Mike Grier talks Sharks 2024 Draft class and Macklin Celebrini

Mike Grier talks Sharks 2024 Draft class and Macklin Celebrini

we’re here with the general manager of the San Jose Sharks Mike Greer and Mike it’s been a big weekend for you melini first overall pick I guess we could talk about it now right Cu uh you know even though we all knew that the way it was going to go but uh how excited are you to have this young man uh be part of the future of your organization yeah we’re really excited um you know I think he’s uh you know it’s the person and the player um really driven kit big personality um highly competitive and you know I think he’s someone uh you know we look forward to having for a long long time and to kind of someone to build around and him and will up the middle is pretty exciting for us let me ask you about the process now with celebrini I mean you guys talk to him do you wait for him to make a decision like where where is that process yeah we’ll talk um probably talk to him and his family in the next couple days um he uh you know we wanted know I thought it was important for him to enjoy last night with his family and friends and kind of soak it all in and um you know I’ll be in touch with him and um you know his agent his family we’ll talk over the next couple days and kind of see where it goes it was nice you guys had jumbo out there with him and you know he was the first overall pick and such an icon to our sport uh you know could he play a role for you guys in helping Mentor this young guy as he moves forward absolutely I think um we’re really um fortunate to have jumbo and Patty around a lot and uh that they’re willing to come come on the ice and and kind of teach these kids and give them little pointers and tips about the power play play and you know Finding passing lanes and how to play offense in the NHL so um you know I think it’s it’s uh going to be an important piece of their development and we’re lucky to have them you know you talked about having celebrini and having Will Smith two guys that play the middle you have a right shot you have a left shot I mean these are the things that set you up for long-term success right yeah hopefully you know we’re excited about both of them um you know they’re both really competitive um you know they work on their craft all the time they want to be the best and um like you said the Lefty righty things pretty good and uh intriguing to us but and they’re they’re different enough players that they both offer different things so um we’re excited to have them and we feel lucky to have them and um you know the future is pretty exciting then you had a second first round pick and you ended up with Dickinson from uh London in the Ontario League were you surprised that he was still there I assume that when you traded up you wanted to get into an area where maybe you got one of a couple of different players were you surprised it was him yeah that was the goal um yeah we’re definitely surprised was still there you know he was pretty high high on our board um so when he was there we were thrilled um you know to have the opportunity to leave the draft with a a number one Center and a potentially top pair D um it’s pretty rare and um you know uh day one couldn’t have worked out any better for us Mike you know how hard this league is you played in the league for a long time I see you’re adding you added Jake wman you added barklay G you added some some experienced Pros to put around some of these young kids is that the goal now in these next several weeks is just to try to build some professionalism and some veteran group around the young players to help Mentor them moving forward absolutely yeah we got to insulate them a little bit so they don’t feel like they got the weight of the world on them um and uh protect them and teach them how to be a pro like you said um It’s A Hard League uh these kids have produced at a high level their whole life and it’s probably not going to be that way right off the bat so there’s going to be ups and downs and um some tough nights and some learning experience so the more veterans we can have around them that’s been through it to kind of calm them down and let them know that it’s okay that that maybe you’re struggling a little bit um it’s important for us so those guys that we’ve added are not only competitive and make our team harder to play against but um they’ll insulate them a little bit and hopefully we can maybe add one or two more pieces I was going to ask you July 1 just around the corner it’s been busy here today I mean there’s been you know Utah now is in a different position right so they’re more of a player what do you think these next several days will be like yeah it’s I think it’s going to be unpredictable really I think um like you said today kind of kicked off things I think everyone was a little bit surprised by some of the deals that went down but um you know it’ll be interesting there’s only uh every team’s trying to get better and um you know there’s only so many seats at the table so we’ll try and grab a player or two but it’s going to be hard against going against those other 31 teams yeah for sure Mike thanks so much for the time congratulations on continuing this rebuild you undale a little bit so celebrini and Smith up the middle that’s something to like for a long long time time so keep up the good work and much uh good luck thanks thanks for having me

San Jose Sharks General Manager Mike Grier spoke with E.J. Hradek about the organization’s draft moves and their number one pick, Macklin Celebrini.

Don’t forget to subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRsrhXtzXmzYX_fiyNHHxbw?sub_confirmation=1

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NHLNetwork
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NHLNetwork/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nhlnetwork