Mario Ferraro joins the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast!
Before we get to Ferraro (1:34:49), Keegan and Sheng touch on surprises from the San Jose Sharks’ Rookie Faceoff roster (2:08) and the Pittsburgh Penguins hiring Doug Wilson (8:00).
Then, we look at how post-salary cap era Stanley Cup winners and contenders have been built (11:50). Based on that, Keegan and Sheng believe Mike Grier’s “hybrid rebuild” can work (15:15).
Here’s our snapshot view of every Stanley Cup winner and how they acquired their key players, the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes (19:50), 2007 Anaheim Ducks (23:05), 2008 Detroit Red Wings (26:55), 2009 Penguins (29:45), 2010 Chicago Blackhawks (34:12), 2011 Boston Bruins (39:50), 2012 Los Angeles Kings (42:20), 2013 Blackhawks (46:15), 2014 Kings, 2015 Blackhawks, 2016 Penguins, 2017 Penguins, 2018 Washington Capitals (48:55), 2019 St. Louis Blues (53:24), 2020 Tampa Bay Lightning (55:30), 2021 Lightning, 2022 Colorado Avalanche (59:27), and 2023 Vegas Golden Knights (1:02:00).
It’s worth noting that a number of a high picks like Eric Staal and Drew Doughty and Alexander Ovechkin and Alex Pietrangelo and Steven Stamkos who led their teams to championships weren’t acquired through “tanking”.
Sheng also evaluates how near-Cup winners were built, the 2015/2017 Ducks (1:07:00), 2013/2019 Bruins (1:09:55), 2019/2023 Hurricanes (1:12:30), 2020/2023 Dallas Stars (1:16:47), 2012/2014/2015 New York Rangers (1:20:27), and 2010/2011/2016 San Jose Sharks (1:24:00).
What’s the similarity (1:29:50) between Dean Lombardi and Mike Grier’s rebuild plans?
Keegan and Sheng agree that there are many ways to build a contender. (1:31:20)
Now, it’s Mario! (1:34:49)
We talk first about Ferraro’s new dog, Wilder.
Ferraro talks about hanging out with Joe Thornton in Ontario this summer. (1:37:50)
Ferraro’s Youngest of Plugs YouTube channel has had two episodes in the last two weeks, after a year’s hiatus! (1:38:35)
Ferraro chats about building a relationship with the new guys like Mike Hoffman, Givani Smith, and Leon Gawanke. (1:41:00)
Ferraro talks about his reaction to the Erik Karlsson trade. (1:44:50)
Finally, Mario discusses trying to do too much as a player, which gets you away from what you’re best at on the ice.
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3 Comments
I wish I could come on for an hour and explain how your approach to the tanking conversation is missing the point. It isn't tanking = cup. That's a total straw man, its high draft picks seem to be a requirement to be a contender in the cap era, therefor tanking = high draft pick, high draft picks = contender. Every single multiple cup winning team in the cap era has had multiple top 5 picks, Toews & Kane, Crosby Malkin Fleury, Stamkos Hedman & I'm betting Makar MacKinnon Landeskog end up on this list too. Tanking is a reliable strategy to acquire those high draft picks so pointing at a team and saying they were bad on accident or on purpose is entirely irrelevant. The point is tanking is a reliable strategy to acquire these elite core pieces through the draft. Obviously you also need to draft well no Yakupovs or Patricks but still look at every contender right now they have these lottery guys and yes you can point at the Knights and say they acquired their top 5 draft picks Peitrangelo (4) & Eichel (2) through trades but the point is they still needed those guys to win. They may be an exception that proves the rule.
Also I think Sheng is way off when he says the Sharks won't be viewed as tanking. There is no way you can look at the sharks trading away Burns, Meier, and Karlsson and say they are not tanking. All 3 of those trades are clearly made moves to make the team worse in the now for the future. That's tanking.
Great discussion!
It's amazing the San Jose Sharks have not won the Stanley Cup. Finished first overall in 2008/2009. Drew the Anaheim Ducks in the first round. Team gets ultra corny in the opening home game and plays Metallica's Seek And Destroy with James Hetfield sitting in the front row as the Sharks take the ice. Bad mojo just bad mojo. Anaheim promptly wins that series and that strong Sharks club sent home early that Spring. Next year another strong Sharks club beats Detroit in the 2nd round only to run smack dab into Dustin Byfuglien and the Chicago Blackhawks in the WCF and get killed in 4 straight games. If only things had been different there would have been a rather weak Philly team to play in the Finals. That was the year, if only if only. Next year SJ makes it the WCF again only to lose to the Vancouver Canucks on a bizarre Kevin Bieska goal from center ice in OT when everybody thought the puck had gone over the glass and out of play. Next year 2011/2012 Sharks have another strong side that had been bullying teams all season long and promptly suffer a beatdown by the St.Louis Blues in the 1st round . SJ tried their intimidation tactics early in the series and got punched right in the jaw by a tough Blues team. All right you get the point some good SJ teams that were good enough to win it all but did not win the big shiny thing.