Sharks’ Grier Always Willing To Listen, But Trading For 2nd Pick Will Be Expensive

The San Jose Sharks lucked out at the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery, as they moved from the 9th pick to the 2nd pick.

Despite not showing emotions on the broadcast, Sharks GM Mike Grier was elated about the move up the draft. The 2026 NHL Draft is the third straight draft in which Team Teal has selected a top-two pick, and the fourth straight in the top four.

“Shocked, really. You never know what’s going to happen and how the balls are going to bounce. It’s kind of happy and excited. It’s a good day for the organization,” Grier told reporters following the lottery.

Then came the questions about whether he’d be open to moving the No. 2 overall pick.

“I’m always open to listening to what’s out there, and if people have ideas or thoughts, I’ll listen. We’ll kind of go from there,” Grier said.

Sure, he’s willing to listen to offers; it is his job, too. On multiple occasions since taking over as the GM of the San Jose Sharks, Grier has said he will listen. He admitted to listening to calls for the 2024 No. 1 pick, which was Macklin Celebrini. He also admitted that the amount of time he listened to offers for that pick was very short.

“I got some good [trade offers]. There were probably some [deals] that were really comparable to [Ricky Williams or Herschel Walker],” Grier said. “As crazy as a couple of them were, we didn’t really think about it for more than 30 seconds.”

While the price tag for the 2026 2nd-overall pick isn’t as high as the 2024 1st, it’s still very expensive. Grier was already open to moving their 2026 1st-rounder before the lottery.

“I don’t know if it makes it unlikely, but it’s obviously a different price tag [than] trading the ninth pick,” Grier said. “That’s probably what the part of the equation that changes.”

Reports from NHL Insiders have added more smoke to the Sharks’ interest in trading the No. 2 pick. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period recently wrote that the “Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers, Calgary Flames, and Winnipeg Jets may be among the teams interested in moving up.”

Sure, they want to move up, but there is a reason why they all finished down in the standings. They are all starting a rebuild or retool. And what NHL team wouldn’t want to move up and trade with the San Jose Sharks? Grier has amassed a top-two prospect pool in the NHL, but it is filled with forwards. Ivar Stenberg, a forward, is the projected No. 2 pick, making San Jose a trade-back candidate for a d-man.

Grier has maintained that wherever the Sharks select in the first round, it will be the best player available.

While appearing on the DFO Rundown Insider Edition, Pagnotta said, “I think San Jose is serious about wanting to listen, excuse me, willing to listen on that second-overall pick. I could see Vancouver with motivation to move up, I could see the Rangers with motivation to move up. I think Calgary with motivation to move up. We’ll see kind of where that goes. It’s super fresh, and we’ve got what, five-six weeks? But there’s runway there where San Jose is going to be a pretty attractive team for clubs looking to move up to get basically, again, argument’s sake, Stenberg at #2.”

While Pagnotta certainly has the knowledge to speculate options, SHD believes the odds of the Sharks trading No. 2 are slim. No team has traded a top-three pick in the NHL Draft since 2003. It just doesn’t happen much. The price of acquiring the pick will be a haul, and with the talent level of young players going up, picking Stenberg still seems like the best plan. Yes, adding to the blue line is needed, but passing up on a player like Stenberg is a hard pill to swallow.

At the time, the Sharks didn’t realize their first-round pick in 2020 would’ve been a top-three pick in the Erik Karlsson deal with the Ottawa Senators. Tim Stutzle was selected with that pick. It worked out in the end, as they now have Celebrini and Michael Misa, but in hindsight, trading a would-be top-three pick didn’t turn out well.

Grier wouldn’t be doing a good job as the GM of the San Jose Sharks if he didn’t at least listen to trade offers. Celebrini might be the only true untouchable player of the franchise. A good GM is always willing to listen, even for 30 seconds.