“It means a lot to me,” Grier said at his introductory press conference Tuesday. “It’s not something I take lightly. I realize there’s a responsibility that comes with the territory. But I’m ready for it. How I carry myself and how this organization carries itself, I think we’re going to do well and hopefully we can let a footprint and open some doors for the world to follow.” Grier fills the spot that opened when Doug Wilson left for health reasons on April 7. Wilson had been placed on leave in November with Joe Will serving in the interim role since then. Team president Jonathan Becher said Grier emerged from a pool of dozens of candidates because of his experience as a player, scout, coach and executive over the past several decades and his commitment to building a winning culture in San Jose. But he also acknowledged the hiring history. “I hope you will be an inspiration to a lot of people and that I hope you will be the first and certainly not the last,” Becher told Grier. Grier spent three of his 14 NHL seasons with the Sharks from 2006-09. He retired in 2011 after playing 1,060 career games and spent time as a scout in Chicago, an assistant coach in New Jersey and most recently a hockey operations consultant for the New York Rangers, where he was given many of the responsibilities of an assistant. Director-General. The hiring comes less than a week after Will announced that head coach Bob Boughner and three of his assistants will not be returning next season. Will said he made the move two months after the season ended to give the new GM a clean slate. Grier has a tough task in San Jose trying to rebuild a team that missed the playoffs for three straight seasons for the first time in franchise history. Grier will have to get down to business quickly, dealing with Thursday and Friday’s draft, the start of free agency next week and the need to hire a coaching staff and build the front office. Grier, who played three of his 14 NHL seasons with the Sharks, could trade defensemen Brent Burns or Erik Karlsson to create more flexibility. “We have to stay patient and stay with the vision we believe in,” he said on Tuesday. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press/File)
I’m not interested in a complete rebuild
Grier said the draft and free agency are the immediate priorities, along with trying to create more salary cap flexibility if possible, before turning to the coaching search. “I just think it’s a challenge to try to sort everything out as quickly as possible, but to do it the right way and be thorough,” he said. “It’s a challenge, but everything I’m looking forward to.” Grier said he has no interest in tearing up the team and doing a complete rebuild, but acknowledged that it may be necessary to take a step back to move forward. San Jose has plenty of high-priced veterans on the roster and could look to either defenseman Brent Burns or Erik Karlsson or acquire defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic to create more flexibility. “It’s definitely a balance,” Grier said. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself and be the kid in a candy store and say ‘I can go get this. I can go get that.’ We must remain patient and stay with the vision we believe in and not rush. I think we’re going to blaze a trail and stay the course and not rush anything and catch up and end up digging a hole that I can’t get out of going forward.” Grier comes from a family of successful sports executives. His brother, Chris, serves as the general manager of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, and his father, Bobby, served as a longtime head coach and front office executive for the New England Patriots and Houston Texans. Grier said he has been preparing for this new role since he was about 10 years old in discussions he had with his brother and father. “Growing up we talked about the challenges of building a roster and things like that over dinner,” he said. “I’d like to talk about football, they’d like to talk about hockey. I lean on them a lot. They have a different perspective because of the sports, but I definitely lean on them a lot and trust their input.” The NHL emphasizes diversity with several women also having opportunities in front office positions and on coaching staffs. The Arizona Coyotes announced Tuesday that Kelsey Koelzer and Kori Cheverie will serve as coaches under head coach Andre Tourigny during the team’s development program next week.
