Is it me, or is grier is in a bit of a catch 22 this year. No doubt he wants one of the prizes of the draft (Schaefer likely the top target, but Im sure he wouldnt scoff at martone, Hagens, or Misa.) The timing of the blackwood deal, and keeping askarov in the minors, certainly signals Grier's lack of aspirations for this season. I'm sure grier would be just fine finishing in the bottom 5 or even dead last.
At the same time, the sharks continue to play well enough to potentially win themselves out of a top 5 spot. I'm sure grier does not want the team to purposely tank, and no chance that he tells Wars to ease off the throttle. He wants the team to try its best and build a proper winning culture.
What a strange and very powerfully competing set of incentives. Most interestingly to me is how he will play the TDL:
1. Scenario one: The sharks are god awful from here (either an injury or just the team falls off the table). No one (particularly granny and Ceci, but the others too) very much wants to stay. This is a wholly simple scenario in which grier sells everyone he can for the best price possible.
2. Scenario 2 (this is what I think is mostly likely): the sharks are clearly out of the playoffs around 7th worst in the league at the TDL. Granny and company are very open to staying on reasonable deals. This is the doozy. If he sells, there are two big upsides: draft capital/prospects in return, and the team will likely lose more post deadline without its vets, making a better pick more likely. BUT, it also hurts competiting the following year, assuming traded guys dont come back in the summer.
the best scenario is that the sharks are 5th worst approachaing the deadline having build a solid culture that is competitive in virtually every game. Grier then trades all assets for future assets getting back pretty much an entire draft worth of picks (granny = 1st rounder, ceci 2nd, kunin 3rd, etc...). The sharks give a month of "tryouts" to Graf, Gush, Cardwell, Cagnoni, etc, but tank the final month and end up bottom 3. Then, granlund and Ceci come back on reasonable deals.
If grier somehow manages to keep the solid vets going forward, while maximizing their returns for the reamining of this year, while providing valuable NHL expereice for the kids, while maintaining a competitive team and positive culture.... Thats GMing at its finest.
What a fascinating and narrow path grier has to walk from now...
