Grier, Sharks hit a home run on Day 1 of '26 Draft

SAN JOSE — It's not every day a general manager gets to have his cake and eat it too during an entry draft.

For Mike Grier and his scouting staff, that's exactly what they were able to do in the first round of the NHL 2026 Entry Draft.

The San Jose Sharks general manger had an epic first day on a Friday afternoon when they made three selections in the first round on Day 1. At the start of the day, San Jose had the overall number two, ninth and 27th picks. Getting the second pick was a bit of luck as the ping pong balls knew the way to San Jose as the Sharks were awarded the second overall pick at the NHL Draft Lottery back in May. The Toronto Maple Leafs won the lottery and picked forward Gavin Mckenna with the first overall pick of the draft.

San Jose then took the next best available player in the draft with Sweden's Ivar Stenberg out of Frölunda HC of the Swedish Hockey League. Last season for Frölunda HC, the 18-year Stenberg scored 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists) in 43 games. That was the fifth most points scored by a 18-year-old in the history of the SHL, only behind Daniel and Henrik Sedin. The Sedin twins went on to have Hall of Fame careers playing for the Vancouver Canucks.

Many pundits and scouts have marveled about how good Stenberg's hockey IQ is. The same was said about Celebrini when he went first overall in the 2024 NHL Draft. Other qualities Stenberg possesses are great puck handling skills and vision at such a young age. While he may not be the biggest forward coming out of the draft at 6'0" and 190 pounds, the consensus is that he and McKenna are the two draftees that are NHL ready right now. Not to put any pressure on him, but his addition will make the Sharks lineup even more potent both five-on-five and on the power play.

Stenberg was grateful when he heard his name call at number two.

"I was just thinking of my family," said Stenberg when asked what was going through mind after hearing his named called. "Not too much about the team, just so happy that the Sharks picked me and super grateful for that."

Grier fleeced the Ottawa Senators of the ninth pick just three days before the draft. San Jose traded forward William Eklund, Barracuda forward Kasper Halttunen and prospect Brandon Svoboda. Eklund, who was a fan favorite and is now reunited with his good friend Fabian Zetterlund, had a down year stats wise with just 15 goals (two fewer than the '24-'25 season) and only 53 points with a -32 plus/minus rating. Considering he was the seventh overall pick of the 2021 draft; there were high expectations for Eklund to produce offensively that for some reason never materialized. During his time with San Jose, Eklund never hit the 20-goal mark and the most goals he scored was 17 two seasons ago.

As far Halttunen, he showed some promise playing last season with the Cuda but as far as the depth chart went in getting promoted to the parent team, other prospects such as Igor Chernyshov, Quentin Musty and Filip Bystedt were ahead of him in that department. In fact, Chernyshov's stint in the AHL was a short one as he finished the season with the Sharks after his second call up with the team and was a winger on the number one line that included Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith.

One can't blame Ottawa for sending the Sharks the ninth pick which they had just acquired the day before on June 22nd after sending their star forward Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers for four draft picks, including the ninth and 25th in this year's draft. The Senators need to replace Tkachuk's production immediately and will get the chance to do that with Eklund and Halttunen in their lineup.

The argument before landing the ninth pick was would the Sharks take the best player available at number two which was Stenberg or would they choose one of the top three defensive prospects to fill a glaring need, their blueline. Defense was the Sharks Achilles heel last season and was the main reason they did not qualify for the Stanely Cup Playoffs. After learning of the trade, I predicted the Sharks would take Stenberg at number two AND get one of the top three defenseman in the Top 10. Those three prospects were Carson Carels (6th overall to the Calgary Flames), Chase Reid (7th overall to the Seattle Kraken) and Keaton Verhoeff.

Grier put that argument to rest after the trade with Ottawa. He now had the flexibility and options with the ninth and 27th picks. He could've dangled those picks in front of a desperate GM looking to cut salary and trade for an already established number one NHL defenseman. Instead, he chose who he wanted at number nine and selected Verhoeff out of the University of North Dakota. At 6'4" and 212 pounds, Verhoeff is a two-way defenseman with a combination of size, skill, and hockey IQ. He has a great right-handed shot, something the Sharks have sorely been missing, and will be the future point man on the power play as well as a mainstay on the penalty kill.

Many scouts had Verhoeff, who had six goals and 14 assists in 36 games last season for the Fighting Hawks, as a top five prospect and most scouting services ranked him within the top five overall, with NHL Central Scouting placing him 2nd among North American skaters. It was another steal for Grier to land Verhoeff at number nine when he could have been selected as early as the third overall pick. Sharks fans should send former Sharks center Manny Malhotra, the new head coach in Vancouver, a gift basket for having the team select his son Caleb with that pick.

Verhoeff believes he's joining a special group in the South Bay with the young talented core that has established itself as a future playoff contender.

"It's special, they're a super special group there with a lot of talent," said Verhoeff about his soon to be new teammates. "The next 10 to 15 years it's going to be pretty special there. I mean the players how they've been playing already. Seeing them take the jump, they've been an exciting team to watch. (I'm) super excited to see where it's going to take them. I can't wait to get to San Jose, to go to camp and take it from there."

And just when you thought Grier was done wheeling and dealing and content to pick at number 27, he traded up to number 21 by sending the Philadelphia Flyers three draft pics in this year's draft, including number 27, 62 (second round) and 102 (fourth round). With the 21st pick, San Jose selected another right-handed shooting defenseman in Ryan Lin from the Vancouver Giants of the WHL. The 18-year-old defenseman had a great final season of junior league hockey with 57 points (14 goals, 43 assists) in 53 games. Lin is committed to play at the University of Denver, who just happened to win the national championship this past season and 11th overall in its school's history.

Lin has skated with Celebrini this summer up in Vancouver. He believes the Sharks are now a destination where players want to go and play for.

"I've been on the ice with him a few times this summer," said Lin regarding his interactions with Celebrini. "San Jose is starting to become a spot where I think guys really want to go cause of guys like Macklin (Celebrini) and they talent that they have. I couldn't be more happier."

I asked Grier how that cake was tasting (you could throw in a hot fudge sundae with the Lin pick), on the team's Zoom call after the completion of the first round, after such a successful night where the Sharks earned an "A" on their report card on the first day of the draft.

"It was a good day for us," said Grier with a bit of a chuckle. "We're excited."

Grier also mentioned Lin was the highest player left on their list and was someone him and his staff really wanted and didn't think he would fall to their lap at 27.

"We didn't think there was any chance at getting him (Lin) at 27 so we decided to just try and go up and get our guy," Grier said.

San Jose can now relax and enjoy what they accomplished on Day 1. On Day 2 of the draft, they don't pick again until the 4th round at number 127 and then finish off the draft with two more picks, one in the sixth (#174) and one in the seventh (#201) and final round.

We could be looking back at one of the best draft classes for the San Jose Sharks. Time will time but the future is teal and it's looking pretty damn good at the moment.