Mike Grier, who spent 14 seasons in the NHL as a right winger, was named general manager of the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, becoming the first black general manager in the history of a league that has just completed its season. number 105.
Grier, 47, who retired as a player in 2011, joins the team after working as a scout in Chicago and spending two years as an assistant coach with the Devils. Last season, he worked as a Rangers hockey operations consultant, reporting on team president and general manager Chris Drury, who played with Grier at Boston University and the Buffalo Sabers.
Grier comes from an accomplished sports family. His older brother, Chris, has been the general manager of the Miami Dolphins since 2016, and his father, Bobby, was an NFL runner and New England Patriots coach before taking on management jobs with the Patriots. Houston Texans. and dolphins.
“The main thing my dad instilled in us is work ethic,” Mike Grier said at a news conference in San Jose, California. “He went to work before we got up at school and sometimes he didn’t come home until after dinner or when we were ready to go to bed. He stayed up until all hours to explore, outside what needed to be done “.
Hiring is an important milestone for the NHL, where black players make up a small minority of the league lists and occupy few leadership positions.
Grier said he hoped his appointment would create opportunities for others.
“Since my playing days, the league itself has become more and more diverse, and that’s something I’m happy to see,” he said. “My job is to do my best for the San Jose organization, and if I do, I hope it opens the door to other minorities to take leadership positions.”
When Grier entered the league with the Edmonton Oilers in the 1996-97 season, he was reportedly the first African-born and developed American player in the United States to play in the NHL. Val James, born in Florida, who joined the league in 1981, and Donald Brashear, who was born in Indiana and made his NHL debut in 1993, both played youth hockey in Canada.
Grier, who was 6 feet 1 and weighed 225 pounds in his playing days, played hockey in high school at St. Louis School. Sebastian of Needham, Massachusetts, and was selected in the ninth round of the 1993 draft, the 219th overall, by the St. Sebastian’s School of Needham, Massachusetts. Louis Blues. That fall, just as Brashear was playing his first games with the Montreal Canadiens, Grier arrived at Boston University as a walker.
In his sophomore year, Grier was the top scorer on the BU national championship team playing in the front row, while Drury was a freshman in the fourth row. Grier began his professional career in Edmonton and had periods with the Washington Capitals, Sabers and Sharks.
Jonathan Becher, president of Sharks Sports and Entertainment, the franchise’s parent company, said Drury’s comments played an important role in the team’s selection, as did this year’s Rangers rebound, which they reached the final of the Eastern Conference.
“Chris has known Mike for a long time and has given him strong support as general manager,” Becher said. “Mike has that strength of character. Mike is a leader.”
“I have had the privilege of meeting Mike for three decades and I have the utmost respect for him as a person, player and executive,” Drury said in a statement. “I’m looking forward to seeing what he will do with the sharks.”
Grier joins a franchise in transition: San Jose reached the Western Conference Finals in 2019, but has since lost the playoffs three years in a row, the longest playoff drought in 30 years. franchise history.
The Sharks fired coach Bob Boughner last week. Grier replaces Joe Will, who served as interim general manager after Doug Wilson left the post in April.
Grier said he didn’t have a timeline for appointing a coach and was immediately focusing on the NHL draft, which begins Thursday in Montreal. San Jose has No. 11 overall selection. The Sharks have a large number of aged stars, including defenders Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who have large contracts that could limit San Jose’s ability to sign free agents. .
The team’s top two scorers last season were Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl, with 35 and 30 goals, respectively. Meier is 25 and Hertl is 27.
Grier said he was not looking for a complete overhaul of the team.
“I’m not going to tear down the list,” he said. “For us, there may be a few bumps in the road ahead, but we will try to improve and improve the squad every day.”