Mike Grier of the San Jose Sharks celebrates during a game in 2008. Grier on Tuesday became the first Black general manager in the NHL when he was hired by the Sharks. Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Sharks have hired longtime NHL forward Mike Grier to become the first Black general manager in NHL history.
“It means a lot to me,” Grier said at his introductory news conference Tuesday. “It’s not something I take lightly. I realize there’s a responsibility that comes with the territory. But I’m up for it. How I carry myself and how this organization carries themselves, I think we’ll do well and hopefully we’ll leave a footprint and open some doors for people to follow.”
Grier fills the spot that opened when Doug Wilson stepped away for health reasons earlier this year.
Grier spent three of his 14 seasons in the NHL with the Sharks from 2006-09, and he has spent the past decade filling various roles as a coach and scout around the league. He was most recently the hockey operations advisor for the New York Rangers.
Grier was the pick after a lengthy search that included dozens of candidates and lasted nearly three months since Wilson announced he was stepping down on April 7. Wilson had taken a leave of absence in November.
The barrier-breaking hire comes less than a week after interim general manager Joe Will announced that head coach Bob Boughner and three of his assistants wouldn’t return next season. Will said he made the move two months after the season ended to give the new general manager a clean slate.
Grier has a tough task in San Jose in trying to rebuild a team that has missed the playoffs for three straight seasons for the first time in franchise history.
Grier will have to get to work quickly, hiring a new coach and dealing with the draft Thursday and Friday and the start of free agency next week. San Jose has the 11th pick in the first round.
Grier comes from a family of successful sports executives. His brother, Chris, serves as general manager of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, and his father, Bobby, served as a longtime coach and front office executive for the New England Patriots and Houston Texans.
Grier said he’s 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 rosters and things like that at dinner,” he said. “I would want to talk football, they would want to talk hockey. I lean on them a lot. They get a different perspective because of the sports, but I definitely lean on them a lot and trust their input.”
Grier went into hockey instead, playing 1,060 games in the NHL for Edmonton, Washington, Buffalo and San Jose. He had 162 goals and 221 assists in his career.
AHL: The Coachella Valley Firebirds have hired the American Hockey League’s first female assistant coach.
Jessica Campbell spent the past year working with the Tri-City Storm of the USHL development program and she was an assistant coach with Germany at the IIHF men’s world championships.
Coachella Valley is set to begin its first season this fall as the AHL affiliate for the Seattle Kraken.
MAPLE LEAFS: Toronto promoted Hockey Hall of Famer Hayley Wickenheiser, Ryan Hardy and Darryl Metcalf to assistant general manager and hired Curtis Sanford as a goaltending coach.
Wickenheiser, a four-time Olympic gold medalist with the Canadian women’s hockey team, joined the Leafs as assistant director of player development in 2018 and was promoted to senior director of the department last year.
Wickenheiser was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019.
ISLANDERS: New York hired Doug Houda and Brian Wiseman as assistant coaches, the team said.
Houda joins new Isles coach Lane Lambert’s staff after six seasons as an assistant with the Detroit Red Wings. He had worked the previous decade in the same role with the Boston Bruins, who won the Stanley Cup in 2011.
Wiseman spent the last three seasons with the Edmonton Oilers as an assistant coach. Prior to that, he was an assistant coach at the University of Michigan for eight seasons. He also served as an assistant at Princeton.
PENGUINS: Pittsburgh is sticking with Casey DeSmith, signing the team’s No. 2 goaltender to a two-year contract extension that carries an average annual value of $1.8 million.
The signing gives the Penguins a dependable option behind All-Star Tristan Jarry. The 30-year-old DeSmith played in 26 games for Pittsburgh in 2021-22, going 11-6-5 with a 2.79 goals-against average and .914 save percentage. His three shutouts tied a career high set in 2018-19. He set a franchise record for saves made in a shutout on April 21 when he stopped 52 shots by the Boston Bruins.
RANGERS: New York gave forward Julien Gauthier a one-year contract extension.
Gauthier had three goals and four assists in 49 games this past season, with the goals and assists being career highs. The 24-year-old has five goals and 13 assists in 96 career NHL games, split between the Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes.
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