SAN JOSE – Sharks general manager Mike Grier attended the recent IIHF World Junior Championships in Canada and just like everyone else, was blown away by the unbelievable performance of Connor Bedard.
“It’s a 19-year-old tournament,” Grier said Friday. “For a kid to go in there and do what he did as a 17-year-old. After one game I said, ‘I don’t even think he played well.’ Then I was handed the (scoresheet) and was like, ‘Oh, he had four points. I guess he was OK.’
“Special, special player.”
Bedard, a 5-foot-10, 180-pound center, had 23 points in seven games and was named the tournament’s MVP as he helped lead Canada to its 20th all-time gold medal at the event.
In late June, Bedard, who had 75 points in 30 WHL games this season before Saturday, is expected to be the first player chosen in the NHL Draft, bringing the kind of exceptional talent that can help turn around the fortunes of a moribund franchise.
The Sharks say they’re not tanking, and although they were blasted 7-1 by the Edmonton Oilers on Friday, the fact that over half of their games have been decided by two goals or less lends some credence to that argument.
Still, this is a Sharks roster that needs a lot of work, as proven by a 13-23-8 record that is fifth-worst in the NHL. If the Sharks stay in that spot and the NHL keeps the same draft lottery odds they had last year, they’ll have an 8.5 percent chance of drafting Bedard.
Grier can already envision the tantalizing possibilities.
“It you get a chance to draft a guy at the top. I think they can do wonders for your organization,” Grier said. “Not only on the ice, but I think it gives hope and optimism to the fan base as well.
“Adding someone like (Bedard), I think people will want to come out and see him and see what he’s all about. So it would be great for the organization, but we’ll play as hard as we can here for the second half of the year, and we get to (the lottery), we’ll see where the balls land.”
Could winning the lottery accelerate Grier’s plan?
“I don’t know if it’ll accelerate it. It’ll bring some excitement to the organization for sure,” Grier said. “But we have to be smart about how we approach the offseason, who we sign, or who we try to acquire. I don’t think we want to get out of hand and get too excited because we’ve got an 18-year-old kid coming in.
“We’d be excited to get a player like (Bedard) for sure, but I don’t think it changes what we’re going to try and do.”
Grier touched on several topics Friday as he met with local reporters. Here are some highlights:
ON WHAT THE ROSTER NEEDS: “We don’t really have the young guys pushing to grab the torch from the other guys, which I think (the Sharks) have had in the past. Whether you’ve had (Joe Thornton), Patty (Marleau), and (Joe Pavelski) here and you had Tomas (Hertl) and Logan (Couture) and those guys kind of pushing up from the bottom to kind of grab the mantle. If I was going to point to one thing, we don’t have those young guys who are ready to kind of take over the core.”
ON IF THE PLAYOFFS ARE REALISTIC FOR NEXT SEASON: “In sports, things can happen. Guys can play well. You can have unexpected seasons, but I don’t know if it’s realistic or unrealistic. At the same time, everyone’s a year older.”
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF A HIGH-DRAFT PICK: ”It would be great for the franchise. We’re trying to do the best we can to replenish some of the prospect pool and get some guys in there to kind of push up. We’ll see how the rest of the season goes. But if we’re able to get one of those top guys, I think it’s hugely important for the organization and to move forward with someone we can start to really build around.”
ON SHARKS OWNER HASSO PLATTNER: “He’s a busy man. We talk, whether that’s through text or phone call or email, I would probably say every couple of weeks. He’s busy, but he watches every game and he’s sharp. He’s got his thoughts on the group and on the players. It’s always nice to talk with him and to see how passionate he still is about the Sharks.”
ON PLATTNER’S THOUGHTS ON THIS SEASON: “I think it’s safe to say he wants this team to do well and wants us to get back to being in the playoffs and having a chance to win the Stanley Cup as soon as possible.”
ON WHEN HIS TOP PROSPECTS WILL BE CALLED UP: “There’s no specific date. We sent those guys down with specific things we wanted them to work on and to their credit, they’re working on those things, and they’re improving. They have some success and they also have some tough nights.”
ON RYAN MERKLEY’S TRADE REQUEST: “I don’t think he was thrilled that he didn’t go to Europe to begin with. We’ve asked him to do things … things we’ve asked him to do more consistently and the consistency hasn’t been there from his standpoint.
“He’s got NHL talent. He can run a power play. He’s got great vision, but to play in the NHL you’ve got to consistently compete defensively. You’ve got to be engaged, whether you’re a big guy or a small guy, you’ve got to be willing to engage physically in your own end and care about box outs and things like that, and I think he’s just been very inconsistent with that. So that’s what we’re asking from him. If he can give us that, there’s opportunity.”
ON JOE THORNTON: “There will be a place for him whenever he decides he wants one. I think he’s just enjoying being a dad, to be honest. He’s being a hockey dad, driving (his son) around and he’s on the bench and on the ice. I think he’s just enjoying being a dad. He had a weekend with his daughter, where it’s just him and his daughter for a weekend.
“I just think he’s enjoying being a dad and not having any time constraints or having to be anywhere at any time. When he wants to do something else, there’s a spot for him here but in the meantime, he’s been a good sounding board for me. He watches our games, he watches the Barracuda games. He’s someone I can ask his opinion on different things.”
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