Mike Greer will be appointed as the new General Manager of the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, According to Kevin Wikes of ESPN.
With the lease, Grier would become the first black man to hold a GM in NHL history. Brett Peterson became GM’s first black assistant in the league when the Florida Panthers appointed him in November 2020.
The 47-year-old Grier played 1,060 games for four NHL teams during his 14-year career, including three seasons with the Sharks. After his retirement, he worked for several teams in various positions including the New Jersey Devils, Chicago Blackhawks, and New York Rangers. He spent the 2021-22 NHL season as a consultant for Rangers hockey operations.
Greer’s older brother, Chris, has been the general manager of the Miami Dolphins in the NFL since 2016.
Grier takes over the role from GM assistant Joe Will, who has been on temporary duty since November after Doug Wilson stepped down on medical grounds. In April, Wilson announced that he was leaving the organization after 19 seasons.
In preparation for naming a new GM, the Sharks fired technical director Bob Bogner on Friday. Grier’s first big step would be to find a replacement behind the bench and Weil said the new coach would be “completely independent” in the search for coaching.
next mission
After a four-year stint in which the Sharks reached the Stanley Cup Final and Western Conference Final, the franchise hasn’t reached the post-season stage since 2019. The big players are on the older side with some youngsters in attendance, but there’s a lot of work to be done. Grier takes over a roster of eight players aged 28 or over who have some form of commercial protection in their contract. Five of these players also have the highest salary cap hit rate on the team.
According to Cap Friendly, Sharks enter the summer with just over $5 million in salary cap space and a number of restricted free agents, including Mario Ferrarowho finished third on the team with an average of 23 minutes of ice time.
In terms of stocking expectations, the Sharks enter this week’s NHL draft in Montreal with nine picks, six of which will come in the final three rounds.
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Leave it on the line phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter Tweet embed.
