Many fans wish for it — and some seem to demand it — but no NHL general manager is going to be perfect with their moves and decision-making. That includes San Jose’s Mike Grier, who shouldn’t be held up for GM sainthood.

In his quest to guide the Sharks toward becoming playoff contenders and, eventually, Stanley Cup threats, Grier has added Kiefer Sherwood, Mason Marchment, Michael Kesselring, Jacob Trouba and Darnell Nurse to the roster over the past seven months, much-discussed moves that may or may not have the desired impact.

But Grier has connected on a lot of his swings since he took over in 2022 and put the franchise through a necessary rebuild that included some of the worst seasons in club history. Now, after the signing of Macklin Celebrini to a landmark contract extension on Wednesday, he has the Sharks at an ideal juncture in their building process.

It is time for liftoff in San Jose.

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The clock has started for the Sharks to win, now that their future is secure with Celebrini, the 20-year-old prodigy who has become the league’s brightest young superstar in just two seasons. In this summer of monstrous contracts for young stars, the two sides agreed on something sensible. Grier indicated that he sees Celebrini as a leading man, while Celebrini didn’t push to be the NHL’s first $20 million AAV player.

With an exploding salary cap, who’s to say that Celebrini shouldn’t have been paid that much? He’s coming off a season in which he eclipsed Hall of Famer Joe Thornton by scoring the most points by a Sharks player in a single season. With 115 points, Celebrini finished fourth in voting for the Hart Trophy after nearly dragging San Jose to the playoffs, and with more seasons like that, he will remain in the Hart conversation for a long time.

Based on an extension that’ll mostly be paid out in annual bonuses, Celebrini will top $20 million in the first three years before his salary decreases, which will bring down the AAV. But he could have the “highest-paid player” throne by the time the extension kicks in to start the 2027-28 season — unless superstars Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes eclipse that. And the five-year term means the Sharks and Celebrini are betting on both to reach new heights by the time Celebrini is ready for his next contract in 2032 at age 26.

Celebrini could be this generation’s Sidney Crosby, but in a totally different financial landscape. And now it’s on Grier to put the Sharks in a yearly position to win playoff rounds and make a Cup run. In short, the clock started on Wednesday to do what the Edmonton Oilers have yet to accomplish with generational talents Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

That’s a tall task. For starters, the Oilers have in Draisaitl the type of MVP-winning running mate that Evgeni Malkin was for Crosby. The Sharks currently don’t have that player, and who knows if Will Smith, Michael Misa or Ivar Stenberg will ever be able to approach that tier.

But Grier has pretty much nailed the big stuff. Tearing down the roster was the way to go when he started the job, and he made a shrewd first draft pick with Smith at No. 4 in 2023. Bottoming out put the Sharks in position to win the Celebrini lottery in 2024. And the good fortune hasn’t ceased, as the Sharks got Misa and Stenberg with the No. 2 pick in consecutive years.

Stockpiling high picks and savvy selections later in drafts have allowed the Sharks to collect some of the best young talent in the NHL. Grier has started to utilize his asset capital to fill present needs (by acquiring Sherwood and Nurse) but has kept the system bullish with prospects (he traded William Eklund to open the door for Stenberg and to draft Keaton Verhoeff).

The Sharks are now bursting at the seams up front, and while blueliners Nurse, Trouba and Kesselring are far from perfect, they’ve got the making of an improved defense corps that could be aided by the continued growth of Sam Dickinson. And if Yaroslav Askarov irons out the inconsistencies in his game and grabs the No. 1 goalie job with a far better 2026-27 season, they’ll have their necessary backbone to go with their unquestioned leader in Celebrini. Sending Tomáš Hertl to Vegas was part of a Grier trade tree that landed Askarov from the Nashville Predators.

Could the contracts for Trouba and Sherwood not age gracefully? Absolutely. Could Nurse fail to lift the Sharks on the back end after a long, bumpy ride with the Oilers? Sure. Could Askarov flame out? Possibly. And if any of that happens, that will be part of Grier’s track record and will be worth critiquing.

The Sharks also aren’t at the point at which Grier is making a trade to improve their playoff chances. But they’re expecting that time to come, perhaps by this next spring. That’s the plan now, and they’ve got Celebrini as their eventual captain driving the ship with a five-year pathway toward putting together a championship-quality team. They’ve got the Smith extension now on deck, and there will be players such as Misa, Dickinson and Stenberg to re-sign down the line, but they’ll have Logan Couture’s $8 million cap number come off the books — plus the contracts of Dmitry Orlov, Tyler Toffoli and Barclay Goodrow expiring over the next two years. Buyout money for Martin Jones and Marc-Edouard Vlasic also will cease.

After a 34-point improvement in the standings last season and a near-miss surprise postseason berth, it is time for Grier and the so-called team of the future to match the ascent of Celebrini and be on his level. Every move Grier makes going forward won’t work out, but the Sharks continue to be in good hands.