{"id":206481,"date":"2026-03-06T01:09:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T01:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/206481\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T01:09:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T01:09:07","slug":"san-jose-sharks-gm-mike-grier-has-options-ahead-of-nhl-trade-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/206481\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks GM Mike Grier has options ahead of NHL trade deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2013 Several of the teams the San Jose Sharks are competing with for one of the Western Conference\u2019s final few playoff spots<\/a> have been busy adding reinforcements ahead of the NHL trade deadline.<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s unlikely those moves \u2013 in and of themselves<\/a> \u2013 will influence the decisions<\/a> made by Sharks general manager Mike Grier.<\/p>\n

Still, that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean the Sharks will remain totally quiet before Friday\u2019s noon deadline, <\/a>as Grier could look to address some roster needs by acquiring players who will also be around next season.<\/p>\n

The Sharks only have two defensemen signed past this season,<\/a> and it\u2019s unclear how much interest they\u2019ll have in this summer\u2019s class of available free agent blueliners<\/a>. Instead of waiting until then, perhaps Grier and the Sharks\u2019 front office can accomplish some of that work now.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just that the Sharks, given where they are as an organization, likely do not have an appetite to spend assets to acquire pure rental players for one playoff push. While things can change, getting deeply into the Western Conference arms race does appear to be on the Sharks\u2019 agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to do anything that\u2019s short-sighted,\u201d Grier said in January. \u201cIt\u2019s all about continuing to grow and build the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Western Conference teams like the Vegas Golden Knights, Edmonton Oilers,<\/a> and Utah Mammoth have already spent early-round draft picks<\/a> to acquire players for more immediate help, and the Seattle Kraken could do the same.<\/p>\n

The Sharks (30-25-4) enter Friday three points back of the Kraken for the Western Conference\u2019s second wild card spot, with two games in hand. Winners of three straight, San Jose could actually be in a postseason position by the end of the weekend, as it hosts the St. Louis Blues on Friday and the New York Islanders on Saturday to close out a six-game homestand.<\/p>\n

Perhaps if the Sharks were further out of the playoff picture, Grier might be eager to sell off one or more of his seven<\/a> remaining pending unrestricted free agents, notably defensemen Mario Ferraro<\/a> and John Klingberg and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic.<\/p>\n

Ferraro, this season, leads the Sharks in blocked shots (110) and shorthanded time on ice (202:30). Klingberg was part of the Edmonton Oilers\u2019 run to the Stanley Cup Final last season, and Nedeljkovic, starting on Jan. 6, is 6-1-0 with a .928 save percentage in his last eight appearances. Any one of those players could be an asset to a contender.<\/p>\n

Other Sharks pending UFAs include forwards Pavol Regenda and Ryan Reaves, and defensemen Timothy Liljegren and Vincent Desharnais.<\/p>\n

Ferraro, a heart-and-soul guy who has averaged close to 21 minutes<\/a> in ice time per game this season as a second pair defensemen, figures to generate the most interest among playoff-bound teams. His removal would be felt throughout the Sharks\u2019 dressing room.<\/p>\n

Does Grier trade Ferraro or another pending UFA if there\u2019s interest? Does he keep them for the stretch run, and potentially risk letting them walk away in the summer for nothing?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat probably would be the toughest decision I\u2019ll probably have to make (before) the deadline, is trying to figure that out,\u201d Grier said in January. \u201cWhere the group is at, where the team\u2019s at, what\u2019s the best decision for the group short term, but also long term. If there\u2019s a deal out there that gets presented to me that makes sense, it\u2019s something that our group up top is going to have to really think about and consider.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if we\u2019re going well and things are good, and we decide that we just kind of roll through it and see what happens, it\u2019s something we\u2019re prepared to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sharks already signaled that they wouldn\u2019t have another fire sale this month by signing center Alex Wennberg to a three-year extension in January and winger Kiefer Sherwood to a new five-year deal on<\/a> Wednesday.<\/p>\n

After three years of tearing down, Grier and the Sharks have long been clear that it was time to start building up the roster. Nevertheless, there\u2019s a chance Friday could bring some surprises.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never want to see anyone leave,\u201d said Sharks forward Adam Gaudette, who is signed through next season. \u201cIt sucks being traded. It sucks having guys traded, especially when you have such a tight-knit group like this, and you\u2019re in such an awesome city, and you get the sunshine, and you\u2019ve got a brand-new facility here, and everything\u2019s just really great here.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be nice to see everyone stay, but we all know the business, and it\u2019s nothing personal. So, whatever happens, happens, and we\u2019ve got to move on. But you never want to see a teammate leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE ON FERRARO<\/p>\n

Ferraro did not practice on Thursday, with the Sharks saying it was a maintenance day. Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said the team was \u201cpretty confident\u201d that Ferraro would be able to play Friday. In Thursday\u2019s practice, Liljegren took Ferraro\u2019s place on the Sharks\u2019 second defense pair, skating with Shakir Mukhamadullin. Ferraro has played in all 59 Sharks games this season.<\/p>\n

THOMPSON TRADED<\/p>\n

The Sharks on Thursday acquired defenseman Jett Woo from the Vancouver Canucks for Barracuda defenseman Jack Thompson. Both are right shots. Woo, 25, was a second-round pick by the Canucks in 2018 but has not yet played in the NHL. He had eight points in 25 games with Abbotsford this season, has 91 points in 293 career AHL games, and is a pending UFA.<\/p>\n

Thompson, who turns 24 this month, had 12 points in 42 games with the Barracuda this season. He had 10 points in 33 career games with the Sharks, with those points and 31 of those games coming during the 2024-25 season.<\/p>\n

Thompson, a pending RFA with arbitration rights, was originally acquired by the Sharks in March 2024 from the Tampa Bay Lightning for winger Anthony Duclair. San Jose also received a 2024 third-round pick, which it used on forward Carson Wetsch, who remains in the WHL and is on the Sharks\u2019 reserve list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2013 Several of the teams the San Jose Sharks are competing with for one of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[41681,4217,4401,9896,88,90,89,98],"class_list":{"0":"post-206481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-kiefer-sherwood","9":"tag-mario-ferraro","10":"tag-mike-grier","11":"tag-nhl-trade-deadline","12":"tag-san-jose","13":"tag-san-jose-headlines","14":"tag-san-jose-news","15":"tag-san-jose-sharks"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}