{"id":467969,"date":"2026-09-18T14:16:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T14:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/467969\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T14:16:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T14:16:46","slug":"san-jose-sharks-will-smith-still-need-to-hammer-out-next-contract-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/467969\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks, Will Smith still need to hammer out next contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2013 San Jose Sharks winger Will Smith<\/a> has, in recent weeks, seen several young players \u2014 including past<\/a> and present teammates \u2014 sign lucrative, long-term contracts early in their NHL careers.<\/p>\n

Smith is also expected to earn a significant raise next season as the skilled 21-year-old forward enters the third and final year of his entry-level contract, which carries a $950,000 cap hit.<\/a><\/p>\n

How big that raise will be, though, is unclear.<\/p>\n

Smith has put up 104 points in 143 games<\/a> over his first two NHL seasons, comparable on a point-per-game basis to some other top players drafted in 2022 or in the same year as him (2023).<\/a> But when will the Sharks \u2014 with so many promising young players \u2014 have to watch their spending if they want to ice a competitive, Stanley Cup-contending team for years to come?<\/p>\n

That seems to be what general manager Mike Grier is thinking as he balances getting guys like Smith under contract while making sure he can keep the group \u2014 that he spent years building \u2014 together for the long haul.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have all the respect in the world for players, and I want everyone to be fairly compensated and make as much money as they can during their career,\u201d Grier, a 14-year NHL veteran, said Thursday. \u201cBut at the same time, everyone\u2019s got to slot into their place, and there\u2019s only so many pieces of the pie to go around.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf too many people take too much of the pie, then someone\u2019s going to get left out, and we\u2019ll have to have some tough decisions to make, or someone\u2019s not going to be able to be re-signed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sharks signed Macklin Celebrini in July to a five-year, $94 million contract<\/a> extension that, when it begins in 2027-28, will take up 16.6% of that year\u2019s projected $113.5 million salary cap.<\/p>\n

The Sharks currently have just over $30 million in cap space available for the 2027-28 season, per PuckPedia<\/a>. A good chunk of that will likely go to the next deals for Smith and fellow pending restricted free agent goalie Yaroslav Askarov.<\/p>\n

But next offseason, forwards Michael Misa and Igor Chernysov and defenseman Sam Dickinson will also be eligible for extensions. Will the Sharks be open to re-signing all those players then? What about in 2028 when Ivar Stenberg, another high draft pick, is eligible for a new deal?<\/p>\n

It was great for the Sharks to stockpile one early first-round pick after another year in recent years, leading the team\u2019s marketing department to unilaterally declare that \u201cThe Future is Teal,\u201d a slogan that evolved into \u201cTurn it all Teal\u201d<\/a> for this season.<\/p>\n

But there comes a point when the Sharks also have to figure out a way to pay everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all part of the landscape now, and you have to juggle all of those things with your roster and the cap,\u201d Grier said, \u201cand make sure hopefully there\u2019s enough for everyone to eat and be able to keep a competitive team and keep your core together as long as you can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith, the Sharks\u2019 second-leading scorer the last two seasons, said Thursday he isn\u2019t too concerned about his contract situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone knows going into this summer you can do an extension, but I didn\u2019t really focus on it much,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt was up to my agent and (Grier) to talk it out. Besides that, I just kind of focused on hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had some good conversations with Will and his group, and with Smitty himself,\u201d Grier said. \u201cThis is just the way it worked out that there wasn\u2019t a deal done.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in a good spot. We\u2019ve had good conversations, and I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll continue to have conversations as the year goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salaries for younger players have exploded since Leo Carlsson, 21, signed a five-year, $90 million offer sheet<\/a> with the Philadelphia Flyers in July, a contract the Anaheim Ducks were all but forced to match.<\/p>\n

This week, Smith saw two of his teammates at Boston College, Cutter Gauthier and Ryan Leonard, also sign massive new deals.<\/p>\n

Gauthier, 22, inked a six-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks carrying a $13.5 million AAV, and the 21-year-old Leonard, drafted by the Washington Capitals the same year Smith went to the Sharks in 2023, signed an eight-year extension with a $10.5 million AAV.<\/p>\n

But it can be argued that the contracts for Carlsson and Gauthier have left the Ducks in a less-than-ideal spot, with the two deals taking up just over 30% of the team\u2019s cap this season and 27.7% of next year\u2019s ledger. To free up cap space to help sign Gauthier, the Ducks and Chris Kreider mutually agreed last week to terminate the final year of the veteran\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0deal<\/a>, which had a $6.5 million AAV.<\/p>\n

Other young guys to sign big deals recently include 21-year-old Chicago Blackhawks captain Connor Bedard (five years, $75 million), Smith\u2019s good friend, 20-year-old\u00a0Vancouver Canucks defenseman Zeev Buium (eight years, $75 million), 24-year-old Washington Capitals forward Justin Sourdif (eight years, $50.8 million), and Boston Bruins forward Fraser Minten, 22,<\/a> (seven years, $50.4 million).<\/p>\n

With the cap rising, NHL teams are placing bets that young players can live up to their promise to the point where their exorbitant contracts are one day seen as bargains.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the last league to get to that area of payment,\u201d said winger Mason Marchment, who signed a five-year, $33.75 deal with the Sharks in July. \u201cI think it\u2019s great for the game. It\u2019s awesome for these guys getting paid and being able to support their family. It\u2019s hard to play in the NHL. It\u2019s not easy to get here, so you should be rewarded for playing in the NHL.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of these deals, (teams are) maybe hoping that these guys turn out to be elite players, which I hope they do. I think it\u2019s awesome. They deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What would Smith\u2019s approach be to this season if he doesn\u2019t have a contract by opening night next month?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not worried about it,\u201d Smith said. \u201cJust control what I can control. I\u2019m worried about playing hockey. I\u2019m obviously really happy for all (my friends), especially Mack. It\u2019s great for the league, but for me, it\u2019s just go out there and play hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is Grier concerned that Smith\u2019s next deal could become more expensive if the Boston-born forward has a monster year in 2026-27?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s some risk there, but at the same time, if he has a really good year, it\u2019s good for us, and we\u2019ll deal with it from there,\u201d Grier said. \u201cBut I think we have, at least on our side, we have an idea of what the ballpark he\u2019ll be in, and I think it should work, hopefully, for both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2013 San Jose Sharks winger Will Smith has, in recent weeks, seen several young players \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[184,7,401,402,100,404,88,90,89,98,198,403,94685,200,127],"class_list":["post-467969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-hockey","tag-inside-sports","tag-news","tag-nhl","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-sharks-alert","tag-social-alert","tag-south-bay","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467969","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=467969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}