How Can Grier Get Sharks Into Playoffs…What Are His Realistic Free Agency & Trade Options?

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Oct 28, 2025; San Jose, CA, USA; during San Jose Sharks vs Los Angeles Kings at SAP Center. Photo: Sport Shots / Dean Tait

BUFFALO — And on the second day of the draft, Mike Grier rested.

That’s just a joke — after a whirlwind first round of the draft, the No. 2, 9, and 21 picks set up by three trades in 10 days, including a draft day deal on Friday — no doubt that the San Jose Sharks GM was hard at work the next day. It just felt like a break with just three picks in six rounds (and a signing) on Saturday.

But Grier’s hardest work is at hand, the challenge of turning the Sharks, out the playoffs for seven-seasons-and-counting, into a playoff team this summer.

What can Grier do to get back — responsibly — to the post-season?

The San Jose Sharks are on two timelines: In the present, Macklin Celebrini is a superstar and needs lots of help. And in the future, the Sharks’ enviable farm system lords over the league.

You can’t ask Celebrini to simply wait three years for everybody else to catch up to him.

Grier did serve the future well with three picks in the first round and three to close the draft.

“He’s more hard skill, more F.U. skill than [Lucas] Raymond,” an NHL scout, not with the Sharks, said about No. 2 pick, winger Ivar Stenberg. Raymond is a point-per-game winger for the Detroit Red Wings.

“I had Verhoeff as the best [defenseman] in the draft,” the scout said about No. 9 pick Keaton Verhoeff.

“He’s just one of the best players in the draft, period,” the scout said about No. 21 pick, smaller defenseman Ryan Lin.

“Our goalie group with Ryan Miller really believes in Brady, and really likes the upside and potential,” Sharks director of amateur scouting Chris Morehouse said about No. 127 pick, 6-foot-5 goaltender Brady Knowling. “The skating, the quick feet, the athleticism, those are all things that profile really well at the next level.”

“He’s a big kid, we like his development path,” Morehouse said about No. 174 pick, 6-foot-4 center Jake Gustafson, also the son of SAP Center vice president Jon Gustafson. “He’s going to fill out his frame, he’s a good athlete, and on top of that, he’s a fantastic kid…we liked the upside.”

“There’s athleticism there, untapped,” Morehouse said about No. 201 pick, 7-foot-1 defenseman Alexander Karmanov, the tallest player ever drafted, “Raw project…we just like the potential that could be here…it’s going to be a long-term project, but kid’s a great kid, he wants to work.”

Besides expected-to-be NHL-ready winger Stenberg, however, all this doesn’t help the Sharks today. And Stenberg’s addition, theoretically, is canceled out, at least in the short-term, by the subtraction of winger William Eklund for the No. 9 pick.

So how will Grier address the San Jose Sharks’ needs today, up front and on defense? The goaltending appears set, between young Yaroslav Askarov and veteran Alex Nedeljkovic.

Here are some ideas, a few days before the beginning of free agency on Jul. 1.

Read the Full Article at NBC Sports Bay Area​

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