San Jose Sharks to make Mike Grier first black GM in NHL history

Mike Grier and the San Jose Sharks are about to make hockey history.

The Sharks have been working on finding their next GM after Doug Wilson stepped down from the job in April after 19 seasons. And according to multiple reports Monday, they appear to have found his replacement in Grier.

The Sharks already have an announcement planned for 2:00 ET Tuesday, during which they’re expected to unveil their new GM, but ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reported Monday that the choice will indeed be Grier.

That would make Grier, 47, the first black GM in the history of the NHL. That comes two years after the Florida Panthers made Brett Peterson the first black assistant GM in NHL history and 24 years after the Chicago Blackhawks made Dirk Graham the first black head coach in NHL history.

When the team introduced Grier as their new general manager on Tuesday, Sharks president Jonathan Becher said “we hired the best general manager available. Mike just happens to be Black.”

Grier retired as an NHL player in 2011 following a 14-season career in which he logged 1,060 games between the Edmonton Oilers, Buffalo Sabres, the Sharks and the Washington Capitals, tallying 162 goals and 383 points, forging a reputation as one of the game’s most tenacious and punishing checkers while also twice hitting the 20-goal mark. Starting in 2014-15, he spent four seasons as a pro scout in the Chicago Blackhawks organization. He then spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils and worked this past season as the New York Rangers’ hockey operations co-ordinator.

Grier will inherit a fixer-upper of a franchise in the Sharks, who have missed the playoffs in three straight years after missing just once in the previous 15 seasons. They’re slowing rebuilding what has long been one of the weakest prospect crops in the NHL, the product of contending so consistently and rarely picking in the top half of the first round in the NHL draft. Between defensemen Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic and center Logan Couture, the Sharks also have $34.5 million in cap space tied up in players 32 or older.

Grier said that the Sharks won’t be looking to go into a tear-down-and-rebuild situation…

“We’re not looking to tear this down like Arizona, we’re not looking to rebuild, but maybe we gotta step back a little to move forward,” Grier said.

Grier will take the job just two days before the 2022 NHL Draft. The Sharks own the 11th overall pick.