San Jose Sharks General Manager Mike Grier held media availability on Monday to talk about all things Sharks as well as everything else happening in the NHL. Grier didn’t say who he was picking for the Stanley Cup Final with Game 7 tonight. He talked about the CapFriendly purchase and said the team would “be fine” when CapFriendly goes offline. He put to rest rumors that the team was in hot pursuit of Cam Atkinson and highlighted some of the things he likes about Macklin Celebrini.
“Great kid. Really, really good personality,” said Grier. “We had dinner with him and he sat at a table with eight grown men and held the conversation and was at ease and was comfortable. So, I think he’s a great kid. His parents did a really good job raising him well. Well mannered. Polite.
“But when you sit down with him for two minutes, I think you really feel his drive and his competitiveness kind of just seeps out of him,” Grier continued. “I think that’s what you notice most. He’s a driven kid. He’s an alpha. Kind of all the things you expect and have experienced from other number one picks. He has all that stuff and the belief in himself and the will and the want to get better and work on his craft. So, he’s an impressive kid.”
But those were just some of the highlights, the general manager also dropped some big news about the Sharks, free agency and what fans can expect to see at the draft in Las Vegas.
Updates on restricted free agents and unrestricted free agents
The San Jose Sharks have a lot of restricted free agents and unrestricted free agents going into July 1.
| Restricted Free Agents | Unrestricted Free Agents |
| Luke Kunin | Mike Hoffman |
| Jack Studnicka | Justin Bailey |
| Filip Zadina | Ryan Carpenter |
| Ty Dellandrea | Kevin Labanc |
| Thomas Bordeleau | Jacob MacDonald |
| Calen Addison | Alexander Barabanov |
| Ty Emberson | Devin Cooley |
| Henry Thrun | |
| Egor Afanasyev |
While Grier didn’t run down all of the players entering free agency, here’s what we know so far: Mike Hoffman, Kevin Labanc and Alexander Barabanov will not be back — that we knew before the call started.
However, Grier did shed some light on most of the remaining players. The team WILL NOT be issuing a qualifying offer to Calen Addison.
“I don’t think anything broke down. We gave him an opportunity, and where we are, right now, we have some other guys ahead of him,” said Grier when asked about the decision not to bring Addison back. “And, like you mentioned, there’s so many guys and so many roster spots and you guys can look at the roster and do the math. So that’s kind of where it’s at.”
The team is in talks with Luke Kunin and Filip Zadina and would not give a timeline for the next steps.
Grier says he’s also talked to Justin Bailey, Jacob MacDonald and Devin Cooley, but he doesn’t expect any of those deals to get done before July 1.
“I would probably anticipate that they get to market, but with that being said, that doesn’t mean that we’re out on them but just something that, at this point, doesn’t look like we’ll get done before July 1,” said Grier. “But doesn’t mean that there won’t be some interest down the road.”
He said Ty Emberson will receive a qualifying offer.
There was no mention of Jack Studnicka, Henry Thrun, Thomas Bordeleau, Ty Dellandrea, Egor Afanasyev or Ryan Carpenter. Of those, Carpenter is the only one that is likely up in the air.
What will the San Jose Sharks do with the 14th overall pick?
The draft was, of course, a big topic as well. While everyone skirted around officially naming Macklin Celebrini as the first overall pick, there was no one saying otherwise, either. Grier couldn’t say enough about the presumptive number-one overall pick. He played things a little closer to the vest when talking about pick 14.
“We’ll probably be [looking at] the best player available then. Where we are at 14, we’ll see our board shapes up here after we get to Vegas and have our final meetings and shape everything up and see how things look and line up, but most likely, at 14, we’ll still be at best player available,” said Grier.
When asked about the possibility of trading up, Grier was also evasive.
“It’s always hard to move up. But I think we’ll explore both options, really,” said Grier. “We’ll explore moving up, trying to move up if the price isn’t too high. We’re also open to trading back and getting more assets if that makes sense. So, we’re kind of open-minded at 14.
“It’s the kind of a draft this year that’s all over the map,” Grier continued. “I don’t think anyone’s really sure how it’s gonna go. So, obviously, if there’s a player there that we really like, at 14, we’ll take him, and maybe if there’s a player that’s sliding down the board, maybe we’ll try and move up and try and get him or, if we feel like there’s a big pocket of players that we like, maybe we’ll slide down and gain some more assets. So, we’re all open-minded to the whole scenario, to all the different scenarios and kind of looking forward to seeing how things shake out.”
Is there going to be a goalie picked at the draft?
Grier didn’t commit to selecting a goalie in the later rounds, but it’s clear with nine picks in this year’s draft, including four in the first two rounds, the Sharks have the ability to use a pick on a goaltender. Ryan Miller has spent the season scouting out goalies for the Sharks and Grier says Miller’s insight will play a role in what happens on draft day.
“He’s done a good job. He’s collaborated with Nabby [Evgeni Nabokov] as well to go through the goalies and help him navigate it as his first time kind of going through it, but he’s into it, which I’m not surprised knowing him and knowing the personality he has,” said Grier. “He’s been real thorough and he’s got out to see some of the guys and done some scouting on the road and talked, done a lot of good background checks on these kids. So, I think he feels good about our goalie list right now. So, we’ll just have to we’ll have to see how it shakes out once we get to Vegas, but I feel like we’re in a good spot.”
What the Sharks are looking for in free agency
Just a few days after the draft, NHL free agency will open. I missed the first few minutes of the call when Grier talked about what the team is looking for in free agency. Luckily, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now has it covered.
Grier says he's looking to add scoring and compete to #SJSharks via trade or free agency in the coming weeks…says Atkinson report wasn't true…4-year contracts are around the max that he wants to hand out in free agency
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) June 24, 2024
Most fans know that the Sharks need to work on the backend the most, but Grier isn’t letting anyone’s hopes get too high that free agency will fix that.
“Everyone is looking for D, not just us, and we’re going to have to draft and develop our own or trade for some guys and sign some in free agency and kind of pieced that together,” said Grier. “But it’s not something that overnight’s gonna switch, and we’re gonna have the best D corps in the league. It’s gonna be a process and stuff that we’re gonna have to continually work on.”
Grier understands that San Jose isn’t in the best position to attract free agents, and he says he will not overpay.
“I think it’s a franchise that I think these players now have grown up watching and admiring. I think it’s still a franchise that players want to come play for,” said Grier. But the reality is that we are where we are as far as trying to build this thing back up. There might be a situation or two where, if it comes down to it, a player’s looking at maybe a team that’s in the playoff window and looking at us, and there is a possibility that we might have to maybe pay a little bit more to get him.
“At the same time, we’ll have our budget, and we’ll have our idea of how high we would pay someone, and if we’re okay maybe paying him a little bit more to get him, then that’s kind of the situation we’re in,” continued Grier. “But at the same time, we’re not gonna go crazy and way overpay someone just to get him in here. If it goes over the number we’re comfortable with, we’ll move on to the next guy and keep working that way.”
Update on Logan Couture’s status
Finally, it appears that Logan Couture is still on track to return to the team at the start of next season, though a lot can change between now and then. Grier says that Couture feels “pretty good” and he’s “optimistic.” Currently, the Sharks’ captain is working out, but he hasn’t been back on the ice.
“He’s enjoying being with his family and his young son,” said Grier. “When he gets back to San Jose, he’ll get back on the ice and see how he feels and we’ll kind of go from there.”
Couture is expected to be back in San Jose in July.
