other than personal connections with patty or jumbo, there is zero reason for marner to come, and similarly few reasons for grier to sign him.
1. Marner is smaller, grier wants bigger.
2. Sharks not ready to make a PO push yet, so the first few years are wasted.
3. No trade flexibility, as whatever salary he gets will be impossible to dump easily.
4. marner likely wants to win. SJ is not gunna win for at least a year or two, so marner will have to deal with a losing team.
5. Sharks biggest need for spending is on D, so if grier is gunna commit double digit millions in $$$ and Term, it will likely be on D as having a set of superstar forwards backed up by 19 yo dickinson, desharnais, thrun, vlasic, Ferraro, and liljgren is a waste of money.
6. the sharks prospect system is flush with promising wingers in musty, cherny, graf, haltunenn, cardwell...
7. cali is a high tax state and expensive place to live.
Obviously, it would be a hell of a splash to land him, but it just doesn't check the boxes. Grier has gotta be looking for size and snarl along with D. Look at osty. Look at Giles. Look at desharnais. The guys he is adding to the organization fit that mold, and the jettisoned ones: Gush, Bords, Potaralski, Zetterlund, all relatively shorter...
grier made an exception for smith and celly because, first, they arent that small (both 6'). and their skill outweighed the heigh dificiencies. he could make a similar exception for marner if the sharks were ready to make a real run and they were stocked in size on the W. However, the sharks are not ready to make a run yet and they are not stacked in size on the W at the NHL level yet.
Grier would be much better off signing guys 1-2 years and buying just a little more time for development. Hopefully, he can add some actual quality guys so the team wins more games, too, while maintainging flexibility and while maximizing trade value and ease.
