{"id":467237,"date":"2026-09-17T22:24:47","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T22:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/467237\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T22:24:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T22:24:47","slug":"its-in-a-good-spot-sharks-smith-grier-comment-on-extension-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/467237\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It’s In a Good Spot’: Sharks’ Smith & Grier Comment On Extension Talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

As training camp opens for the San Jose Sharks, forward Will Smith<\/a> doesn\u2019t have a contract extension, but neither the team nor the player is worried.<\/p>\n

After franchise superstar Macklin Celebrini<\/a> signed a five-year, $94 million extension this summer, all eyes turned to Smith. Since joining the league in 2024, the two have been side by side in many areas, including their future with the Sharks.<\/p>\n

Both players are viewed as cornerstones the Sharks can build around as they continue their quest back to the postseason for the first time since 2019. Smith, who continues to get stronger in the offseasons, isn\u2019t worried about getting a deal done before the regular season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge year for me. I think I can make a huge step and help this group. I think there\u2019s a lot of opportunity. People are expecting us to make the playoffs, but we\u2019ve got to take it one game at a time,\u201d Smith said on Thursday. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not worried about [contract discussions]. Control what I can control. I\u2019m worried about playing hockey. Obviously, I\u2019m really happy for all my former teammates, especially Mack. It\u2019s great for the league, but for me, go out there and play hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s college teammate Ryan Leonard<\/a> signed a massive eight-year<\/a> contract extension with the Washington Capitals<\/a> on Sept. 15. NHL teams had until Sept. 16 to extend players for a maximum of eight years.<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks GM Mike Grier<\/a> shared the same sentiment as the 21-year-old; he\u2019s not worried about getting an extension done right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had some good conversations with Will and his group. And with Smitty himself. This is just the way it worked out that there wasn\u2019t a deal done,\u201d Grier said. \u201cI told you guys when we met on July 1, I said then it\u2019s not the end of the world if we don\u2019t get them done. It\u2019s all good. It\u2019s in a good spot. We had good conversations, and I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll continue to have conversations as the year goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grier says that the #SJSharks<\/a> and Smith are in a good place with negotiations. Didn\u2019t give to much details.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Max Miller (@Real_Max_Miller) September 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

In professional sports, players have sometimes refused to discuss an extension while the season is ongoing. For Smith and Grier, that doesn\u2019t appear to be the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always open to listening if they want to have a conversation during the season. There are no plans to talk tomorrow or next week,\u201d Grier said. \u201cI guess we\u2019ll just see what happens down the road. If something happens during the year, great. If not, we\u2019ll tackle it in the off-season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows going into the summer you can do an extension, but as I said, I didn\u2019t really focus on it much,\u201d Smith explained. \u201cIt was up to my agent [and] Mike to talk it out. Besides that, I just focus on hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither Smith nor Grier indicated what they\u2019d discussed regarding contract value or term. Grier said he has a good \u201cballpark\u201d for what he expects the San Jose Sharks to extend him at.<\/p>\n

If Smith reaches July 1, 2027 without an extension, he will become a restricted free agent. Based on this summer\u2019s offer sheet drama, SHD doesn\u2019t believe the Sharks will let Smith get to that point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As training camp opens for the San Jose Sharks, forward Will Smith doesn\u2019t have a contract extension, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[4388,1035,4401,153842,88,90,89,98,755,3578,8629],"class_list":["post-467237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-contract-extension","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-mike-grier","tag-restricted-free-agent","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sj-sharks","tag-will-smith","tag-will-smith-hockey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467237","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=467237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}