San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Grier announced Wednesday that the franchise is open to trading its number two overall selection in the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft to acquire an established player.
The Sharks hold three first-round picks: number two, number nine, and number 27.
The flexibility comes after San Jose missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs by four points, prompting a focus on improving the defensive rotation.
Grier confirmed that at least five teams have made serious inquiries and legitimate offers for the second overall pick.
The team previously altered its draft positioning by acquiring the ninth pick from Ottawa and trading its original 21st pick to Philadelphia for the 27th selection.
"If the player fits and makes us better and is in the right age group, then I think we'd be in on them for sure," Grier said.
The general manager emphasized that any deal must benefit the franchise long-term, not serve as a temporary patch.
"There's probably been five teams that have been very consistently serious about (the No. 2 pick).
We've received a couple of legitimate offers that we've had to really think through," he added.
The trade market has already seen top-five movement for the first time since 2008 after Chicago dealt its fourth selection to Buffalo on Tuesday.
"There were lots more calls on (No. 9), yeah, and probably two more on (No. 2)," Grier noted.
"One that's real interesting, but yeah, it's picked up."
San Jose aims to build around young core pieces like center Macklin Celebrini and defenseman Sam Dickinson, with Grier looking to upgrade the back end over the summer.
"It would have to make sense for us to move off the second overall pick and potentially get a new player like that who can be on our roster for a long time," Grier said.
The general manager reiterated that roster adjustment efforts will extend past the draft weekend into free agency starting July 1.
"It has to be a very good young player or young players who are a little bit further along than an 18-year-old that could step in and be part of our lineup for a long time," he said.
The defensive market remained active through the opening round as the Philadelphia Flyers used the 27th pick acquired from San Jose to select 6-foot-7 blueliner Maksim Sokolovskii from London of the OHL.
Flyers general manager Danny Brière expressed strong satisfaction with securing Sokolovskii at the 27th slot. "One of the better organizations in the CHL.
They seem to be able to build winners," he said.
Brière noted the defenseman's compete level and physicality. "The compete level is something that, in a lot of cases, you have or you don't.
It's really tough to bring that out of someone who doesn't have it. You watch him, it's a natural thing.
He loves to go after a guy.
He likes to disturb, and on top of his size, it makes for a very impressive player on the ice."
Team scouts monitored Sokolovskii's progression closely.
"When you're huge, and you can skate, that's often all that you need for NHL scouts to perk up and start to pay attention," said Scott Wheeler of The Athletic.
Independent analysts highlighted the high upside and defensive focus of the towering blueliner.
"We saw him early in the season, we thought this could be a late pick for us, and then it seemed every month he just kept getting better and better, figuring out the game more and more," Brière said.
Philadelphia continued filling its roster on Saturday by selecting defenseman Brek Liske 53rd overall and goaltender Martin Psohlavec 62nd overall.
The draft also featured heavy representation from regional collegiate prospects, with four current or future Hockey East players taken on Friday night, including Caleb Malhotra at number three to Vancouver and Tynan Lawrence at number 11 to St. Louis.
"We know there's a lot of work to be done," Brière added. "But there's things that you can't teach.
He's still gonna be 6'7" two years from now, and the internal physicalness that he has as well is something you can't really teach.
That comes naturally to him, so that's a big plus."
Local draft selections continued into Saturday's later rounds as Xavier Villeneuve went 34th overall to Chicago, Casey Mutryn went 38th to Seattle, and Tobias Trejbal went 42nd to Calgary.
"The rest of his game has to round out, no doubt about it, but the progression that we saw this season leads us to believe that he'll be able to make it to the NHL," Brière said.
Former coaches praised the athletic baseline of modern defensive prospects. "He skates like he's 5-foot-8," said Mike Taylor of Atlantic Hockey Academy.
Analyses of late-round prospects noted distinct trends in playoff performances driving draft weekend decisions.
"I watched him in the playoffs a lot, and that's where I think a lot of this late buzz is coming from, is that he was a really good shutdown guy for London in the postseason.
And he was playing a physical, mean brand of hockey, the kind of hockey that helps you win in the playoffs," said Chris Peters of FloHockey.
The event concluded its final rounds on Saturday with teams shifting focus toward the opening of NHL free agency.
