I don't think Mike Grier is going to have a job next year.

[Stewie Griffin]

So he hasn't started yet in year 4, but Yzerman expected to be in the playoffs with a competitive team in year 5 and even better in year 6.

Doesn't really make sense. Maybe both should get the same fair shake from people.

Yzerman was hired in 2019, and Grier in 2022. Yzerman 3 months before the 2019 draft, Grier 3 days before the 2022 draft.

Aside from the lottery luck last year, I think 95% would prefer the moves Grier has made as opposed to Yzerman. Heck, we got a free 1st and 2nd round pick thanks to your GM.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

I’m not an expert on the sharks situation but they need to get him out of the lineup, buying him out saves money, probably goes over better in the locker room than sending him to minors plus they don’t need cap space in 2026-27 so badly they desperately need to avoid it.

Why do they need to get him out of the lineup? He'll ride this season as the 7D, (they need to get to the cap floor anyway) and then get out of his deal next summer with no additional term. Like Nemesis said, he's been a lifer here for 20 seasons. The organization (management wise) is littered with former Sharks he played with...I doubt they want to buy him out for no reason.

 

[SirKillalot]

Aside from the lottery luck last year, I think 95% would prefer the moves Grier has made as opposed to Yzerman.

I think both have made great moves. Wasn't the point. Point was one get unrealistic expectations and the other don't. Except from some and the thread starter unless its a spoof post.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

Why do they need to get him out of the lineup? He'll ride this season as the 7D, (they need to get to the cap floor anyway) and then get out of his deal next summer with no additional term. Like Nemesis said, he's been a lifer here for 20 seasons. The organization (management wise) is littered with former Sharks he played with...I doubt they want to buy him out for no reason.

Fair enough, forgot about the cap floor, and 7D for him is fine. Just think it's time to try and build a proper D in SJ, and he seemed to be the last veteran in the way.

 

[Volica]

So he hasn't started yet in year 4, but Yzerman expected to be in the playoffs with a competitive team in year 5 and even better in year 6.

Doesn't really make sense. Maybe both should get the same fair shake from people.

To be fair, I think this was Grier's 3rd season that just wrapped, and this is Yzerman's 6th season; so there is a bit of a gap there.
And a reminder that when he joined in 2022, that this was still a team with playoff aspirations (like many older teams that just aren't good enough) and the full rebuild only really did start in 23-24 when he started moving every body out of the lineup with a pulse.

It's easy to forget Karlsson had a 100+ point season in Grier first year as a GM on a team that won only like 20 games or something like that.

I give Yzerman more grace than others. He joined Detroit during an already started retool/rebuild, and I think has put too much emphasis on getting them going faster than he should have along with no real prospects coming through the system. I think a little more patience there would have probably merited better results. I also think his tenure has a lot of luck-related issues to it. 2019-2022 were bad years to tank. The COVID thing really hurt drafting and prospects, he probably got the second best player in the first round at the draft in 2020, and has done fairly well through there. Like there are no egregious misses there.

 

[Draiskull]

He got a 1st for Granlund and another for Walman. Also spent one and added Askarov. Had the balls to move up the draft and draft Dickinson who is looking like a steal .. SJ's window to win doesnt start for another 3 yrs and they could spend another year in the basement without risking any firings.

 

[Rebels57]

Grier is doing a fantastic job.

 

[IWantSakicAsMyGM]

Not sure how dead last two years in a row equates to a pretty good job.

When the job is to tear down the ruins of the old team, and rebuild from scratch, I'm not sure how finishing dead last two years in a row is a negative. Is there a better way to get elite young talent to build the new team around?

 

[matt trick]

I’d like to see another 30 goal improvement in goal differential, another 7-10 wins and a 10 point improvement from each of Eklund, Celebrini, and Smith next year, and another top 5 pick in 2026.

Hopefully we can add a few quality players like Wennberg, Tofolli, Walman, and Ceci last year.

However, even if they’re dead last next year, I’d keep Grier. He had a shit sandwich in terms of the contracts of Vlasic, Karlsson, Burns, Kane, Couture, Labanc, Hertl, and a $10M QO for Meier with Eklund, Ferraro, and 11th overall in a week draft as his only assets. That would have been enough to keep the team out of the bottom 5.

He and Quinn built a system that maximized Karlsson, resulting in Dickinson (and a 1st via cap dump Granlund), and flipped Hertl and 2 3rds for 1st+Edstrom, which he flipped for Askarov.

We could have spent the last three years waiting for Karlsson, Burns, Meier, Hertl, Couture, Kane, and Vlasic’s contracts to end. Instead- they’ll represent $4M in the final year of Celebrini’s ELC.

Everyone predicted the sharks would be properly rebuilding right around now, Grier deserved credit for selling ownership that a rebuild had to happen- Wilson kept pushing to win a cup after we were already finished

That he accelerated the tear down, and accumulated Dickinson, Muk, Musty, and Askarov (not to mention lower finishes likely contributing to Celebrini and Smith) deserves praise

 

[Cenzo_]

Seems to be the Sharks should be looking to be thanking for the next two years again. There top 6 is looking very promising but they don't have much on D.

Crazy thread

 

[StreetHawk]

I’d like to see another 30 goal improvement in goal differential, another 7-10 wins and a 10 point improvement from each of Eklund, Celebrini, and Smith next year, and another top 5 pick in 2026.

They've been a 60, 47, 52 point team the past 3 seasons. Cutting their goal diff this past season netted them 5 more points in the standings. They need 8 wins just to match the 68 points that Nash got this past season which earned them the 3rd worst record in the NHL. So, standings, wise, it doesn't matter where their final points puts them at, but they need to win more games. At least for the HC. First season is a learning one, but he's going to need to get some wins to show progress and have the players keep believing in the system.

Honestly, for SJ to not land in the bottom 3, there needs to be 1 or 2 other clubs that fall hard next season. By, like 15 points to get down to low 60's next season.

 

[Jared Dunn]

What? I think he's been doing an excellent job since last season

I didn't think he had any idea what he was doing for the first year on the job but I don't think there's another GM in the league who has changed my opinion of them so quickly

 

[Gregor Samsa]

The Sharks will most likely have a top 5 pick next year but I think the goal is to no longer be a ~50 point laughingstock

 

[Captain Mountain]

Your hot take is acknowledged.

 

[TheBeard]

The Sharks will most likely have a top 5 pick next year but I think the goal is to no longer be a ~50 point laughingstock

I would imagine the goal is 30 wins, which still puts them in the bottom 3, but would be a massive increase from years past. That's how bad they've been.

 

[TheBeard]

Fair enough, forgot about the cap floor, and 7D for him is fine. Just think it's time to try and build a proper D in SJ, and he seemed to be the last veteran in the way.

The only way I see him not being part of the squad is if they agree to a mutual termination and he wants to try and latch on somewhere for a vet min deal. Otherwise the team has no D-man over the age of 26 (I don't think either Ruuta or Desharnais come back even though Des has another year left). It's a fairly young squad when you factor in guys like Cagnoni, Dickinson, Mukhamadulin, Jack Thompson and then unknowns who haven't sniffed the NHL like Misskey, Pohlkhamp and Wallenius. Who has a viable NHL future? Only time will tell.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

They've been a 60, 47, 52 point team the past 3 seasons. Cutting their goal diff this past season netted them 5 more points in the standings. They need 8 wins just to match the 68 points that Nash got this past season which earned them the 3rd worst record in the NHL. So, standings, wise, it doesn't matter where their final points puts them at, but they need to win more games. At least for the HC. First season is a learning one, but he's going to need to get some wins to show progress and have the players keep believing in the system.

Honestly, for SJ to not land in the bottom 3, there needs to be 1 or 2 other clubs that fall hard next season. By, like 15 points to get down to low 60's next season.

I think the Sharks are still pretty likely to finish last next season. They are still turning over a lot of the roster, will have a largely inexperienced group of players, and needing a lot of seasoning to deal with typical consistency issues that come with a younger group. If they manage to improve the team's results then obviously that's a great thing for the club. But expecting a drastic improvement next season doesn't really line up with what their roster is likely going to be. They are going to have a rookie goalie developing. One of their top four defensemen next season has 33 games under his belt. They may draft a defenseman that goes straight to the NHL with their top pick. Failing that, they may graduate Sam Dickinson as a 19 year old. Failing that, they may promote 20 year old Luca Cagnoni with all six NHL games under his belt to develop. As for forwards, Eklund is going into his third full season. Celebrini and Smith to their second full season. They will probably make Collin Graf an NHL'er with 33 games under his belt. There's decent odds that they will have a rookie winger in the lineup as well.

It's still a team needing development which tends to be a recipe for losing a lot of games. Luckily, they were in a lot more games this season than the previous season. Hopefully, that improves as well and some development from their best players carries them forward more but they are definitely primed to finish last again and people shouldn't necessarily get an itchy trigger finger to change management and coaching because of it.

 

[Garbageyuk]

Dumbest thread I’ve seen in a long while.

 

[BLNY]

If the sharks don't make the playoffs, or at least compete for a position. Two dead last finishes are an accomplishment on the boards but in the real world, it's an embarrassment. I think they have the tools and it's going to be time to stand and deliver. Another bottom 5 finish isn't going to cut it. He's my pick for GM on the hottest seat going in to next season.

wut?

They just finished the second year of a strip it to the studs rebuild. He's got at least 2 more years.

 

[BLNY]

Dumbest thread I’ve seen in a long while.

Peak summer passive troll thread.

 

[Cas]

The only way I see him not being part of the squad is if they agree to a mutual termination and he wants to try and latch on somewhere for a vet min deal.

I can't imagine he'd turn down $3.5 million like that, and I can't imagine there are a lot of teams scrambling to add the bleached bones of Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Seriously, every single team in the league has guys who can match what he does sitting in the AHL right now (Vlasic is no longer even vaguely worthy of a place in the NHL), and he's no leader or mentor - just a dessicated husk trapped on this team through the hubris and incompetence of its previous management.

 

[TheBeard]

I can't imagine he'd turn down $3.5 million like that, and I can't imagine there are a lot of teams scrambling to add the bleached bones of Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Seriously, every single team in the league has guys who can match what he does sitting in the AHL right now (Vlasic is no longer even vaguely worthy of a place in the NHL), and he's no leader or mentor - just a dessicated husk trapped on this team through the hubris and incompetence of its previous management.

It's possible, not plausible. If he can convince a team he's motivated to play as a depth piece for a team that's actually competitive he may get at worst an invite. He's already made like 85 million in his career.

 

[Roof Daddy]

I think Grier has done a really good job.

With that said, I get where the OP is coming from, they need to see some progress and Grier needs to go to phase 2 of the rebuild plan next year, but it’s overzealous to have making the playoffs as the measure of a successful season. They are still too early in the rebuild and have too much dead money/garbage contracts for that to be realistic.

In my opinion, the plan for phase 2 should be:

1. Find some more pump and dump candidates that would take a 1 year contract to up their value, but that have the potential to put up big numbers and improve the team in the short term. Victor Olofsson seems like a good candidate. On the open market, he might only be a $2-3 mil player on a 2-3 year deal based on the season he had. Sell him on a 1 yr deal at $4 mil, playing with one of the young guns, and eventually being traded to a playoff bound team.

2. Target a bargain UFA from a winning team that shakes loose due to cap concerns. A name that comes to mind is Nick Perbix from Tampa. He’ll turn 27 in June, is their #6 Dman, but could probably be a #4 in SJ. Underrated offensive ability. A slight overpay and longer term to secure him might be required, but it would have high probability that he outperforms the contract once given the opportunity.

3. Alter the futures strategy next year. They have 2 firsts and 2 seconds this year and next, as well as a deep prospect pool. Any trades of rental players should target 2027 and 2028 draft picks, as those should be the target years to make the playoffs. Then the script gets flipped and they are looking for rentals at the deadline and will have a wealth of picks to do so. Also, teams sometimes pay a little more for deferring to later years. If the Sharks are selling Wennberg at the deadline next year and his value is a 2026 3rd, maybe a desperate team with a shrinking competitive window is low on 2026 picks will part with a 2028 2nd instead.

Phase 2 should only be for 2025 off-season. 2026 off-season should be more aggressive with more serious ambition to make the playoffs. But 2027 is the off-season all the dead cap space is gone. That’s the year they should look at starting to be a perennial playoff team.

 

[Oddbob]

This is all sorts of wrong. Pretty sure Grier is considering to be doing a phenomenal job thus far.

 

[The Panther]

In 2-3 years they’ll begin their playoff run and I think they can win a cup in 5-8 years similar to what the Kings did when they had their young core

I wonder how many people said this about the Buffalo Sabres in 2014 or 2015.

It's possible that the Sharks will begin a "playoff run" in 2-3 years. It's also possible they won't, as it's very difficult to build an NHL team back to a level of sustained competitiveness after a long period at the bottom.

Anyway, as someone else said, it's far too early to judge Grier. So far, he cleaned house of veterans and contracts, which is kind of the easy part. But building it up only works if the drafting and development are really good, and that's where it gets dicey...

Check back in about two years and we evaluate how Grier did.