When the Sharks signed Macklin Celebrini to a five-year extension earlier this week, GM Mike Grier indicated in a press conference (video link) that he had two other goals this summer. One was achieved on Friday when he re-signed Collin Graf to a three-year deal. The other is still pending and will likely take some time to get done.
That would be signing their other key extension-eligible player, forward Will Smith. Like Celebrini, he became eligible to sign his next contract last month and Grier made it clear they’d like to get something done sooner than later on that front:
Smitty is definitely someone we’d like to lock up long-term as well. So we’ll see how it goes. But definitely, it’s part of the plan to hopefully get them locked up long-term.
But if it doesn’t happen, then we’ll be okay, and we’ll figure out as the season goes on and into next summer.
The 21-year-old was the fourth overall selection in the 2023 draft. He spent the following season at Boston College and was nothing short of dominant, tallying 25 goals and 46 assists in 41 games, quickly earning himself an entry-level deal from San Jose.
In the first two years of that deal, Smith has shown lots of offensive upside. He put up 45 points in 74 games in his rookie season, earning himself a sixth-place finish in Calder Trophy voting. Last season, he picked up 24 goals and 35 assists in 69 games, finishing second on San Jose in scoring behind Celebrini.
So far, he has shown steady progress toward being a legitimate top-line player.
But as we’ve seen in recent weeks, the market has completely shifted for players coming off their entry-level deals. Players aren’t always signing max-term agreements; five-year terms (buying only one UFA-eligible year) have been a bit more common while the price tags have flown well past the $10MM mark per season. It stands to reason that Smith’s camp will want to follow suit on that front.
The good news for Grier is that even after the spending spree the Sharks had this summer and Celebrini’s massive raise kicking in for 2027-28, the Sharks still have a lot of cap space for that season. Thanks to the rising cap and over $20MM in expiring contracts coming off their books, the Sharks project to have a little over $30MM available to them next summer, per PuckPedia.
That gives them plenty of room to lock up Smith to a pricey extension now while leaving ample room to also re-sign Yaroslav Askarov, who will be a restricted free agent at that time.
At this point, Smith’s best comparable might be Adam Fantilli in Columbus. Fantilli, picked one spot ahead of Smith in 2023, is coming off a 59-point campaign (similar to Smith) while their career point-per-game rates are close. Fantilli is a restricted free agent now and it’s quite possible that Smith’s camp will want to use Fantilli’s deal as a direct comparable in negotiations.
If that’s the case, Grier might have to wait a little while before he will have a real chance to get an extension in place with Smith and check off the other box on his goal list.
Photo courtesy of David Gonzales-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect.