Confirmed with Link: Next head coach of the San Jose Sharks Upd it's Warsofsky

[Star Platinum]

I immediately reject the name "Warso"

He's Wario to me, and you can't stop me

 

[hohosaregood]

I immediately reject the name "Warso"

He's Wario to me, and you can't stop me

I've got Immortan Ryan and his war boys stuck in my brain

 

[LadyStanley]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1802529573319716879

Making if the presentation jersey.

Note the Adidas logo.

 

[Skeksis25]

I still think the jury is fully out on Grier and he is getting too much credit already for doing basic things. When you inherit a bad team with terrible contracts, getting rid of some of the players that have any kind of value is the most basic thing any GM would start with. I don't think he has pulled off anything special with that. Its not like any of the trades he has made were of the "Holy shit how did he do that?" variety. If anything most of them have been of the, "Well what else could he do?" variety. Having the team be awful as a result and getting some high draft picks from it is also not some masterstroke. He's already on his second HC in 3 years and while I have high hopes for War, lets wait and see what the team actually looks like under him.

Basically, I'm not on the In Grier we trust train just yet. He still hasn't really done anything to earn any trust from me really. He also hasn't done anything to make me want to question what he is doing either to be fair. But I don't think he has accomplished anything challenging yet. A lot of the optimism is based on collecting a bunch of lottery tickets. I want to see if some of those tickets actually produce anything worthwhile before I start showering him with praise.

 

[coooldude]

I still think the jury is fully out on Grier and he is getting too much credit already for doing basic things. When you inherit a bad team with terrible contracts, getting rid of some of the players that have any kind of value is the most basic thing any GM would start with. I don't think he has pulled off anything special with that. Its not like any of the trades he has made were of the "Holy shit how did he do that?" variety. If anything most of them have been of the, "Well what else could he do?" variety. Having the team be awful as a result and getting some high draft picks from it is also not some masterstroke. He's already on his second HC in 3 years and while I have high hopes for War, lets wait and see what the team actually looks like under him.

Basically, I'm not on the In Grier we trust train just yet. He still hasn't really done anything to earn any trust from me really. He also hasn't done anything to make me want to question what he is doing either to be fair. But I don't think he has accomplished anything challenging yet. A lot of the optimism is based on collecting a bunch of lottery tickets. I want to see if some of those tickets actually produce anything worthwhile before I start showering him with praise.

I think a lot of the attitude I see and hear on here is, "So far so good, let's see how he builds it up." Which is how I feel -- no reason to doubt him, also no reason for the coronation either. But I think he deserves maybe a bit more credit than you're giving him for 1) tearing it down highly efficiently, not every team does it so cleanly or with such a consistent vision for the future. He made it look "simple" but that doesn't mean it was simple, 2) starting out with what appears to be a solid 2023 draft and a handful of successful additions (also a handful of unsuccessful ones).

I agree that 2024 draft needs to be good, and 2024 offseason needs to add some significant improvements to the active roster even just to take a "step forward" into bottom 3 and not DFL... and if he can't accomplish that then it'll be a bit of a flag.

 

[Barrie22]

I still think the jury is fully out on Grier and he is getting too much credit already for doing basic things. When you inherit a bad team with terrible contracts, getting rid of some of the players that have any kind of value is the most basic thing any GM would start with. I don't think he has pulled off anything special with that. Its not like any of the trades he has made were of the "Holy shit how did he do that?" variety. If anything most of them have been of the, "Well what else could he do?" variety. Having the team be awful as a result and getting some high draft picks from it is also not some masterstroke. He's already on his second HC in 3 years and while I have high hopes for War, lets wait and see what the team actually looks like under him.

Basically, I'm not on the In Grier we trust train just yet. He still hasn't really done anything to earn any trust from me really. He also hasn't done anything to make me want to question what he is doing either to be fair. But I don't think he has accomplished anything challenging yet. A lot of the optimism is based on collecting a bunch of lottery tickets. I want to see if some of those tickets actually produce anything worthwhile before I start showering him with praise.

The contracts he got rid of were apparently untradeable leading up to the trades. We are 2-3 even 4 years potentially ahead of schedule due to his ability to remove the bad contracts.

 

[STL Shark]

I still think the jury is fully out on Grier and he is getting too much credit already for doing basic things. When you inherit a bad team with terrible contracts, getting rid of some of the players that have any kind of value is the most basic thing any GM would start with. I don't think he has pulled off anything special with that. Its not like any of the trades he has made were of the "Holy shit how did he do that?" variety. If anything most of them have been of the, "Well what else could he do?" variety. Having the team be awful as a result and getting some high draft picks from it is also not some masterstroke. He's already on his second HC in 3 years and while I have high hopes for War, lets wait and see what the team actually looks like under him.

Basically, I'm not on the In Grier we trust train just yet. He still hasn't really done anything to earn any trust from me really. He also hasn't done anything to make me want to question what he is doing either to be fair. But I don't think he has accomplished anything challenging yet. A lot of the optimism is based on collecting a bunch of lottery tickets. I want to see if some of those tickets actually produce anything worthwhile before I start showering him with praise.

Think the answer is in the middle. If you don't want to be on the train, that speaks more to you and your fandom than it does to anything Grier has done or not done. This idea that he has to accomplish the end goal before you can be on the train is sort of ludicrous and seems like a positively miserable way to be a sports fan.

Not saying that we blindly run through a wall for him either, but he's done more than enough for me to be on the train and say that he has accomplished everything that he can realistically accomplish to this point. I will support and trust him until proven otherwise rather than hold off until I see the ending (anyone can do that and doesn't take much fandom to hop on when the going is good).

 

[weastern bias]

I still think the jury is fully out on Grier and he is getting too much credit already for doing basic things. When you inherit a bad team with terrible contracts, getting rid of some of the players that have any kind of value is the most basic thing any GM would start with. I don't think he has pulled off anything special with that. Its not like any of the trades he has made were of the "Holy shit how did he do that?" variety. If anything most of them have been of the, "Well what else could he do?" variety. Having the team be awful as a result and getting some high draft picks from it is also not some masterstroke. He's already on his second HC in 3 years and while I have high hopes for War, lets wait and see what the team actually looks like under him.

Basically, I'm not on the In Grier we trust train just yet. He still hasn't really done anything to earn any trust from me really. He also hasn't done anything to make me want to question what he is doing either to be fair. But I don't think he has accomplished anything challenging yet. A lot of the optimism is based on collecting a bunch of lottery tickets. I want to see if some of those tickets actually produce anything worthwhile before I start showering him with praise.

Getting positive value out of the Karlsson and Hertl contracts was absolutely a "Holy shit how did he do that?" level accomplishment

He's not reinventing the wheel, Grier is running a pretty standard tear-down rebuild, the achievement has been tearing down the Sharks in 2 years given their incredibly difficult salary situation with so many big money deals for aging and declining players

He's been awesome at liquidating the roster, being able to tear it down to such a degree wasn't an easy task, let alone gaining multiple 1st round picks in the process

But it's true that what comes next is the most important part, and we have no idea if it will work out, but I'm not gonna hold back credit for an awesome tear down just because we don't know how the build up is going to look

 

[Hangemhigh]

GMMG has been doing well so far with the teardown. Trades seemed to have been fine. Firing Quinn is the only really suspicious action.

Another important year for him as he has a big draft upcoming and it will be interesting how he gets rid of some Dmen and acquires some free agents. Maybe he fumbles the roster and gets some lousy players or maybe he gets some solid veterans and clears off some of the extra 7th Dmen.

 

[weastern bias]

Hiring Quinn is the only really suspicious action.

FTFY

 

[Patty Ice]

I'll say that I'm more confident in Grier as GM than when he was first hired. He has done a fine job getting value from our former vets and building up the prospect pool.

 

[Hangemhigh]

Quinn was a great coach. Got a Norris for Karlsson. Got the Sharks deep to the bottom and a historic #1 pick. I wanted him back because he would get the Sharks another bottom 3 pick. This Warsofsky worries me. He might get the Sharks a #5 pick next year. Also his name is weird.

 

[weastern bias]

Quinn was a great coach. Got a Norris for Karlsson. Got the Sharks deep to the bottom and a historic #1 pick. I wanted him back because he would get the Sharks another bottom 3 pick. This Warsofsky worries me. He might get the Sharks a #5 pick next year. Also his name is weird.

I lold

 

[Hodge]

I still think the jury is fully out on Grier and he is getting too much credit already for doing basic things. When you inherit a bad team with terrible contracts, getting rid of some of the players that have any kind of value is the most basic thing any GM would start with. I don't think he has pulled off anything special with that. Its not like any of the trades he has made were of the "Holy shit how did he do that?" variety. If anything most of them have been of the, "Well what else could he do?" variety. Having the team be awful as a result and getting some high draft picks from it is also not some masterstroke. He's already on his second HC in 3 years and while I have high hopes for War, lets wait and see what the team actually looks like under him.

Basically, I'm not on the In Grier we trust train just yet. He still hasn't really done anything to earn any trust from me really. He also hasn't done anything to make me want to question what he is doing either to be fair. But I don't think he has accomplished anything challenging yet. A lot of the optimism is based on collecting a bunch of lottery tickets. I want to see if some of those tickets actually produce anything worthwhile before I start showering him with praise.

What else could he do? How about extend Timo Meier to a 9x8 contract instead of trading him? How about stubbornly refusing to trade Burns, Karlsson and Hertl because the offers weren't "good enough" as everyone here whined about after each of the trades? Or hanging onto Adin Hill due to the sunk cost paid for him when all he would have done is hurt our draft position?

If it was so obvious to go scorched earth rebuild on this team why did the previous regime extend Hertl through age 36 mere months before Grier took the job? Joe Will raved about how much they wanted to extend Timo as well during the Hertl press conference. The majority of the fans here have criticized every single major trade Grier has made but now that it looks like they have all worked out, suddenly they were such obvious moves that a mannequin GM would have done the same.

It's so easy to envision dozens of alternate realities where the Sharks extend Meier or refuse to trade Karlsson and/or Hertl and end up with someone like Reinbacher or Leonard in last year's draft and like the 4th overall pick this year. There would be no hope in those scenarios along with no reason to watch the team. Nobody is saying Grier's mission is accomplished but he has objectively taken out the contractual trash and delivered us Celebrini and Smith. Regardless of what happens from here on out we should all be grateful.

 

[ChompChomp]

I think when discussing Grier to date, people are forgetting the big picture. And I don't mean the nuts and bolts of the rebuild. What I mean is, during the DW era, anytime a full rebuild was thrown out there, we all ruled it out saying you can't ever do a full rebuild in San Jose. The attendance and interest in the club will fall off so much that it will cause such severe business problems for the Sharks in San Jose that a full rebuild will be the first domino in the relocation of the franchise out of the Bay Area. Everyone and their grandma said that. I'm sure I probably said that at some point too.

So Grier comes in and does the full rebuild with the full support of Hasso Plattner. And yes, attendance and interest in the club did in fact drop off a cliff. The Sharks became the biggest joke in the Bay Area Sports landscape, and the biggest they've ever felt, because 91-92 and 92-93 still had the expansion buzz and they hadn't even played in San Jose yet. But despite the business pressure, Grier hasn't caved. Yes they won the draft lottery which appears it is going to make a dent on getting back fans and interest in the Bay Area in the Sharks, but Grier also made the ballsy move that we'll be hearing about today in the press conference, hiring Warsofsky instead of Marco Sturm, who would have been a much buzzier name to hire in terms of the Bay Area casuals and the local media.

Of course we can't "grade" Grier until we get years down the line, but he does deserve credit for doing something that many of us thought was not possible in the Bay Area market, that being a full rebuild.

 

[STL Shark]

What else could he do? How about extend Timo Meier to a 9x8 contract instead of trading him? How about stubbornly refusing to trade Burns, Karlsson and Hertl because the offers weren't "good enough" as everyone here whined about after each of the trades? Or hanging onto Adin Hill due to the sunk cost paid for him when all he would have done is hurt our draft position?

If it was so obvious to go scorched earth rebuild on this team why did the previous regime extend Hertl through age 36 mere months before Grier took the job? Joe Will raved about how much they wanted to extend Timo as well during the Hertl press conference. The majority of the fans here have criticized every single major trade Grier has made but now that it looks like they have all worked out, suddenly they were such obvious moves that a mannequin GM would have done the same.

It's so easy to envision dozens of alternate realities where the Sharks extend Meier or refuse to trade Karlsson and/or Hertl and end up with someone like Reinbacher or Leonard in last year's draft and like the 4th overall pick this year. There would be no hope in those scenarios along with no reason to watch the team. Nobody is saying Grier's mission is accomplished but he has objectively taken out the contractual trash and delivered us Celebrini and Smith. Regardless of what happens from here on out we should all be grateful.

What's important about the ability to clear the contracts is how they got cleared by 1) not having to pay to get rid of them (something a lot of GMs wind up having to do) and 2) getting actual assets in return.

I think Grier has been shrewd in his timing with a lot of these deals. Waiting on Karlsson until he had his 100 point season and you could deal him in the offseason (admittedly I thought the ship had sailed when we got past early-mid July, but he got it done). Capitalizing on the Hertl deal whenever it was there rather than waiting and expecting the same or better offers to be there later.

Sometimes being a GM is about taking what's there for you and I think he's done a good job of that (even if there were a few instances where he messed up by holding out too long with the likes of Barabanov and Reimer). Very excited to have young players and cap space to be active in making real moves in July for the first time since 2015.

 

[Jargon]

What else could he do? How about extend Timo Meier to a 9x8 contract instead of trading him? How about stubbornly refusing to trade Burns, Karlsson and Hertl because the offers weren't "good enough" as everyone here whined about after each of the trades? Or hanging onto Adin Hill due to the sunk cost paid for him when all he would have done is hurt our draft position?

If it was so obvious to go scorched earth rebuild on this team why did the previous regime extend Hertl through age 36 mere months before Grier took the job? Joe Will raved about how much they wanted to extend Timo as well during the Hertl press conference. The majority of the fans here have criticized every single major trade Grier has made but now that it looks like they have all worked out, suddenly they were such obvious moves that a mannequin GM would have done the same.

It's so easy to envision dozens of alternate realities where the Sharks extend Meier or refuse to trade Karlsson and/or Hertl and end up with someone like Reinbacher or Leonard in last year's draft and like the 4th overall pick this year. There would be no hope in those scenarios along with no reason to watch the team. Nobody is saying Grier's mission is accomplished but he has objectively taken out the contractual trash and delivered us Celebrini and Smith. Regardless of what happens from here on out we should all be grateful.

Agreed. And I marvel at his confidence and ballsiness to trade Hertl, for example, a fan favorite who he traded to our hated rival, because it’s the best move for the long term goals of the team. As many of us have said, his real test will be building the team, not destroying it - but for now, what he has done and how fast he’s done it is impressive and gives me a lot of confidence in him as a GM. That actually includes things like firing Quinn or the Russian scout - everyone makes mistakes, I like a leader who recognizes them and fixes them as fast as they can (and I like Quinn but obviously there were other issues there..)

Regardless, before Grier things looked SO grim. After 2 years of Grier, we have one of the best prospect pools in the league, have two potential future stars coming into the lineup, 4 first round picks in the next two drafts, and more cap space than we know what to do with. In two years, that’s insanely impressive.

 

[weastern bias]

I think when discussing Grier to date, people are forgetting the big picture. And I don't mean the nuts and bolts of the rebuild. What I mean is, during the DW era, anytime a full rebuild was thrown out there, we all ruled it out saying you can't ever do a full rebuild in San Jose. The attendance and interest in the club will fall off so much that it will cause such severe business problems for the Sharks in San Jose that a full rebuild will be the first domino in the relocation of the franchise out of the Bay Area. Everyone and their grandma said that. I'm sure I probably said that at some point too.

So Grier comes in and does the full rebuild with the full support of Hasso Plattner. And yes, attendance and interest in the club did in fact drop off a cliff. The Sharks became the biggest joke in the Bay Area Sports landscape, and the biggest they've ever felt, because 91-92 and 92-93 still had the expansion buzz and they hadn't even played in San Jose yet. But despite the business pressure, Grier hasn't caved. Yes they won the draft lottery which appears it is going to make a dent on getting back fans and interest in the Bay Area in the Sharks, but Grier also made the ballsy move that we'll be hearing about today in the press conference, hiring Warsofsky instead of Marco Sturm, who would have been a much buzzier name to hire in terms of the Bay Area casuals and the local media.

Of course we can't "grade" Grier until we get years down the line, but he does deserve credit for doing something that many of us thought was not possible in the Bay Area market, that being a full rebuild.

I do think the "the Sharks can't tank because they'll relocate if they don't sell tickets" take was always a doomer exaggeration, the league let Arizona spend 2 years in a 4000 seat arena before pulling the plug, but it is true that ownership never wanted to rebuild so Grier deserves a ton of credit for selling Hasso on his vision

 

[weastern bias]

(even if there were a few instances where he messed up by holding out too long with the likes of Barabanov and Reimer).

My understanding is that they had to choose to use that last retention slot on Hertl or Barabanov, and I think they definitely made the right choice

 

[STL Shark]

My understanding is that they had to choose to use that last retention slot on Hertl or Barabanov, and I think they definitely made the right choice

I wanted Barabanov moved 2 TDLs ago whenever he was having a career year and getting lauded by Crosby for his high IQ play. Same deal with Reimer in 2022 at the TDL (Joe Will) and offseason (Grier).

 

[weastern bias]

I wanted Barabanov moved 2 TDLs ago whenever he was having a career year and getting lauded by Crosby for his high IQ play. Same deal with Reimer in 2022 at the TDL (Joe Will) and offseason (Grier).

Fair enough

 

[Star Platinum]

I still think the jury is fully out on Grier and he is getting too much credit already for doing basic things. When you inherit a bad team with terrible contracts, getting rid of some of the players that have any kind of value is the most basic thing any GM would start with. I don't think he has pulled off anything special with that. Its not like any of the trades he has made were of the "Holy shit how did he do that?" variety. If anything most of them have been of the, "Well what else could he do?" variety. Having the team be awful as a result and getting some high draft picks from it is also not some masterstroke. He's already on his second HC in 3 years and while I have high hopes for War, lets wait and see what the team actually looks like under him.

Basically, I'm not on the In Grier we trust train just yet. He still hasn't really done anything to earn any trust from me really. He also hasn't done anything to make me want to question what he is doing either to be fair. But I don't think he has accomplished anything challenging yet. A lot of the optimism is based on collecting a bunch of lottery tickets. I want to see if some of those tickets actually produce anything worthwhile before I start showering him with praise.

I give him some credit for the 2023 draft looking more promising than any Sharks draft in a long time, but those guys haven't shown it at the NHL level yet, so it's not a huge amount of credit. How this draft turns out starting with what we get from the 14th pick (whether it's traded or used) and then how some of these young guys produce or not at the NHL level will give me a clearer picture on Grier. I agree that it's still early, but the adjective I would use at this point is encouraged. He got dealt a shit hand to start with.

 

[Star Platinum]

I think when discussing Grier to date, people are forgetting the big picture. And I don't mean the nuts and bolts of the rebuild. What I mean is, during the DW era, anytime a full rebuild was thrown out there, we all ruled it out saying you can't ever do a full rebuild in San Jose. The attendance and interest in the club will fall off so much that it will cause such severe business problems for the Sharks in San Jose that a full rebuild will be the first domino in the relocation of the franchise out of the Bay Area. Everyone and their grandma said that. I'm sure I probably said that at some point too.

To some extent, that's true in every sport though. Very few fanbases are going to keep plunking down season tickets for a rebuilding team. Look at what happened with the Giants after their three World Series - they went from being a Top 5 attendance team for just about every year since Oracle Park opened to being bottom half of attendance in the league. And I've already heard rumblings of lots of Warrior fans saying they aren't going to renew season ticket packages for a team that still is on the periphery of the playoffs. Fans in most cities aren't going to pay for season tickets to a bad team, but that's especially true in the Bay Area where ticket prices are very expensive. If you want butts in the seats, you gotta win.

 

[Skeksis25]

Think the answer is in the middle. If you don't want to be on the train, that speaks more to you and your fandom than it does to anything Grier has done or not done. This idea that he has to accomplish the end goal before you can be on the train is sort of ludicrous and seems like a positively miserable way to be a sports fan.

Not saying that we blindly run through a wall for him either, but he's done more than enough for me to be on the train and say that he has accomplished everything that he can realistically accomplish to this point. I will support and trust him until proven otherwise rather than hold off until I see the ending (anyone can do that and doesn't take much fandom to hop on when the going is good).

Well, what is the "end goal"? I am not saying he needs to win a Cup before I anoint him the saviour. Is just being on a legit path to being a contender again a valid enough "end goal"? Which we very well may be, there is obviously a ton of optimism. I just want to actually see it on the ice before I crown him. I don't think getting rid of players that have decent value on bad contracts is some masterstroke, but if people think it is, I will acquiesce. To me a masterstroke would be if he managed to get something for truly worthless pieces like Vlasic or a broken one in Couture. But again, I am not trying to argue the value of his trades. He has done what needs to be done so far on paper. Also, if you wanna say that he convinced ownership that we need to rebuild rather than continue with their insistence of retooling, then sure. That's a plus point to him. I don't know how much of that is Grier's power of convincing and how much is it that Hasso eventually had to face reality.

Now its a matter of all these, like I said, "lottery pieces" to start translating to on ice production. Can Mukh be a legit top 4 NHL defenceman? Are guys like Musty, Bystedt, even Will Smith going to turn into what they promise to be? Is he going to be able to get decent help this offseason for Celebrini, Smith and Eklund? I just wanna see some answers to this before I hang a poster of him on my wall.

Also, I don't really understand what being on the train means. I am a Sharks fan, I root for them to do well. That has never changed. Have I given the impression I am doing otherwise?

 

[ChompChomp]

To some extent, that's true in every sport though. Very few fanbases are going to keep plunking down season tickets for a rebuilding team. Look at what happened with the Giants after their three World Series - they went from being a Top 5 attendance team for just about every year since Oracle Park opened to being bottom half of attendance in the league. And I've already heard rumblings of lots of Warrior fans saying they aren't going to renew season ticket packages for a team that still is on the periphery of the playoffs. Fans in most cities aren't going to pay for season tickets to a bad team, but that's especially true in the Bay Area where ticket prices are very expensive. If you want butts in the seats, you gotta win.

100% agree, but the Sharks suffer more when they have this kind of downswing. When the Warriors became good again, their attendance and interest just shot up like crazy. Same goes for Giants. When the Sharks become good again, it will take a lot longer for Bay Area casuals to get interested (again or even for the first time).

For the Sharks, it's a much slower process. As it is, I'll never forget that the 2016 SCF peaked at close to a 10 share (The peak was in Game 6) for local ratings. I suspect if Celebrini and company take this Sharks 2.0 to a cup final they could do better ratings than the Sharks did in 2016 SCF.

And of course, if the Sharks win a Cup, local interest could reach new heights.