Posted by Curtis Pashelka
https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/07/11/san-jose-sharks-mike-grier-toronto-maple-leafs-edmonton-oilers-ryan-reaves-jeff-skinner/
https://www.mercurynews.com/?p=12111780
SAN JOSE – Whatever happens this season with the Sharks, no one will be able to accuse general manager Mike Grier of being inactive.
The Sharks continued a dizzying two-week period by trading defenseman Henry Thrun to the Toronto Maple Leafs for enforcer Ryan Reaves on Thursday night and signing fellow forward Jeff Skinner to a one-year, $3 million contract on Friday.
During an extreme offseason makeover following a second straight last-place finish in the NHL standings, the Sharks added four veteran forwards, including three who can provide some offensive punch, addressed some defensive deficiencies by bringing in three seasoned blueliners, and traded for an experienced goalie to pair with their highly regarded rookie netminder.
The moves no doubt heighten expectations for the Sharks, who haven’t sniffed a playoff spot since 2019 and needed to take steps toward being relevant again.
“The last couple of years, we’ve basically been out of (the playoff race) by New Year’s,” Grier said Friday. “If we’re into March, and we’re still kind of hanging around, then that would be a good thing.
“But I’ve never really wanted to put expectations on a number of wins and losses, I just think us being a more competitive team night and night out, and learning from last year, will be a step in the right direction.”
Since July 1, and with over $40 million in salary cap space available, the Sharks have added forwards Skinner, Reaves, Adam Gaudette, and Philipp Kurashev, defensemen Dmitry Orlov, John Klingberg, and Nick Leddy, and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, who will tandem with Yaroslav Askarov.
During that time, the Sharks have evolved from being the third-youngest team in the NHL to the 13th-oldest, with an average age of 28.68 years.
Whether that means the Sharks can get into a playoff hunt and play meaningful games when next year’s trade deadline approaches is unknown. But clearly, Grier wants the days of the Sharks being bottom feeders to be over, both for the sake of their younger stars like Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and William Eklund, and veteran holdovers like Mario Ferraro and Tyler Toffoli.
“I think that’s important for everyone,” Grier said. “You could even say it’s even more important for the vets, the guys who maybe don’t have another 10 years in front of them, like (Celebrini, Smith, and Eklund).
“I think it was important to show those guys that this is not just a tear down every year, sell off every year, and start over. It’s time to start building up this thing and taking steps forward and winning more.”
Grier said last week, after signing Orlov and claiming Leddy off waivers, that he was interested in acquiring a top-nine forward to add to his already revamped group. He might have found one in Skinner, a 15-year NHL veteran who has 699 points in 1,078 career NHL games, with stops in Carolina and Buffalo before spending last season with the Edmonton Oilers.
Skinner, 33, had 29 points (16 goals, 13 assists) in 72 games with the Oilers as he made the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in his career. He became a free agent on July 1, just weeks after the Oilers lost the Cup final to the Florida Panthers in six games.
Skinner had 40 goals and 75 points the last two seasons, and could give the Sharks’ power play, which ranked 26th in the NHL last season with the man advantage at 18.6 percent, a needed boost.
The Sharks also hope the additions of Klingberg, Orlov, and Gaudette will make a difference and put players in more natural roles.
“The power play had to improve,” Grier said. “At times last year, we were trying to put square pegs into round holes.”
The Sharks were expected to trade one of their defenseman after earlier moves left them with eight defensemen, including Thrun, who would need to go through waivers to be sent to the AHL.
Thrun, 24, had mainly been used as a second- or third-pair defenseman by the Sharks since he was acquired from Anaheim in Feb. 2023. In 119 games over three seasons, he had 25 points and averaged 18:44 in ice time. This past season, Thrun, a Harvard alum, appeared in 60 games, had 12 points, and averaged 17:31 of ice time.
Reaves, 38, has been known as one of hockey’s premier fighters and bigger personalities during his NHL career. In a combined 912 games with the Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins, Vegas Golden Knights, New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild, and Maple Leafs, Reaves has 137 points (63 goals, 74 assists) and 1,100 penalty minutes.
The Sharks might have felt like they needed a veteran enforcer like Reaves to help ensure other teams do not take liberties with their young, smaller players. Barclay Goodrow mostly played that role for the Sharks last season, collecting seven fighting majors, but also averaged nearly 14 minutes in ice time and was the team’s top penalty killing forward.
Reaves, listed at 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, wanted a change of scenery after he played in just 35 games with the Leafs last season, averaging 7:48 in ice time, and was placed on waivers. He is entering the final year of a three-year, $4.05 million contract that carries a $1.35 million cap hit.
Reaves was an unpopular player amongst Sharks fans when he was with the rival Golden Knights from 2018 to 2021. His battles, verbal and otherwise, with ex-Sharks forward Evander Kane took on a life of their own, especially when the two teams met in the playoffs in 2018 and 2019.
“I think that it’s good that there was a little buffer in between, to let that (animosity) cool off a little,” Reaves said with a smile on Friday. “There’s a few teams over the years that I probably would have said I never would have gone to.”
Grier would not necessarily rule out other moves, but after remaking over one-third of the 23-man roster, most of the heavy lifting appears over.
“I would say we’re probably finished, but I guess you never know,” Grier said. “If there’s a trade scenario that pops up as we go here, and it’s enticing, then we’ll definitely look into it.”
https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/07/11/san-jose-sharks-mike-grier-toronto-maple-leafs-edmonton-oilers-ryan-reaves-jeff-skinner/
https://www.mercurynews.com/?p=12111780
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
sjmerc_local_feed
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
