Source: Don Smith / Getty
In a monumental moment, the San Jose Sharks franchise is set to make Mike Grier their general manager. He will become the first Black man to ever hold such a role in the history of the National Hockey League.
According to multiple reports, the Sharks intend to make the 47-year-old Mike Grier their new general manager. The team has not publicly confirmed this, but they have announced a press conference will take place on Tuesday (July 5th) at 2 P.M. where expectations are that Grier will be formally announced as the new hire.
Grier’s hiring marks the first time in the history of the NHL that a Black man has ever been named to that position with a club — 20 years after Ozzie Newsome’s time as GM with the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League. As a gritty former forward, Grier logged 1,060 games in his 14-year career beginning with the Edmonton Oilers in 1996. He also played for San Jose after playing for the Washington Capitals, ending his career with the Boston Bruins in 2011.
The Detroit, Mich. native spent this past season as a hockey operations adviser to the New York Rangers and worked as a scout for the Chicago Blackhawks from 2014 to 2018. Grier followed that up with a stint as an assistant coach for the New Jersey Devils from 2018 to 2020.
The new appointment would be in the vein of carrying on a family tradition of working in the front office of sports. Grier’s younger brother, Chris Grier, is currently the general manager of the Miami Dolphins of the NFL. Their father, Bobby Grier was a former Vice President of player personnel with the New England Patriots, as well as a running backs coach and director of pro scouting.
Grier will take over from the interim GM, Joe Webb who had assumed the role last November when Doug Wilson stepped down in April citing medical reasons. Prior to that, Wilson was in the role for 19 years, helping the San Jose Sharks become a dominant team in the Western Conference at that time.
Grier will face a hefty challenge as the Sharks have not made the playoffs for the past three seasons, and fired their head coach four days before this news broke. But reports claim that he will have full autonomy over hiring the next coach as well as in preparing for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft in Montreal this week.
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Photo: Getty
