San Jose Sharks' GM Mike Grier met with the media on Tuesday for the upcoming draft.

The San Jose Sharks will have the No. 4 and No. 26 picks in tonight's 2023 NHL Draft. Mike Grier met with media members for the first time since the Draft Lottery.

Grier on the Erik Karlsson trade situation:

"We have talked with Erik and his group, and I think he would like a chance to have an opportunity to compete for the Stanley Cup. I understand that. His timeline, where he is at in his career, doesn't quite match up with where we are in our process of building this thing back up. I've talked to a bunch of teams, and there's some serious interest, and there are some people kind of dipping their toe in the water to see what something might look like. Erik's a leader on our team. He's one of our best players. He's not something I'm looking just to give away."

Grier on possibly meeting with Matvei Michkov:

Grier on what the San Jose Sharks will do at No. 4:

"We've considered everything. I don't think we would trade back from there at this point unless we were completely overwhelmed. We probably will stay there, and we've looked at some scenarios to move up. I think if that were to happen, it probably is something that more than happened on draft day, but we've looked at all the scenarios. We'll stay at four, and if there is an opportunity to move up, it's something we've discussed and looked at, but you know, it's not an easy thing to do."

Grier on buying out anyone from the roster:

Grier on what picking this high means to the growth of the team:

"I think when you're picking this high up in the draft, number one, you want just to take the best player available. This year [it] looks like it's going to be a center. But overall, I think the philosophy when you're that high is to take the best player available. That all that being said, I think every team in [the] league is looking for centers. For the most part, the only way to get centers is to draft centers. So I think that's why you see a lot of premium being put on centers, and now you're seeing it with the PLD trade and things like that. Centers are hard to come by, and for the most part, you either have to trade and give up a lot to get them, or you are gonna have to draft and develop them. It's definitely a premium position."

Grier on pre-draft/combine meetings:

"We had a great dinner with [Will Smith]. We had a great dinner with Leo [Carlsson]. Fantilli had an excellent interview with us. I haven't spoken to any of them since the draft combine."

Grier on Smith specifically:

"Will is a dynamic offensive player with a high-end hockey mind and vision. I think he thinks the game at a real high level and sees plays happen before they happen. He's got really, really great offensive instincts and anticipation. He makes players around him better, and he can score. He's got a lot of things you're looking for. He's kind of a quiet kid, but he's got that competitive fire burning to be the best every day in practice and in the game."

Grier on possibly drafting a goalie:

"I think we'll probably draft a goalie. I don't know if it will be early or late. Our guys have done a good job looking at all the goalies and interviewing them. So we'll just have to see. While we are looking for the goalie of the future, we do have high hopes for [Eetu] Makiniemi, who's already in the system, to be healthy and play. We think pretty highly of him. We probably will draft a goalie, but we also have to have lots of holes and things in places and positions to fill up on the cover. We're not going to focus too much on goalies. We're going to take what we think is the best player in that in that position."

Grier on the specialty jersey ban: