Sheng Peng
It was, suffice to say, a chaotic day for the San Jose Sharks.
2021-22 Sharks Rookie of the Year Jonathan Dahlen wasn’t qualified. The RFA is now a UFA.
Director of scouting Doug Wilson Jr. was let go, after six years of running Sharks’ drafts.
Elliotte Friedman reported that there was “quite a bit of interest” from other teams in Brent Burns.
GM Mike Grier added ex-teammate Doug Weight as Hockey Operations Advisor.
And the beginning of free agency is this Wednesday!
Grier spoke to all topics on Monday afternoon. Here are the highlights of his media availability.
Mike Grier, on what Doug Weight adds to the San Jose Sharks – Grier isn’t looking to add more advisors at this time:
He’s a high character person, great guy. Tons of leadership skills. He’s someone who has done player development, he’s been a coach in the NHL, he’s been a great player in the NHL, a captain in the NHL, and then an assistant GM. He’s been in all parts of the game. He knows the game inside and out. He’s someone who I think will bring a lot of value to the organization.
Trust and loyalty, and somebody you can count on when things get hard, that’s very important for me, and I think it’s important to most managers. We go back a long way, he treated me well from day one. He was the assistant captain of the Oilers when I came on. I was just a rookie, but he treated me with great respect and kindness and kind of took me under his wing. Our relationship blossomed from there and we’ve stayed close and stayed in touch through the years, from playing and non-playing days. His daughter was one of the flower girls at my wedding. He’s someone I’ve always admired and think the world of.
Grier, on parting ways with Doug Wilson Jr.:
First of all, I think he did a tremendous job this weekend during difficult circumstances, he handled himself well. It was a real, real tough weekend. For the organization, but for him as well.
We just kind of talked about our future moving forward. There are some people I’m interested in for the scouting director role, and he himself thought maybe it was time for him to kind of branch out and try something different. We just had some discussions about the future and thought it was best from both sides.
Grier, on if he has a different Draft philosophy than Wilson Jr.:
Maybe a little bit. Everyone sees players differently. Maybe the way he saw them — or whoever — and the way I see them are different, and how I want to play and how I want to build my team, are probably slightly different. There might be a little bit of different profile of player we’ll be looking at down the road.
Grier, on how important size and physicality is in his team profile:
I think it all starts with competitiveness. And that doesn’t always have to mean that they’re the biggest guy in the room, but it’s got to be a high level of competitiveness and hardness and things like that. So I think you’ll probably start to see a little bit more of that coming into the organization.
Grier, on asking Wilson Jr. to move to another role in the San Jose Sharks organization:
We didn’t really discuss that. I think that would have probably been hard for him. His dad did such a great job here and he’s done a great job over the last little while. Sometimes, it’s just better to maybe try something different and kind of spread his wings.
Grier, on if he wants assistant general manager Tim Burke to stay with the San Jose Sharks:
Tim Burke, he’s been here a long time, I trust him, and I think the world of him. He’s a super-smart guy. Knows players, got a great eye and a passion for hockey and passion for the Sharks organization. Far as I’m concerned, hopefully he will be here.
Grier, on not qualifying RFA Jonathan Dahlen:
There’s a certain type of profile of player, things that we’re looking for to make this team molded into the type of team that I would like it to be. He doesn’t really fit the profile right now.
I wish him the best. He had a good season with the Sharks last year, but coming into this season, there was going to be changes, I think we knew that. He just happened to be one of them.
Grier, on when he wants a new scouting director in place:
There’s some tournaments coming up in August, I’ll like to have someone in place before that.
Grier, on how aggressive the San Jose Sharks will be in free agency:
Probably more of a wait-and-see thing. We don’t have a ton of money to throw around. Some of those teams that [do], they’ll be aggressive and go after their guys, but I think we’ll see where the market is and see if we can grab a player here or there.
Grier, on RFA negotiations with Mario Ferraro, Kaapo Kahkonen, and Luke Kunin:
We’ve had some initial conversations and those talks are still ongoing. We like all three of those players and hope to get something done with them sooner than later. It’s all part of the negotiation, but the talks have all been good so far.
Grier, on how the Evander Kane situation affects San Jose’s approach to free agency:
Not really, not too much. We just gotta follow our plan and do what we see as best for the organization and kind of deal with his situation separately. It’ll be in the back of our minds a little bit. It’s just kind of out there, but it’s not gonna affect our plans too much.