{"id":3627,"date":"2026-07-03T07:07:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T07:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3627"},"modified":"2026-07-03T07:07:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T07:07:41","slug":"money-well-spent-mike-grier-confident-new-deals-make-sharks-better-despite-some-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3627","title":{"rendered":"Money well spent? Mike Grier confident new deals make Sharks better despite “some risk”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SAN JOSE \u2013 The San Jose Sharks spent big on the first day of free agency, handing out more than $66 million in new contracts to three players, while adding another $37 million to the payroll with the acquisition of defenseman Darnell Nurse from the Edmonton Oilers.<\/p>\n

Read more What\u2019s closed on Friday, July 3? Status of banks, government offices, mail delivery<\/a><\/p>\n

Time will tell whether it was money well spent, especially with the players brought in on Wednesday, all 30 or older and on multi-year deals.<\/p>\n

Still, general manager Mike Grier is confident that he has a better team now than he did last season, with a deeper forward group flush with young talent and a defense corps that\u2019s bigger and more dynamic.<\/p>\n

As he\u2019s done previously, Grier on Thursday steered clear of any talk about making the playoffs next season. But the considerable outlay for veteran players certainly signaled that the Sharks intend to take another step forward after barely missing the postseason this past year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re a better team now than we were last year. So, if that gets us in the playoffs, great,\u201d Grier said. \u201cYou never know how the season\u2019s going to go, but it\u2019s a step in the right direction, where we were able to address some of the things we wanted to address.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grier gave defensemen Jacob Trouba a four-year, $33 million deal and winger Mason Marchment a five-year, $33.75 million contract. Defenseman Darnell Nurse, now midway through an eight-year, $74 million deal, was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers for defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin and forward prospect Zack Sharp.<\/p>\n

The Sharks on Wednesday also signed veteran goalie Eric Comrie to a two-year, $2.3 million contract. Barring an injury to either Yaroslav Askarov or Alex Nedeljkovic, Comrie will likely start this upcoming season in the AHL with the Barracuda.<\/p>\n

Whatever happens, the Sharks\u2019 biggest priority this offseason was finding players who can help them cut down on the number of goals against. San Jose gave up 292 goals this past season, the third-highest total in the NHL, and was also fourth-to-last in 5-on-5 goals allowed (190).<\/p>\n

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The Sharks need to improve in that area before they can take another step forward. Grier feels the additions, including the 6-foot-5 Michael Kesselring, plus growth from defensemen Sam Dickinson in his second year, can help address that issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re a better team defensively, for sure,\u201d Grier said. \u201cWe\u2019ll be harder around our net. I think we\u2019ll be able to kill more plays. The length alone of Kesselring, (6-3 Trouba), and (6-4 Nurse) will make it harder on teams in the offensive zone (to) make plays and find time and space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be better, but we still have to go out and play the games.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much offense as you want to have today in the NHL, you\u2019ve got to be able to keep pucks out of the net to win games,\u201d Trouba said. \u201cThe best teams and the teams that win across the league are good defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more A trade in middle of development camp. Plus, Sharks legacy Gustafson scores first in prospect scrimmage<\/a><\/p>\n

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Nurse, Trouba and Marchment are now the Sharks\u2019 three-highest-paid players in terms of AAV, a reflection of the NHL\u2019s rapidly rising salary cap. Those three deals make up over 23.3% of this year\u2019s $104 million upper limit.<\/p>\n

Is there any concern about those contracts not aging well?<\/p>\n

Grier said the 31-year-old Marchment, with 370 NHL games, doesn\u2019t have the \u201chard miles\u201d of some other players his age, and added that he doesn\u2019t have any concerns about Nurse, 31, saying his conditioning will allow him to continue to be a strong skater.<\/p>\n

Regarding Trouba, 32, Grier said his value is his reliability and how hard he is to play against.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always some risk when you have a little bit of term,\u201d Grier said. \u201cBut we think these guys will be fine, and I think we felt like we were able to kind of keep the term to a manageable number on all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with those contracts, the bill is also coming due for the Sharks\u2019 top young players, with restricted free agent Collin Graf in need of a new deal this offseason and the entry-level contracts for the team\u2019s two leading scorers, Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, expiring in 2027.<\/p>\n

With the salary cap projected to be $113.5 million in 2027-28, Grier dismissed any notion of a future cap crunch. He is confident he can make it all fit and still have enough room left over to make additions in the coming years, either at the trade deadline or during the offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done our work on the numbers,\u201d Grier said.<\/p>\n

Asked if there was any talk between him and Oilers GM Stan Bowman about retaining part of Nurse\u2019s $9.25 million cap hit, Grier said, \u201cWe made the deal we made. We\u2019re happy with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sharks have about $53 million in cap space available for the 2027-28 season before the sizable Graf, Celebrini and Smith deals are completed.<\/p>\n

Graf was third on the Sharks with 21 goals last season, and Grier said Thursday he doesn\u2019t think the two sides are too far apart on what the winger\u2019s next contract will look like. He added that he and the agents for Celebrini and Smith haven\u2019t dug too deeply on their respective extensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just making sure when those extensions kick in that we still maintain some flexibility to improve the group and add players if need be,\u201d Grier said. \u201cWith the cap going up and we\u2019ll still have some younger guys on cheaper contracts, we\u2019ll be able to maneuver over these next three or four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more 125 passengers and crew hit with highly contagious stomach virus on cruise from San Francisco<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

San Jose Sharks spent big on the first day of NHL free agency. Will it pay off?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nMoney well spent? Mike Grier confident new deals make Sharks better despite “some risk” - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3627\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Money well spent? 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