s a dangerous game to play to leave talent on the table, so our pick will strictly come down to who we think is the best player and who will be the best NHL player down the road.
On a new landscape with players requesting trades and forcing exits…
It’s just the way sports in general are going – all sports, not just the NHL. You just saw the Myles Garrett trade, Giannis just got traded, besides our guys. It’s in every sport, really. You might see, Tarik Skubal has been one of the best pitchers in baseball. Who knows what’s going to happen with them as their deadline approaches. I just think it’s the way sports are. Players are having more and more power, and especially when you’re a high-end player, there’s only so many high-end players around. And players are starting to realize that they have some pull and have some say in where they want to play and where they want to go. It’s probably not a situation that’s going to go away anytime soon.
On Warsofsky being on the last year of his deal…
Nothing’s really changed since I last talked to you guys. Warso and his staff did a good job. He’s someone who’s still learning and growing, and we look forward to what’s next for him and his continued growth and development. At some point we’ll definitely get around and address his contract, but there’s been other things going on that have been on the front burner, and he’s focused on making improvements to our team, and in his coaching, and in our system – that’s been his focus, just like our focus has been trying to make the team better. At some point we’ll get around his contract, but it hasn’t been on the front burner.
On if he expects any changes to the staff…
Not at the moment, but I don’t know.
On whether their draft list is final yet…
We’ll have two full days of meetings here coming up. We had a small meeting today, and then we’ll have two full days of meetings going in it, where we’ll tweak and adjust our list and make sure we got everyone in the right order. It’ll be the first time the group’s been together after having all the information from the combine, and our psych evaluations, and intelligence tests and all that stuff, all the medical information. It will be two good days of conversation to make sure we get everything the way we want it.
On how much the combine informed or changed their opinions…
It’s all part of the equation. It’s good to see some of the kids’ frames, and then meet other kids and try and see what their mental makeup is, what drives them, what their background is, how they’ve dealt with adversity, or the medical information. It’s all an important part of the evaluation. I can’t give you a percentage of it, but it’s an important part.
On if there’s a gap between the prospects at two and three…
I’m not going to tell you what our board is, Curtis.
On how he feels about the prospect pool on defense…
Our forward group is obviously ahead of the guys in the back end, but we have guys we really like back there. There’s lots of upside in all different types of players.
Haoxi Wang took a huge step forward this year, and there’s not many players like him with the way he skates and moves at his size and handles the puck. So really excited about him. Eric Pohlkamp, very excited about what he can bring, his confidence, his swagger, his shot, how hard he plays, and how smart he is. The puck moving and IQ of Leo Wallenius. Cags, you guys have seen up close, has taken huge steps the last two years, and when he’s been up, he’s shown he can run an NHL power play. Nolan Allan was really good for us once we got him.
It’s a group that is trending up, and there’s some upside in all these guys. Havelid had a good first year over here, getting adjusted to the smaller ice sheet. Nate Misskey and Colton Roberts both had really good years and first years in college hockey. So even though it’s a little bit behind our forward group – I’ll agree with that – but I think we like the guys we have, and there’s a lot of room for those guys to grow. At the same time, it’s always intriguing if we can add to that group, even though we feel good about them. There’s a lot of really good D prospects here that are in consideration at the top of the draft, really unique players, so it’s interesting. But I think our group in general, we feel it’s still in good shape.
On if the time is right to make a big swing for a trade…
If the player fits and makes us better and is in the right age group, then I think we’d be in on them for sure. It’s all about the fit and the age, so if those guys become available, for sure. It’s something we’re not afraid to do, and try and get in on. We’re at the right spot in our path here to possibly add a big piece if they became available.
On if California taxes are a hindrance to signing players to San Jose…
No, I don’t.
If you have a team that’s looked at in the right light, that is a team that’s going and heading in the right direction, then I think people would be excited to join. It’s one thing if you’re not doing well, then you add the California tax on top of it. Then it might not be as attractive.
But if your team’s heading in the right direction, and people start to believe in what you’re doing, I don’t think it’ll be a problem for us at all. The issue more for guys, it seems to be, and being an East Coast guy, I get it. I grew up with a lot of people that sometimes if you’re from the East Coast, you want to stay on the East Coast, or your family’s in the East Coast, so you want to stay up there. It’s more of that than so much the tax issue out here, but that’s my view, and it hasn’t really changed.
The same with the Florida teams and Dallas. Those teams are really good teams, really competitive teams, well-run teams that are competing to win the cup every year. That’s why players want to go there. Does the no state tax help? Sure, but if those teams weren’t doing well and weren’t well run and weren’t winning and weren’t trying to win the Stanley Cup every year, then players aren’t just going to go down there to sign just because the tax free money is better.
On if he’s like to get a contract done with Smith and Celebrini this offseason…
I’d like to get something done with them, but like what I said at the end of the year, if we aren’t able to, then it’s not the end of the world. If we’re talking about a perfect world scenario, and everything falls in line, then yeah, we’d be able to get something done and lock those guys up for a little bit.
On what the right age range would be to trade for a big-time player…
Ideally someone in their mid 20s, early-to-mid 20s, who’s been in the league a little bit, got through the growing pains, and you have a pretty good idea what that player is and what they can bring to the organization. That would probably best describe the timeline is someone who’s been in the league a little bit, so whether that’s 22, 23 to 27, 28 somewhere in there. It’s probably somewhere in that range.
It depends on the player. If it’s late 20s, but it’s a really good player, and you’re still going to get four, five, six good years out of them, then it’s definitely something we would look at, but it’s a case by case thing.
On other pending UFAs like Pavol Regenda and Ryan Reaves…
I expect Reg to hit the market. Reavo and I, and his agent, we have had several conversations, and we’ll see where that goes. It’s about putting the puzzle pieces together and seeing how everything fits. He was great for us this year, good in the room, good for our group, and there is a possibility that we bring him back, but it’s all about trying to make everything fit and see what the roster looks like.
On RFA Philipp Kurashev…
We’re still going through our Qualifying Offer stuff, so we’ll obviously need to have a decision for that next week, but we’re still talking through that.
On trading for forward Andre Gasseau…
We like the character, the compete level, think he has a chance to be a really good bottom-six player in the league. Really good size, strong on the puck, plays both sides, skates well, really good around the net. Competitive kid, and someone who’s been through the [US] program, was at BC – another good hockey program.
He’s always known what he is as a player, which isn’t always the case for young kids. Sometimes it takes them a while to find their identity, but Andre knows exactly what he is, and that’s going to give him a real chance to succeed at the NHL level. The heaviness, the skating, the IQ, he can play center or wing, really good in the face-off circle.
He just checks a lot of boxes of what you’re looking for in a bottom-six player, so we’re excited to add him to our group. We think he brings something different than what we have, and can really be potentially an excellent piece for us.
On PWHL San Jose’s first draft and Laila Edwards…
It sounds like Troy did a good job. I don’t know the players there well enough to know how it all really looks, or is supposed to look, but he’s got a history of being in the women’s game for a while and doing a good job. It sounds like it should be a good group, he found a way to get a Terrier in there, which is always a good thing.
Laila, just watching her through the Olympics and following her career a little bit as a person of color, she’s a very talented girl. She’s got some charisma to her, a little bit of a unique player in the women’s game with her size and the stick skill she has, and the way she can shoot the puck, the fact that she was able to go back and play D at the international level in that situation, and be very productive, and do a good job, and then go back to college and help win a national championship up front as a forward. It’s a pretty unique and special trait of versatility she has.
Excited to watch them play, and meet their staff, and meet some of the players. We definitely wish them the best, and hope they enjoy their time in San Jose. It’s something that we’re all looking forward to, watching the team grow here.