4:00 PM: The Sharks have now officially announced the signing of Gregor.
3:25 PM: The San Jose Sharks have reached an extension with one of their remaining restricted free agents, signing Noah Gregor to a one-year, one-way $950K deal. The deal was reported by The Nation Network’s Jason Gregor, who happens to be the Sharks forward’s uncle.
As noted by PuckPedia, the Gregor signing leaves Sharks with just $225k in cap space on their full 23-man roster, and the team still has one RFA player left to sign to a new contract: forward Jonah Gadjovich.
Gregor, 24, established himself as an NHLer last season. He got into 63 games for the Sharks, scoring 8 goals and 23 points. A 2016 fourth-round pick, Gregor has been a bit of a development success story for San Jose, slowly growing from mid-round pick and WHL star to strong AHL contributor to useful NHLer.
Gregor is an offensively-oriented player who got a look on the Sharks’ power play last season and brought a combination of skill and grit to their lineup. Gregor’s overall profile is sure to be appreciated by new coach David Quinn, and armed with this one-way deal Gregor will enter training camp on stronger footing than ever before in his career. This deal will likely allow Gregor to focus his energy in training camp on building chemistry with his teammates and earning a greater role in the Sharks’ lineup, rather than simply attempting to earn a roster spot, as has been his focus in prior years.
The Sharks’ situation on the wings is decently unsettled, and Gregor will be competing for a role on a scoring-line role against other wingers such as Oskar Lindblom, Steven Lorentz, Luke Kunin, and Kevin Labanc. If he can find a way to hold down a spot next to one of the Sharks’ top two centers, Gregor could quickly outperform this contract’s $950K cap hit.