San Jose Sharks
Richard Gallant Shares Hilarious Development Camp Prank, Best Escape Room Team
Richard Gallant was last pick of the San Jose Sharks’ 2025 Draft, but he was first with providing laughs during his development camp availability.
The future member of the Harvard Crimson is a product of the US National Team Development Program, and adds to the organization’s many ties to Massachusetts. A 5-foot-8 winger, he’ll certainly have a tough road to the NHL, but he seems confident in his ability to continue developing into a useful asset for the San Jose Sharks.
Gallant humorously described his Draft day experience, his team’s dominance at the escape room challenge, and his ties to Mike Grier’s family.
Richard Gallant, on his reaction to being drafted by the San Jose Sharks:
It was a lot of relief, a lot of happiness. I got the phone calls.
[It] was actually a funny story. My agent was texting me like, “We’re pushing hard for San Jose.”
My cousin calls me three times. I hang up all three. He calls my sister. She runs downstairs, and it’s Mike Grier on the phone. I’m like, “What?” I would have picked up the phone if I knew. My whole family was there. A lot of hugs, a lot of tears from the parents. It was really nice.
Gallant, on his thoughts on San Jose so far:
It’s beautiful. I know Henry Thrun on the team. He’s a Harvard guy, St Mark’s guy, so I’ve been talking to him. It’s just like a beautiful area. Told me a couple of spots to go to, and it’s really nice.
Gallant, on his connection to the Grier family:
Well, [his son] Jayden went to St Sebastian’s, and I went to St Mark’s, so I got to play against him. My cousin went to school with him, so I got to hang out with him a little bit.
Gallant, on how his team fared in the escape room:
Well, we finished first. We got the gift cards today, which is really funny. [Eric] Pohlkamp was our team leader, and we like to use our hands for sure. Landon Marleau and [Nathan] Lewis, those are the two big brains of our group. We were done in like 25 minutes, some guys took the full hour.
Gallant, on taking the ice with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau:
Joe Thornton, it’s just so funny, like you watch him growing up, and then you meet him. Everything [you hear] is true. Joe Thornton is like the biggest goofball, beauty in the league. Marleau, he’s just so skilled. Still got it to this day.
Gallant, on his development camp roommate:
I got [Max Heise]. Funny thing, my buddy [Michael] Fisher here, he told me that [Heise] was fully German. Didn’t speak any English. (laughs) I get to the room, he starts speaking English.
Wonder if SJS will make a move to get Leddy.
I think we’d know by now if he did make a claim since that’d immediately end the process. Maybe GMMG wants to see if he can get a draft pick out of it? Trickier as Leddy has trade restrictions in his deal.
I do think he’s a fit, as Grier wants veterans who can lead and Leddy’s been a solid player with a lot of experience, Don’t know how he is ‘in the room’
I think he did, PuckPedia has Leddy on the Shark’s roster now anyway.
Orlov coming to SJ
Didn’t expect this, but OK.
Forget who coined the phrase ‘a Wennberg’ and 2 yr at $6.5m AAV is ‘a Wennberg’.
I thought there would be more like this. Inflation is a B too
Do think that pretty much ends the ‘cap floor’ concerns
Yeah, the Sharks have cleared the floor between this and Leddy
$6.5milx2 is okay. I think Orlov’s value was kind of down after the playoffs, which is probably why Sharks are able to get him at all. He didn’t look very good against the Panthers. Then again, the Panthers tend to make all their opponents look bad. This is still a big upgrade on a blue line that wasn’t quite NHL quality even after Klingberg.
I think Ferraro’s value is pretty high right now since his contract is super affordable, so if the left side is something like Orlov, Mukh, Dickinson, then the right side could be klingberg, Liljegren, Thompson/Desharnais.
But keeping Ferraro around for a bit until Dickinson looks settled makes sense, and perhaps he gets dealt when the first contender has a long term injury or there is some leverage for a great return
I like the Orlov signing
Came here to say that,
Sure feels like at least 1 defender is getting traded. They have too many as far as I can tell? Especially if Dicky makes the club.
I would guess Mario, but we will see.
Really interested to see if Grier views Ferraro and Eklund as part of the future now. If Eklund had signed for longer or more I would be convinced but this contract is very easy to trade to a contender.
I was about Orlov from the start, veteran, played it all ( contenders, the Cup ), willing to sign a short contract, the only concern, smaller-sized defencemen.
Smaller height but boy is thick. I dont think he’s ‘small’ outside of his reach.
Yup he’s a very good defensive player. Pretty big upgrade on what they had last season before Shak came up. I think Lily might get traded.
Did it have to be Orlov AND Leddy?
I think Leddy is more exciting than any of the other options that required multi year deals. He should be a better 3rd pairing than anything we had last year, including Ceci
yes, it seems we have both, do not see the official message yet
PuckPedia seems to be the fastest source for all the deals and cap implications
Mike Grier to every D (prospects and vets alike) in Training Camp: Get ready to learn the your offhand buddy
We want our guys to play the right way, and more importantly, the right side
Shak and Cags can already play the offside.
Sheng, don’t miss the opportunity for the title of your next piece: Sharks floored to add Leddy and Orlov to the defense.
🤣
He’s been slow lately to post. SJHN has been my #1 go-to spot for Sharks content for awhile now but other spots have been posting news faster
He’s covering the scrimmage
Highlights so far from the scrimmage include Chernyshov and Misa with exactly the rapport you’d expect, they have made at least 3 super dangerous plays. Pohlkamp also looking rock solid and the shot is lethal as always. Dickinson has been mostly really good, too. One lazy pass in the neutral zone, but hit a crossbar, took a puck off Misa ‘s stick in a dangerous spot, shut down some rushes in the neutral zone, there is soooooo much to dream on there. Wang, I will just say that he can skate. He made one nice move, but he has seemed… Read more »
I’ve already said this but I gotta believe they might try Misa and Cherny with maybe Wennberg for stability as a line to start at least in camp and see if they can continue. Cherny is unbelievably huge. I hope that’s muscle and not Taco Bell.
My update was after the 2nd of 4 periods, and it was more of the same in the second half. Both those guys playmaking and getting to dangerous spots.
Wang made a couple plays I liked in the second half, too
That’s my observation of Wang as well, he has reach, he can skate and very little of everything else.
They said he was a project and he is.
can confirm, Sheng was there
Apologies, I try to prioritize. I try to choose what I think the fans care the most about: In this case, it was actually watching the scrimmage. I think fans care more about my impressions than news they can see anywhere. I also have, over the years, emphasized the subscriber experience more. That’s why I spent 2000-plus words on my thoughts about Grier’s Day 1 of free agency last night, I think that has more value to the subscriber than breaking news or even prospect interviews that they can see on the Sharks website. I’m not always right about what… Read more »
Your article on Grier was awesome. Definitely appreciate all your efforts!
Sheng, One small request? Can you post an article that simply says scrimmage today and we can comment live and talk about the players and game? Maybe for next year or the rookie tournament games?
fun game at the mini-Tank Wang (Becher confirmed its pronounced Wong) was, well, a project. I think he was also the youngest player there. I mentioned the other day I like Matt Davis and I liked him today, too. Not sure if he’s the oldest out there, but wouldn’t surprise me if he’s playing in San Jose this season. Also mentioned the other day I was very optimistic about Pohlkamp and he was so good. The hat trick (I was one of the few to throw my hat) was nice, but really, he was good everywhere. Gut feel — he’s… Read more »
and Sharkie was wearing a Sharkie shirt.
Reminded me of John Scott wearing a John Scott shirt with the image of him shooting the puck and scoring a goal.
I thought Misa could have had 5 or 6 pts today and he and Chernyshov created a bunch of dangerous chances. He assisted on the first Pohlkamp goal after Chernyshov depucked Havelid and poked it to Misa in the corner. The pass was perfect and Pohlkamp ripped it. I have a feeling this was a typical Misa game where you think he’s quiet and you look up and he has 3 pts. There were multiple games for Saginaw this year where Misa had 3 or more points and wasn’t even one of the 3 stars, and this kind of game… Read more »
How do they go and play this whole scrimmage and never have the teams switch attacking ends? Given that I went ahead and bought seats on the glass for this, that was the one kinda bummer that I could only see half the players trying to score. I took my niece who only emerged from her lame-ass teen phase in the last month or so, so this was her first hockey ever as I haven’t taken her to Sharks games due to being lame. We got some nice checks into the boards right in front of us so that got… Read more »
its probably the reason I didn’t notice Dickinson that much, I was towards one end of the venue his offensive play side was on the other. Had a really good view of all the Pohlkamp scores …
I like Ehlers as a player but it’s still funny to me that he ended up with Carolina. They sure do like a roster made up of all the same guys.
I know this is the new NHL, but I hate that Ehlers contract so much, I guess I’m just not a fan of the player and really don’t think he will be very good on the back end of that deal. I’d like to think that when things do start to click for the Sharks, they won’t have to overpay guys to come here. I think the biggest reason we didn’t bring in major players this year was that Grier was disciplined on term and it’s hard to argue with that. I’m starting to believe that UFA might never be… Read more »