Sharks common supervisor Mike Grier is on fireplace.
The Sharks are wanting scorching, too.
The Sharks’ imaginative and prescient of what they will grow to be is simple. We noticed it manifest in arguably the crew’s two finest wins of the season: back-to-back victories in Toronto and Buffalo on Monday and Tuesday.
Towards a Stanley Cup contender within the Maple Leafs, the Sharks got here again from a 2-0 third-period deficit to win in a shootout. They adopted that efficiency with a 6-2 trouncing of the Sabres, leaving Buffalo — which had excessive expectations coming into the season — re-evaluating issues going into Friday’s commerce deadline.
“So it’s tough. You never go into a game thinking that’s how it’s gonna go,” Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram mentioned. “It’s embarrassing for all of us.”
That’s exactly what Grier and the Sharks wish to hear. It implies that whereas expectations across the Sharks are nonetheless low, their play is elevating.
In different phrases: The rebuild — as brutal because it has been up so far — is lastly shifting. The Sharks have performed a near-perfect season in a macro sense — a number of shut losses, guaranteeing one other excessive draft decide, and loads of optimistic growth of their younger gamers within the course of.
Friday afternoon, the Sharks will enter a brand new stage:
The top of the tear-down interval, the right begin of the rise.
Grier isn’t hiding from it: he’s been wheeling and dealing all season. Because the NHL Draft in July, he’s made seven trades, together with touchdown prime goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov, Timothy Liljegren (a 5 point-share participant), and two early draft picks for July.
On Wednesday morning, Grier made one other excellent transfer, buying and selling goalie Vítek Vaněček to the Panthers for energy ahead Patrick Giles. At 6-foot-4 and 200 kilos, Giles’ solely sin was being a late bloomer at Boston Faculty — oh, and signing with the defending Stanley Cup champions, who tried to discover a top-four line job for him this season however couldn’t make the room.
He’ll begin his Sharks profession with the AHL Barracuda, however don’t be stunned if the Sharks attempt to make room for him on the NHL roster by Friday.
Maybe that may come from a transfer of Luke Kunin or Nico Sturm, two bottom-six forwards on expiring offers. A mid-round draft decide can be sufficient for an enterprising crew to land both.
Dealing both can be a pleasant of completion on what has been a rebuilding masterclass from Grier.
After all, the overall supervisor may go larger earlier than Friday, shifting the crew’s most beneficial (and viable) commerce piece, Marco Ferraro, regardless of the defenseman nonetheless having a 12 months remaining on his contract.
Grier has made it clear across the league that Ferraro, a crew chief, received’t come low-cost. As such, commerce discuss round him has cooled in latest weeks.
However there’s loads of time for that to vary.
The Sharks may additionally transfer goalie Alexandar Georgiev, who was acquired in December, however there’s unlikely to be a marketplace for him proper now.
Wither Giles is the crew’s remaining acquisition of the season or not, the deadline stands as a degree of demarcation.
There have been glimmers of one thing particular growing in San Jose all through the season. Macklin Celebrini is just too younger to be this good—he seems like a future Hart Trophy winner. William Eklund has taken an enormous step ahead in his age-22 season. Will Smith fought via some rising pains and appears like he not solely belongs however can thrive on the NHL stage at age 19.
This crew has a Large Three at ahead going ahead.
They’ve the goalie of the long run, too.
And the system is totally loaded.
Igor Chernyshov, decide No. 33 within the 2024 draft, is dominating the Ontario Hockey League with 38 factors in 15 video games. If he had been within the 2025 draft, he’d be a top-10 decide. Defenseman Sam Dickinson has 76 factors in 48 video games for the London Knights within the OHL, and energy ahead Quentin Musty has 44 factors in 28 video games for Sudbury. There’s loads to love on the AHL stage with Filip Bystedt, Luca Cagnoni, and 2025 promotion Collin Graf (who has discovered his footing in latest video games with the big-league membership.)
The Sharks are a right-handed shot protection prospect away from one thing near an ideal prospect pool. With the 2 first-round picks and loads of ammunition in later rounds, the Sharks can afford to take the most effective obtainable participant with their prime decide (maybe one other No. 1 general) on the draft, after which place themselves for that righty with their second first-rounder — Logan Hensler of Wisconsin, Radim Mrtka of Seattle (WHL), and Blake Fiddler of Edmonton (WHL) are all viable middle-to-late first-round choices.
The ultimate items of this difficult Sharks puzzle received’t be added within the hours previous the deadline, however the Sharks can higher place themselves to accumulate them with a couple of strikes on the periphery this week.
However whether or not Grier continues to wheel-and-deal or not, the mandate is similar:
On the finish of this marketing campaign, losses are now not factor for the Sharks.
After lacking the playoffs solely twice in 20 seasons, the Sharks haven’t been within the postseason since 2019.
The expertise is already in place to count on that to vary. However sooner can be higher than later. And something Grier can do to expedite that course of this week ought to be well-received.
Initially Revealed: March 5, 2025 at 11:52 AM PST
