Expect GM Mike Grier to Reward His Young Team
Jim Biringer of NHLRumors.com, Full Press NHL, and RG Media joined TSN Radio in Montreal on Thursday and was asked if the San Jose Sharks will be a team that will add at the trade Deadline.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Host: “Let’s go out west quickly. A lot of talk about how these Sharks want to add at the trade deadline for such a young team. Is this something that you can see happening?”
Jim Biringer: “Yes, absolutely. I could definitely see them doing, and I think they’re taking that next step. And it helps when you have Macklin Celebrini doing what he’s doing on pace, like 130 points, and they accelerated that rebuild.
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But they had some lean years there in San Jose. They were the doormat for a little bit. And you get those top prospects, and Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini playing really well. And now they’re getting goaltending, and they added along the way.
Now, defensively, they don’t really have anybody signed the next couple of years, so that’s probably an area they are going to look to add. I know they were tied to Dougie Hamilton. Dougie Hamilton said, No. He didn’t want to go to San Jose. Is that something he reconsiders? But as of right now, New Jersey with the Luke Hughes injury, may not be moving him, unless they really tail off and they just say, ‘All right, we’re going to punt on the season, and they’re going to start selling assets even more.’
Because obviously, Ondrej Palat got moved to the New York Islanders, but San Jose’s taking that next step to where, ‘Okay, we didn’t think there would be a playoff team. We knew it would be better, but I don’t think anybody expected this out of it.’ Now, they can still miss, but I think it shows Mike Grier added Kiefer Sherwood.
If he goes and adds an Artemi Panarin or another impact-type player, it tells the room, ‘Hey, I believe in you. I believe in this group that we put together, and we’re going to go get give you guys a shot to go make the playoffs, because that’s what it’s all about.’
And everybody says rebuild and retool and all that. But sometimes these general managers say, ‘Hey, you know what? It’s year-to-year; if we have a chance to win it now, we’re going to go do it.’ And I do believe Mike Grier is going to be aggressive enough to do that and reward this group.”
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NHLRumors.com Note: The San Jose Sharks have been building through the draft, but Grier has been adding along the way with players like Yaroslav Askarov, Tyler Toffoli, Alexander Wennberg, Barclay Goodrow, Dmitry Orlov, and others to help this young Sharks group perform this season. It has been a couple of years of heartache for this group, but Ryan Warsofsky has gotten this group playing the right way. Let’s see what happens at the trade deadline, but the expectation is that the Sharks will add.
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