Who Should Be Next San Jose Sharks Captain? 🦈 | Dan Boyle, Sheng Peng & Crew Debate
Let’s get to the main topic today, which is the the Sharks captaincy. And obviously uh in the closeout interview with Mike Grer last uh season, um you know, Grrew said he’s more than okay going through the season without a captain next year, and that’s sort of the topic for discussion today. And um so let’s just get right into it. Um what’s a room like without a captain? Um I think we talked about this the other day off camerara or whatever, and I didn’t realize that. I think I we had one year uh in Santa. Yeah. When you got traded to Tampa. Yeah. So, um wait, when I got traded to T I didn’t get Yeah. When you got traded when you got traded to Tampa or Tampa picked you up. Uh Tampa didn’t have a captain during that. Oh, my that’s what it was. My first year in Tampa. That’s right. That’s right. Vinnie wasn’t the captain yet, so I didn’t remember that. Uh, but we I was I think I remember saying Anerchuk was there and although he may not have had a C on his sweater, um, he was pretty much the captain. Um, I I think I talked about this with you guys. I think a captain needs to have certain attributes. Doesn’t need to be the best player. Um, the main thing for me has to be the hardest working player. Mhm. I think if your captain’s not your hardest working player, how can you expect guys to follow him? Um, so I think a captain needs to be your hardest worker. I think your captain needs to be a glue guy. Some of that’s off the ice stuff that’s taking care of the young guys. Um, glue guy is what I call it. Somebody that, you know, can can bring the boys in, take care of the boys. The last thing is needs to be the communication between the the coach and the players and needs to sometimes uh you know yell scream at the boys kind of going along with the coaches and kind of like hey [ __ ] boys let’s wake the [ __ ] up we need to like whatever but at times I think what I’ve seen especially with Anderchuck with Tortoella it’s the other way Now, a captain needs to step up for his team and he needs to go toe-to-toe with the coach sometimes because believe it or not, Sharks fans, coaches don’t know everything. They think they do, but they don’t. And sometimes the captain needs to be kind of that person. You want you don’t want to have the whole team going against the coach. That’s not healthy. But if you can have one person, sometimes the assistants will go in there. Balance that fine line. It’s just it’s just walking We got you. Hold on. Oh no, I got cancelled. Um, it was a human centipede story going to happen. Yeah. No, I think you better listen. I I I think Yeah, I think you got to walk that fine line between being one of the boys, being hard on the boys, being that, you know, and uh I think that’s what a captain needs to do. And I’m sure there’s a lot of little other things. Um, you have to have earned it as well. I don’t believe, although Shang will tell me otherwise. There’s been some 19-year-old captains, 20-year-old captains in the league before. Yeah, I’m not a strong supporter of that. I think you need to earn your stripes. You need to have played x amount of games. You need to have gone through some playoff runs. you know, what does a 19-year-old rookie know about where the wives need to sit during the playoffs or if we need to go in two days early in Minnesota because it’s cold or it’s the the you know the the rank is like a rookie won’t know this this type of [ __ ] and that’s why I think somebody has to have played in the league for a certain amount of years, have a certain amount of games under their belt, experience, and then that person I think can be named the captain. Yeah. Yeah, we’ll talk about that in a little bit. There’s definitely the the thought of Min Celbury being named captain, but let’s save that though. So, Zubar, you you were about to ask something. Yeah. Yeah. So, a couple of questions. I mean, you’ve obviously played with a lot of great captains. Um, and and and and it you kind of are referring to like Andrew Chuck kind of standing out. Could you tell us a little bit about his captaincy and what stood out to you? Yeah, he and he was a here’s a fourthline guy, right? Andy was probably 39 when I got there. He played, you know, 39, 40. So, he was at the tail end of his career, but hardest working player. Wasn’t the best player. Worked his ass off, right? I mean, we all did, but like he worked his ass off. Great glue guy. Was on the road, could be with one of the boys, great storyteller, back, you know, in on the plane, just great. But if we didn’t play well, Andy would step up and we would listen. But we had the dynamic in Tampa where we had a coach and John Tordella it was [ __ ] tough and there were days where Tors would come in just let us have it and then he would shut the door and go [ __ ] him and it it like brought the team together so he knew he could walk that line where he could be our buddy but he could also let us know hey we need to get our asses in gear and that’s not to say there weren’t other captains that I played for But having won the cup, that’s going to happen. You’re going to have favor that experience. And I was younger, right? When I was in San Jose, I was a little bit older. Went through, I think, three different captains, but it wasn’t as important to me as a as a 30-year-old player that had been in the league as it was when I was upcoming and young. I think a captain is a big responsibility with the young players. Um whereas I don’t think a captain will play a huge role in a guy that’s established coming in at 30. He will play a role for sure, but I don’t think it’s as important. Wanted to mention about Andrachuk. One of the reasons why I think he was a guy that could stand up to a Tortoella is you mentioned that he was a fourth liner but and one of the hardest workers, but he also was at a certain point in his career, he was a 50 goal scorer. He’s a Hall of Famer, right? He’s a Hawk Hall of Famer. So Jackie definitely gave him a lot more cache. But anyway, I was wondering though, Dan, um any kind of classic stories that you can remember about Andrew Chuck and Totoella and just Dave standing up to to him. I I I I I don’t remember which game. I remember one in particular and it’s nothing that jumps. I can’t tell you what the team was. I remember Tors came in and just like lit us up and he shut the door and he said, “Fuck him.” like [ __ ] Torrs. Like [ __ ] that guy. And it was just like it was amazing. And I mean I think Tors coached that way too a little bit. I think he knew what he was doing and firing us up, but it brought the team together. And uh so that’s the one story. It’s not a specific story. I don’t remember what game it was. Um but I just remember that was who Andy was. And uh again here he was a Hall of Famer. He’s had how many, you know, 50 goal seasons and all these accolades and he’s at the back of the plane at the back of the bus playing cards with us talking [ __ ] with like 22 year old kids back there. It was awesome. He was great and uh he was uh he was a he was a perfect captain. That dynamic is interesting because like Tors obviously still has a coach career now like 20 years later, right? Like there’s something to be said about that kind of style of, you know, if they hate him, they can’t hate each other kind of thing. Like you’re all bonding together kind of thing. Yeah. There’s there’s different coaching methods, right? There’s coaches that want you to play for them. I’m going to go through a wall for this guy. Yeah. And I I mean maybe he’s evolved. I mean, uh but it was more of like he wanted the guy he wanted guys to play in spite of him. Like [ __ ] that guy. I’ll show him. Yeah. Which worked. I mean, it works, right? I mean, uh, who’s to say we got a Stanley Cup that says it does work. It’s just it’s hard. Not every player can play through or for a coach like that. You have to be you have to have very thick skin. You have to have a lot of confidence in yourself and you have to you have to have a good united team because it it can create some friction. And obviously we won a cup because we came together, you know, in spite of him, but it was a lot of it was probably something he was trying to do, right? Years later, I kind of realized after I was retired, I was like, “Okay, I think I think he was trying to do that or do that. I get it now.” But I didn’t get it at that then. That’s brilliant. I love it. And and you know what’s interesting too I find in in all of what you were talking about in terms of of a good captain is you really talk a lot about the off ice stuff and I think a lot of fans are like going to go talk to the rafts what’s on the ice. Yeah. But you really are referring to a lot of like hey like travel planning and bringing the boys together. Yeah. There’s a lot of [ __ ] I mean, rookies, you know, making sure they’re okay, but it’s it’s the stupid [ __ ] like I just like I this one keeps coming to my mind, but like you know, where do the wives go in the wives room? Is there alcohol in there? Is there not? Are they allowed to come on the road? Are they not? Can like just [ __ ] that like you just shouldn’t have to worry about. a good captain and a good leadership group. we’ll take care of that with the coaches and uh you know we with the new well the new CDA the CDA that I went through we ended up getting uh days off which was a huge for us right so now they’re mandatory days off I don’t know if they’re still in the same same CDA now but uh back then a coach could we could land at 3:00 a.m. I’m going to go back to Minnesota again or Buffalo and he could have a nine o’clock practice if he wanted to back when I started. Now they can’t do that anymore. That’s where a captain’s got to step up and say, “Fuck no, we’re not we’re not doing that.” And I think that’s where Andy back in the day too was very good at having a good pulse and sticking up for us. It was all he was great. And that brings up a really good point, too, about the experience. I just can’t see a 19-year-old and 18-year-old, you know, standing up to a coach or leadership. You can’t. And I know Shang’s gonna have his his his points for pro Mlin. I think, by the way, by the way, I think I think I think Mlin I think Mlin was amazing. I I think not just because he was first overall. Like he was everything I had hoped he was. He’s very smart. That’s my biggest thing with a player. Work ethic and hockey IQ. He was amazing. I think I don’t know him as a person so I can’t vouch for that but as a player absolutely he will have a C one day. I just don’t think it’s today. I think it’s too soon. I think he needs to get experience of going through some hockey seasons. He needs to go through the experience of playing in the playoffs and then see I think there needs to be some experience there. I wanted to ask just in general though the experience of not having a captain. the Sharks the last couple of years. Loen Couture has been the captain in name, but obviously he hasn’t been around a lot. So anyway, when you have just alternate captains like the Sharks have had, is there a sense when you’re going through a rough patch in a game that no maybe nobody knows whose turn it is to speak up kind of that kind of feeling possibly happening? Yeah, I I think if you have I think there’s going to be a leadership core no matter what, whether you put an a letter on them now. We you have your tofully, you have your Mario, you know, you’ve got guys that I think, and again, I’m not on the team. I I’m speaking from somebody who watches from the nosebleleeds, right? Um those guys seem to me like two guys that could step up and talk when they need to. Uh, the other thing that I didn’t mention was, you know, if you’re going to name a captain, ideally you want him to be in your plans for the next couple years. You don’t want to be naming captains every two or three years. So, Right. Right. So, maybe not. So, you know, Mario, who I, you know, love watching. I love his work ethic. Um, but where does he fit in two years from now, three years from now? Only, you know, the GM and the assistant GMs and the owners know that. I don’t know what that plan is for him, but you know, he seems to fit the mold from from the uh from the nosebleleeds, but you know, you don’t want to name a captain every two years ideally. Yeah, that’s that makes sense. And and how about we talked a little bit about the off ice and a little bit about the on ice, but can you expand a little bit on the on ice? Like what’s the ideal captain with captains that you’ve played with that exemplify leadership on the ice? What does that look like? I I I I think it’s work ethic. Again, I’ll go back to when I started again. For me, captains when I was younger were more important to me than, you know, that’s not to say Joe and Patty weren’t or Mcdana my last year. It’s just for me, I remember Scott Melby was my first captain in Florida. Um, I grew up as a Flyers fan, so I was kind of a little starruck, but uh, again, hardest worker on the ice. Was he our best player? No. But just set the tone, work ethic, and doesn’t mean he was the fastest. Andy was certainly not the fastest, but we would do these Tortoella like laps and Andy had a hard time getting around the ice, but he worked hard. He worked hard. So on the ice, I think work ethic is [ __ ] huge. And I’ve already said it, but that’s going to be the word of the day every time. Work ethic. We everyone has to shotgun a tequila or something. But um um yeah, I I think on ice work ethic is huge. and uh and knowing when to have a voice. So, yeah, two questions in one. Should the Sharks name a captain? And if so, who do you think would be a good idea if you had to choose? So, I don’t know what the plan is for Mario. I again, and I don’t I’m not in the locker room, so that’s where I I’m I struggle in talking about it because I feel like the locker room will know a lot more than I do. You know, I used to we used to I used to be in that locker room and there would be the Shangpang saying, “Well, so and so should and Shenping doesn’t know anything. He’s not in the locker room. Why am I the target? Sitting here drinking my my I know. I’m just I’m just [ __ ] I’m just [ __ ] with you. I’m just messing with you. I’m messing with you.” Um I I I don’t know Tyler Tulloy. I don’t know. I I don’t know what kind of You know, seemed like he had a good connection with the young guys. Uh you know, is he the hardest working player out there? I don’t know any of these teams. So, I I think Mario and Tofolia are the two names that come to mind for me, of course. Uh and then who’s the kid that just came back from uh uh not he’s not a kid anymore, but he was with San Jose, left with New York, scored a big goal. Oh, yeah. That’s actually what I was going to mention. Uh that our little birdie may have said uh Barkley Goodro is another one. I don’t know him, but um you know, seems like he works hard. Does he does he have the respect of the room? Uh these are the questions that I I don’t have the answers to, but those are the three guys that if they just went with assistance with those three guys. I think that’s okay. And then you give Mlin another year under his belt. Um see where we are next year and then you go from there. I I I don’t I don’t like giving it to him this year. I think it’s too early and I don’t think it’s the right move. I did want to ask you about how tough it is for a kid to be a captain and it’s a different player, different experience, but the year before you came to Tampa, the Lightning had named Vinnie Lavalier. He was a 20-year-old uh to be the captain um be before that. And so anyway, just in general for for a kid, and I think you alluded to it a little bit already, but just that this, you know, it could be Mlin, it could be anybody, right? um that they don’t have that experience sort of sort of saying f you to the coach or even the details of of of that sort of thing of just the where the wives will sit and that sort of thing. And so so with with Mlin then when do you think maybe then is the right time for him then? Like if not this year, next year. I I I I no I definitely I I don’t think this year for sure. And I’m even I’m even hesitant to say the following year. M uh but I would say by year four uh I think he’ll have 80, you know, 200 plus games under his belt. Hopefully maybe a playoff or two playoff series or two under his belt. I think I think three years, you know, and and back to your reference, Vinnie got the seat taken off, right? Yeah. Correct me if I’m wrong. Yeah. So it just it’s just it’s added pressure that I don’t think a kid, and he’s a kid Yeah. needs. It’s it’s added pressure that, you know, he doesn’t need. And uh he will be a captain one day. I I I I think it’s I think it’s too soon. So I would say I would say year four.
Who should be the next captain of the San Jose Sharks? Boyle, Sheng Peng, Keegan McNally, and Zubair Jeewanjee debate whether it should be Macklin Celebrini, Tyler Toffoli, Mario Ferraro, or Barclay Goodrow. Boyle also shares what really makes a great captain in the NHL.
Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/pQGFSsX6pOs
Timestamps
00:00 What a captain actually needs to be in today’s NHL
01:32 Why Boyle believes work ethic is #1
03:10 Glue guys, swagger, and the role of personality
05:22 Should Celebrini wear the “C” so soon?
07:11 Boyle’s surprising picks for Sharks leadership
09:03 Final vote: Who should captain the Sharks in 2025?
#sjsharks #nhl #leadership #sanjosesharks
2 comments
I think it should be tafoli
S J Sharkie. for sure.