Man, you really hate Mike Grier. It's just farcical at this point, though, so at least there's very little chance of anyone taking your comments seriously.
Wennberg hasn't hit 40 points in nearly a decade? I guess 37 points in 2022 and 38 points in 2023 are sooooo far away that he's useless? (Let's just go ahead and ignore that only three Sharks scored more points than that this past season.)
Duclair got healthy scratched multiple times because of lack of effort and performance. I don't blame him for being down in the dumps playing on that team, but you really think he'd want to come back? Also, not a center.
The biggest issue you face is that you appear to be incredibly delusional in your expectations for what Grier could possibly do with this team at the moment. Getting Toffoli to sign is a major win considering the state of the team. You want spectacular? What did you want Grier to do, pay Marchessault and Skjei $10 million a year? Because that's about the only way you're getting guys even at THAT level. Which is arguably barely above Toffoli's level.
I'm sure you just want the Sharks to be good again, but there's no magic potion to make that happen any faster, and acting like Grier is an idiot for doing the best he can at the moment only reflects poorly on you.
You must feel like I have a personal grudge against grier. You feel my posts show a huge bias against him. You feel he has done an admirable job unloading bad contracts and you accept that the sharks will be bad for at least another year or two. You see signings like Wennberg's as a quality veteran addition, potnetial mentor, and solid 3C who can match up well against opposition top players to free up our top scorers for better matchups. You also feel like cap space is not a premium commodity now, and that the goal is not to win just yet. perhaps you also feel like, being a bottom team, grier cannot recruit good UFAs to come like other more competitive teams.
Please try to see that I dont hate grier. I have liked the following moves:
1. Zetterlund addition +resign: This has been the best move in grier's tenure as I see it. Zett not only scores but hes tough as nail, physical, and hard working.
2. Toffoli signing: I liked this one. I hope hes good for 30 again and 30goals/60pts is good value for 6M.
3. The dickinson pick. Even grier admits being lucky and I woulda preferred making the trade during the draft, but at the end of the day, Grier got a steal and you gotta tip your hat to that move. and he got the pick in the first place dumping EK65, so its kinda a double win.
4. Walman: I like the move. Got LSW with the pick and hopefully walman can be a solid top 4Dman for us. He averages over 12 goals/82 games the last two seasons, which is by far the best on the sharks, and that includes just 1 total PPG, so its fair to expect those numbers might rise as he will get ample PP time. This was a very solid move.
5. I think he did a respectable job unloading the big contracts. He got lucky getting a norris year from EK65, but he managed to clear a ton of space long term. If used wisely, it's a great play.
6. I applaud landing graf. He was the top college UFA, pursued by 20 teams and grier got him. I hope he takes a big step forward, but I applaud him there.
I just have thought, with the exception of toffoli, that all his FA signings have been terrible, so his deployment of the saved cap space has been very poor.
Lindbom, sturm, kunin, buroughs, benning, knyshov, Blackwood, vinicek, G Smith, Goodrow and, of course, hiring Quinn. All of those guys were struggling to have regular shifts in the NHL, or were clear 4th liners / 6/7 Dmen. Combined they cost approx 20M, or nearly 1/4 of your cap. I am also baffled by warsofsky hiring as opposed to carle, gallant, or someone with a better track record. Warsofsky led the sharks D last year to a dead last (by a mile) worst GA per game. Strange to promote that guy?
I think the sharks could compete if they added just a few more 20-30 goal scorers and 1-2 top 4D, even in an overpay. I dont resign to stinking. I think, given the cupboard, we are in a unique spot to make a serious run very soon. We have now unloaded hoffman, lebanc, and much of the dead weight.
Id be just fine with massive short term overpays. Frankly, Id much rather sign march for 2yrs, 9M per and Roy 2 years 8M per and than goodrow, wennberg, Kunin, and Vanecek for the about the same $. I think overpaying near term for top talent is exactly the kind of move I would be fine with.
