The Sharks Are Done Waiting, and Mike Grier’s Draft Stockpile Proves It

For six years, the San Jose Sharks operated like a team with nothing but time. They tore the roster down to the studs, bottomed out in the standings, and collected high draft picks the way most rebuilds do. That patience produced Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and Michael Misa. It also produced a clear identity as a team waiting for its future to arrive.

This week, general manager Mike Grier made it obvious that the waiting is over. Heading into Friday’s 2026 NHL Draft, the Sharks hold three first-round picks at second, ninth, and 27th. That kind of draft capital is rare, and how Grier assembled it tells you everything about where this franchise believes it stands.

On Tuesday, San Jose traded 23-year-old winger William Eklund, along with forwards Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda, to the Ottawa Senators for the ninth-overall pick. Earlier in the month, the Sharks swapped their 20th-overall selection to the Buffalo Sabres for defenseman Michael Kesselring and the 27th-overall pick.

The Eklund move is the one that signals the shift. Grier said on Wednesday that Eklund was not a player the Sharks were actively shopping. The opportunity simply presented itself. The ninth pick Ottawa sent to San Jose was originally a Florida Panthers selection, acquired by the Senators in Sunday’s Brady Tkachuk blockbuster. When Ottawa came calling for a top-six forward to replace their departed captain, Grier recognized a chance to add another top-10 pick and pounced.

A Calculated Pivot Out of the Rebuild

What makes this notable is that Eklund was not a throwaway piece. He was the seventh-overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft and recorded 50 goals and 113 assists in 252 games across parts of five seasons in San Jose. Moving a 23-year-old top-six forward in his prime is not the action of a team still hoarding assets for some distant window.

It is the action of a team confident enough in its young core to convert a good player into the ammunition needed to build a great one. Grier himself acknowledged the change in tone around the franchise. “I think it’s probably a little bit of the fact that teams realize that we’re at the stage where we’re kind of turning the corner out of the rebuild and want to get better, so teams probably feel a little bit more open to making offers to us,” he said.

That perception matters. The Sharks are no longer viewed as a team simply collecting lottery tickets. They are viewed as a team ready to spend them. The results on the ice back up the urgency. San Jose finished the 2025-26 season with 86 points, the most since they last made the postseason seven years ago, ending four points out of the final Western Conference playoff spot.

That 34-point jump was the biggest single-season improvement in the league. A team four points from the playoffs does not think in five-year horizons. It thinks about next season.

Celebrini Changes the Math

At the center of it all is Celebrini, whose sophomore season removed any doubt about the timeline. The 19-year-old broke Joe Thornton’s single-season franchise record with 115 points, finishing with 45 goals and 70 assists in all 82 games and emerging as a Hart Trophy finalist. When a franchise has a player producing at that level on an entry-level contract, every season of contention becomes precious. Wasting even one of Celebrini’s prime years would be an organizational failure.

That reality is what should guide Grier’s decisions on Friday. Upgrading the defense remains the clear priority, and another high pick could complement Sam Dickinson, the 11th-overall selection in 2024, who had 14 points and averaged 16:45 of ice time as a rookie. The Sharks have an abundance of forward talent and a blue line that still lags well behind it. The three first-round picks give Grier the flexibility to fix that, whether through the draft or through a trade.

The Options Ahead

Having this much capital means Grier controls Friday in a way few general managers do. He could package the ninth and 27th picks to move up toward the top five and guarantee a premium defenseman like Chase Reid, Keaton Verhoeff, or Alberts Smits.

He has also said he is open to trading the second-overall pick if the return is a young top-line forward or first-pairing defenseman already further along than an 18-year-old. Rumors have linked the Sharks to established players like Kirill Marchenko, Zach Werenski, and Dylan Larkin.

Whatever path Grier chooses, the message is consistent. There is a real possibility the Sharks retain all three first-rounders, further deepening an already loaded pipeline. But the willingness to move Eklund, a useful young player, in pursuit of more shows that San Jose is no longer content to let its future develop on its own schedule.

The Sharks spent six years being patient. With Celebrini rewriting the record books and the roster knocking on the playoff door, that patience has run its course. Grier has built himself a draft-day arsenal, and on Friday, everyone will find out exactly how he plans to use it.