Confirmed with Link: Zetterlund, Robins, 4th to Ottawa for 2025 2nd, Zack Ostapchuk, Noah Gregor

[Hodge]

Not sure what to make of this apparent Darren Dreger report. It seems to confirm Grier wasn't shopping Zetterlund but Norris is a bit of a weird target for us given his age and injury history. No doubt he's a fast physical goal-scoring 2C when healthy though, and clearly valued enough around the league to return Cozens+2nd. His trade protection also doesn't kick in until 7/1/26 so could have been another pump and dump candidate.

 

[timorous me]

Not sure what to make of this apparent Darren Dreger report. It seems to confirm Grier wasn't shopping Zetterlund but Norris is a bit of a weird target for us given his age and injury history. No doubt he's a fast physical goal-scoring 2C when healthy though, and clearly valued enough around the league to return Cozens+2nd. His trade protection also doesn't kick in until 7/1/26 so could have been another pump and dump candidate.

I'd be very curious to know what else would've been going the other way in addition to Zetterlund to make it work.

I do like the idea of Norris as a quality 2C behind Celebrini, though it would seemingly be consigning Smith to the wing long-term (which, who knows, might be the plan if we're to believe this report). Or maybe for a couple years and then revisit when Smith is like 22 or 23?

Anyway, it's interesting in that it seems to indicate Grier is indeed looking to build, and probably gives a sense of what kind of players he'll be targeting in trades this summer.

 

[Hodge]

I'd be very curious to know what else would've been going the other way in addition to Zetterlund to make it work.

I do like the idea of Norris as a quality 2C behind Celebrini, though it would seemingly be consigning Smith to the wing long-term (which, who knows, might be the plan if we're to believe this report). Or maybe for a couple years and then revisit when Smith is like 22 or 23?

Anyway, it's interesting in that it seems to indicate Grier is indeed looking to build, and probably gives a sense of what kind of players he'll be targeting in trades this summer.

A three-way deal sending Norris and JBD to Buffalo, Cozens to SJ and EDM's 2026 1st, BUF's 2026 2nd and Zetterlund to Ottawa would have been interesting. Sens would have been left without a 2C though.

 

[Friday]

Id guess Grier had a couple of late 1sts to add? If it wasn't built around Zetterlund then who? Fun information though. Swear we used to have to wait 10 years to hear about maybe ass trades like that. Seems premature to lock in a 2C. If the Sharks are picking 2nd OV then Misa is your guy and there is still hope for Smith at 2C, unless Grier already doesn't see it that way.

 

[TheBeard]

Not sure what to make of this apparent Darren Dreger report. It seems to confirm Grier wasn't shopping Zetterlund but Norris is a bit of a weird target for us given his age and injury history. No doubt he's a fast physical goal-scoring 2C when healthy though, and clearly valued enough around the league to return Cozens+2nd. His trade protection also doesn't kick in until 7/1/26 so could have been another pump and dump candidate.

Norris would have made no sense. He’s almost 26, already making too much, can’t stay healthy and only had one decent season.

 

[rekrul]

Herd that Zach kicked Rempe's butt in juniors. Well he does something that the current roster doesn't do

 

[weastern bias]

I'm glad we didn't get Norris, if you're accelerating (you shouldn't, it doesn't work) you should aim higher than that

 

[Pinkfloyd]

I don’t necessarily agree. Beyond Eklund and Toffoli the team’s highest scoring winger is Kovalenko. Until we have a clue what any of Musty or Cherny or Halt can do we don’t really have wingers.

Having scoring wingers that are the most plentiful of position types is why they should be prioritized less than a defenseman. I’d still take a #1D over Eklund in a heartbeat but that’s about it for our team.

 

[Star Platinum]

Having acceptable goaltending and defense will fix a ton problems.

I just hope we actually have both of those things next year. No guarantee those problems get fixed.

 

[weastern bias]

I just hope we actually have both of those things next year. No guarantee those problems get fixed.

Spoiler: The defense will still be very bad

We can win the lottery and have both Dickinson and Schaefer stick with the Sharks but they still won't be holding down even a league average defense

Teenagers don't turn pro teams around, they need to mature and grow into difference makers

 

[Patty Ice]

Sens would have been left without a 2C though

I would argue they still don't with how things played out. Cozens is a winger masquerading as a center.

 

[Star Platinum]

Spoiler: The defense will still be very bad

We can win the lottery and have both Dickinson and Schaefer stick with the Sharks but they still won't be holding down even a league average defense

Teenagers don't turn pro teams around, they need to mature and grow into difference makers

I think there's almost no chance Dickinson is on the Sharks next year and even if we get the #1 pick and draft Schaefer, I'm not certain that he starts his career immediately in the NHL. Whatever our defense ends up being next year, it's going be made up mostly of vets with possibly Mukhamadullin the only still developing guy.

 

[coooldude]

I think there's almost no chance Dickinson is on the Sharks next year and even if we get the #1 pick and draft Schaefer, I'm not certain that he starts his career immediately in the NHL. Whatever our defense ends up being next year, it's going be made up mostly of vets with possibly Mukhamadullin the only still developing guy.

Absolutely. Even if we're incredibly lucky and draft Schaefer, he's not going to jump to the NHL right away. Great way to ruin a defensive prospect. What D man jumped straight to NHL in their D+1 and was truly successful? Not Hughes, not Makar.

Dickinson is a candidate for 9 games, or for a pressbox treatment, but I'd bet the most likely thing is he just goes back to London and has to carry a heavier load as their team loses a ton of firepower.

 

[weastern bias]

I think there's almost no chance Dickinson is on the Sharks next year and even if we get the #1 pick and draft Schaefer, I'm not certain that he starts his career immediately in the NHL. Whatever our defense ends up being next year, it's going be made up mostly of vets with possibly Mukhamadullin the only still developing guy.

I wouldn't be shocked if they give Dickinson the same path as Smith, play him in the NHL even if he isn't a clear fit at the beginning of the season because they think he's too good for the OHL (and in his case he can't go to the AHL next year), but that all points to a bad defense next year

 

[timorous me]

I wouldn't be shocked if they give Dickinson the same path as Smith, play him in the NHL even if he isn't a clear fit at the beginning of the season because they think he's too good for the OHL (and in his case he can't go to the AHL next year), but that all points to a bad defense next year

The right partner would be really important for Dickinson in this case. I'm actually for it--I think, while there would be rough moments, he could handle it and benefit from it. But that decision doesn't have to be made until after nine games, as you said, and I feel like the Sharks will likely have the flexibility (with guys like Thrun and Thompson possibly waiting in reserve, maybe even Vlasic still) to give it a shot.

I'll say right now that I don't think Desharnais would be a great partner; you need a right shot guy but one more adept at moving the puck to get the zone cleared. Maybe Liljegren? It would, in a way, be ideal if he's pushed down to the third pairing anyway, but, uh, yeah, there's a work to do to bump him down like that (even if they decide to stick with Ferraro and Mukhamadullin as one pairing--which I kind of hope they don't) and you count that as one of the top two pairings.

 

[LilLeeroy]

Anybody else even more optimistic about Grier after this trade than they were before? Feel like the first real test as GM was going to be whether to overpay Zetterlund or let him go and have casual fans be furious at you.

It's really hard to be a contender in a hard cap league while overpaying guys, in the NBA they have shorter contracts and a soft cap, and teams still got themselves in a lot of trouble with the "oh the cap is going up" logic that a lot of people in here are repeating.

 

[TheBeard]

Anybody else even more optimistic about Grier after this trade than they were before? Feel like the first real test as GM was going to be whether to overpay Zetterlund or let him go and have casual fans be furious at you.

It's really hard to be a contender in a hard cap league while overpaying guys, in the NBA they have shorter contracts and a soft cap, and teams still got themselves in a lot of trouble with the "oh the cap is going up" logic that a lot of people in here are repeating.

The real test is when he has to take chances on bringing in guys for prospects and picks instead of just sending them out. I can only be cautiously optimistic at best but mostly skeptical he can do the job until he does that. Not saying that he can’t, just until the team is something close to contending everything he’s done means very little. We’ve seen teams tear it down and build up prospect pools and never see it go anywhere.

 

[TheBeard]

The right partner would be really important for Dickinson in this case. I'm actually for it--I think, while there would be rough moments, he could handle it and benefit from it. But that decision doesn't have to be made until after nine games, as you said, and I feel like the Sharks will likely have the flexibility (with guys like Thrun and Thompson possibly waiting in reserve, maybe even Vlasic still) to give it a shot.

I'll say right now that I don't think Desharnais would be a great partner; you need a right shot guy but one more adept at moving the puck to get the zone cleared. Maybe Liljegren? It would, in a way, be ideal if he's pushed down to the third pairing anyway, but, uh, yeah, there's a work to do to bump him down like that (even if they decide to stick with Ferraro and Mukhamadullin as one pairing--which I kind of hope they don't) and you count that as one of the top two pairings.

I’m hoping they bring in a bonafide top 4 guy from outside the organization to pair with him.

 

[Jargon]

The real test is when he has to take chances on bringing in guys for prospects and picks instead of just sending them out. I can only be cautiously optimistic at best but mostly skeptical he can do the job until he does that. Not saying that he can’t, just until the team is something close to contending everything he’s done means very little. We’ve seen teams tear it down and build up prospect pools and never see it go anywhere.

It’s where I’m at. I really like what Grier has done and the guy has been aggressive in the pursuit of his vision, I appreciate it. I will also say MANY of his trades are at first maligned and then end up aging very well.

But despite all that, I need to see now if he can construct an actual roster that can win games. I’m really, really curious what he does this summer but the next year is a pretty big one I think, where we have to start seeing some kind of growth here.

 

[Sharkz4Fun]

Zetterlund>Norris and it's not really even close, so no way MG should've had to add something. What makes even less sense is choosing an even worse deal than Norris. I don't understand why Grier couldn't have just kept countering Staois with Tkachuk like I said days ago if that report is true.

Someone said they need to stop trading with Ottawa and yea, completely bent over on 2 deals so really no need to make it a 3rd time.

 

[timorous me]

I’m hoping they bring in a bonafide top 4 guy from outside the organization to pair with him.

The tricky part there is that a top 4 guy would obviously deserve to play a lot of big minutes on this team, whereas Dickinson likely should be sheltered early in his career. That's why I was thinking someone like Liljegren could be bumped down to play with him. A decent enough player, but one who probably could benefit himself from seeing more o-zone starts and weaker competition.

 

[sampler]

1. Norris was not a target. Makes no sense for Grier's vision. Its quite obvious that he is building a team full of 18-23 year olds. anyone 25+ doesn't fit long term. It seems also clear he was looking for a specific kind of 3rd line C. big, physical, mean. Not exactly the norris profile.

2. As for that vision 2027-28 is when it starts to really come to fruition. That's when the '25 picks reach NHL level, and maybe 2nd year of schefer/misa (who likely join the big club in '26-27 as 19/20 yo olds.

A rebuild that adds 3 NHL players per draft will take approx 4-5 years to add 12-15 players (1-2 top 9F, top 4D, and one depth player per draft.) It takes until D+3 (21yo) for most players to make the NHL, and D+5 (23 yo) to become solid contributors at a high level. The sharks rebuild began in 2021 with Eklund who just completed his D+4 season and is now a bona fie top 6F. But it really didnt begin in earnest until 2022 or one could even argue, 2023, Grier's first real draft when he was ready to build the vision. As such, the 21/22 drafts count as one year combined, then '23, '24 and '25 are the other 4 years. '27 or '28 is when all those drafts will fully hit the NHL and '29 is when they are fully ready to contribute (the '23 guys like Smith and Musty will be 24 yo while '25 guys will be 22yo).

We might be better much better by '26-27 since the '23 draft will be in full swing by then (and some of '24 too with celly and BDE). In the meantime, we can expect filler UFA's, on overpaid short term deals, to buy time for these prospets to marinate. This analysis is why I expect grier to use most of the '25 picks, but potentially be happy to deal some of the '26 picks to add top 4 young D. Its also why I expect whoever we sign this summer in UFA to be 1-2 year deals, so that we can be a competitive team (like terrible, but better than last depending on how the kids perform?) and then can unload them next deadline to add more draft capital in '26 and '27 that can be flipped to build the vision and fill in holes.

Wennberg will go (a 2nd?), Ferraro will go (2nd?), a UFA on a one year deal this summer will go (pick?). Possibly another summer UFA (more pick). Then take the existing 2 1st and 2 2nds, add two or three more picks in the first two rounds, an the grier will have all the fodder he needs to add a legit top 4D within a year.

 

[sampler]

Do you guys think Buffalo migth part with one of thier twin towers? Dahlin or Power.

I could somehow imagine grier targeting 6'6 Owen Power as his first huge swing. I wonder if a package including Eklund might do it? Cagnoni? picks? After all, Buffalo just keeps finding themselves outside. Might they want a top 6F and a potential stud D, even if undersized?

 

[WSS11]

Do you guys think Buffalo migth part with one of thier twin towers? Dahlin or Power.

I could somehow imagine grier targeting 6'6 Owen Power as his first huge swing. I wonder if a package including Eklund might do it? Cagnoni? picks? After all, Buffalo just keeps finding themselves outside. Might they want a top 6F and a potential stud D, even if undersized?

I can’t even begin to imagine what the ask for Dahlin would be

 

[cheechoo]

Do you guys think Buffalo migth part with one of thier twin towers? Dahlin or Power.

I could somehow imagine grier targeting 6'6 Owen Power as his first huge swing. I wonder if a package including Eklund might do it? Cagnoni? picks? After all, Buffalo just keeps finding themselves outside. Might they want a top 6F and a potential stud D, even if undersized?

The only way I could see Dahlin leaving Buffalo would be due to him asking out.

I already consider him a top ~5 player at his position in the league. He's the definition of elite.