Sharks GM Grier’s Off-Season Moves Setting San Jose up to Be Major Players on Trade and Free Agency Fronts in Near-Future

San Jose Sharks GM Mike Grier pulled off a huge move Friday when he traded for up-and-coming goalie Yaroslav Askarov, and Adam Proteau says the move is the latest win for Grier as he positions the Sharks to get back to prominence.

The San Jose Sharks have been one of the NHL’s worst teams in recent years, missing the Stanley Cup playoffs for five consecutive seasons as they plot out a full rebuild of the NHL roster. But very steadily, Sharks GM Mike Grier has been adding long-term pieces to the puzzle, while positioning other veterans to be cashed out as trade or expiring contract assets in the next couple of years. And it’s all adding up to make the Sharks a team to reckon with soon enough.

For instance, Grier’s trade Friday that brought in up-and-coming goaltender Yaroslav Askarov to San Jose gives the Sharks a Grade-A netminding prospect who is looking to establish himself as an NHL difference-maker right away. The Sharks already had veterans Vitek Vanecek and MacKenzie Blackwood on board, but the 22-year-old Askarov has the biggest upside of all three, and Askarov’s brand new contract extension – which will pay him $2-million per season for two years, beginning in the 2025-26 campaign – could be one of the better bargains in the game in relatively short order.

Meanwhile, Grier has done very well to bring in veterans who, for the most part, aren’t locked into long-term contracts. His trade for defenseman Cody Ceci brings in a guy who is only under contract for this coming season, while veteran forward Alexander Wennberg is signed only through the next two seasons. And these short-term moves are part of the macro picture for Grier. 

Indeed, not a single Sharks defenseman is signed beyond the 2025-26 season, and only six San Jose players – captain Logan Couture, new UFA acquisition Tyler Toffoli, trade acquisition Barclay Goodrow, and youngsters Askarov, Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith – are signed for the 2026-27 season.

Thanks to that foresight from Grier, San Jose is going to eventually be a big-time player on the free agent and trade fronts. Just as Celebrini and Smith mature into NHL stars, the Sharks are going to be able to augment the lineup around them with veterans who want to play in California and a low-media-presence market. Before you know it, the Sharks will be a destination spot as they were for so many years in the Patrick Marleau/Joe Thornton era, and Grier’s hard work will pay off in spades.

At some point this season, we expect Grier to deal veterans entering the final season of their current contracts – forwards Mikael Granlund, Luke Kunin and Nico Sturm, as well as defenseman Jan Rutta and Blackwood and Vanecek – to teams looking either for depth or for expiring cap space. That will give the Sharks even more cap flexibility than the $10.4 million they already have in cap space, and while they’re going to have to suffer through a couple more seasons of languishing at or near the bottom of the NHL standings, San Jose’s bleakest days may well be behind them. 

Celebrini and Smith are going to be central to their long-term prospects, and 2024 draft pick Sam Dickinson will help solidify their back end. Another couple of top picks in the 2025 and 2026 drafts and the Sharks should be fully stocked for an excellent long-term run.

Grier’s ability to implement a patient plan is exactly what was needed from Sharks management after years of suffering. There’s still going to be pain ahead, but structurally speaking, San Jose is in a much better place than they were not all that long ago, and when the Sharks look back at the path they had to take to become relevant again, the work Grier has done of late will be regarded as a crucial component of the rebuild. Sharks fans should be thrilled at what’s to come, and the only real question now is how soon we’ll see San Jose as a legitimate Cup contender.