San Jose Sharks owner Hasso Plattner has not made many public appearances over the past five years.
To his words, “there wasn’t much reason to.” However, the owner feels compelled to visit the SAP Center more frequently, especially as the team is on an upward trajectory of success.
After speaking with San Jose Sharks fans outside before the home opener, Plattner sat down with reporters in a private conversation. Ranging from his past regrets to what the future holds, Plattner was honest in his assessment of his team.
SHD was fortunate to be among the selected media to speak with Plattner.
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Here’s everything Plattner said:
How difficult was the decision to allow Mike Grier to put the Sharks through a rebuild?
“That was clear already when we hired him. There was no way that we could rescue the team. Burns wanting out. Tomas Hertl wanting out. Pavelski gone. Erik Karlsson was going. We were left with Logan [Couture], and then Logan got injured. Ferraro is the last one standing.”
Is the vision Mike Grier put to you on its way?
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“Yes. It is very systematic. The biggest difference to the Wilson team, [Grier] and his team are drafting better. [It is good] they got the low [draft picks] but they’re drafting better. Before we wasted the ninth [pick in the] draft, [the 11th pick in the] draft. I have to look them up, whether anyone is really playing in the NHL from those draft picks we wasted. They were labeled as the next big little thing. When I saw [Bordeleau], he was in love with the puck. A hockey team is a difficult body. They work together and they don’t play for show. Therefore, I’m so happy about [Macklin] Celebrini. He can do everything, but he does everything possible for the other players, for his partners on the ice. I think you see this, and you report this. He is a leader.”
Was it your decision to rebuild the team in 2022?
“That was actually my wish, five years ago. Quote, unquote, but the previous team said, That’s not their vision. EK65 was probably the last real try to keep the level of the Thorntons and Pavelskis. First, one guy is not enough. Second, you know his qualities and you know his deficiencies; he was not the most team-friendly player. He was good, but he was probably very good in a very good team. Our good players are already leaving the team, we let them go. It was not the right environment. That team was already on the way down, and one star player [isn’t enough]. You need more, and we need someone who can score a goal. And we needed some defensemen. So it was right to let even the relatively good players like Timo [Meier go]. He’s not a player you can build a team upon. You can put him in. When Tomas [Hertl] came and said, Hasso, please let me go. I played 10 years for the San Jose Sharks., did everything possible. I got three knee injuries. If I get one more, I’m done. I have only so many years. Let me go to a team where I have a chance to win this goddamn cup. I said, Tomas, we’ll let you go, which I regret, because I really liked him. We always had fun together and joked. He always had a smile on his face. He was a good guy.”
Why did you extend Hertl?
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“Because we wanted to keep him. [Doug] Wilson still had the hope he could turn it around with Couture and Hertl. All these years we worked together, he told me he doesn’t like long-term contracts. This is wrong, what the other ones do. Then all of a sudden, we made long-term [contracts for] Vlasic, Hertl, and Karlsson. I don’t know what happened. Probably, he was afraid of the future. If we lose these players, he will go down with a losing team, which he finally did after, I don’t know how many years, 12 years being top of the league, in the top five, at least.”
What is your biggest regret during the height of the Sharks’ long run of success?
“Not much. He got the people we wanted. Remember when Heatley came, [and] scored 40 goals in the first year, but he was already sick. I don’t know whether it was Wilson when we got Selanne, [but] I had to tell our guys, he has a bad left leg, but he was such a good player. I have a house in Aspen and sometimes I went to Denver, and go [Avalanche] games. Then he came to Denver after a year of rehab, and all of a sudden, the Finnish Flash is back, goes back to Anaheim, wins the Stanley Cup. I said fantastic. We got nearly everybody we wanted. We could not draft low picks because we were always finishing in the top five. I think he did well. We, on average, over 10 years, we might have won the league. We made it to the finals. Pavelski said we could’ve played a little bit more successful. With a new team, I think we have a good chance. This team is as good or even better.
I hope we don’t have to go for [Gavin] McKenna. That’s my word too. I just talked to the coach. No McKenna here now, and Mike said, Absolutely not, absolutely not.
I think we have enough, and if we bring up [Quentin] Musty and [Igor] Chernyshov, and probably [Ethan] Cardwell, then we have an excellent team. Then we need replacements for the aging defensemen. Two real star defensemen. That will be the main focus. San Jose is now more attractive when they look at the pictures of our youngsters and the write-ups you guys do, or the other hockey writers, that’s a pretty good team. I believe Misa will be good. [Dickinson] he was so good that I actually was upset when he wasn’t listed for today. But there’s a reason for that, and I accepted that. In the end, the coach has to say what he wants and how we go.”
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With the salary cap going up, how willing are you to spend to the salary cap to help bring a Stanley Cup to San Jose?
“I hope that the fans support me a little bit and come to the arena and sit outside or watch on television, so that we are sold out again. Financially, it’s not a problem. It’s a problem of self-motivation. If we are playing better, and if there is this steady trajectory up to a competitive team, then that shouldn’t be a problem.”
How confident are you that the SAP Center will be full again on a regular basis?
“Yeah, Mr. Becher always tells me, Tuesdays and Thursdays are tough. We have to do something. Probably you can help. We have to play good hockey and people, they have to come because they want to see it live.
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Why didn’t I come? Another 5-1 [game], another 6-4 [game]. I will come now on a regular basis. As you know, I’m retired, finally. I have a big television screen at home. It’s actually better than life. With the camera man zooming in and the replays, but I definitely will come more if there’s excitement again. Remember the days when, after a great save, the fans were shouting, Naby, Naby, Naby, That was exciting. I hope that they find some players they can relate to. Our six youngsters, they will all play well. Look how Eklund improved last year. How Smith came up in the second half of the year. I’m pretty sure that we have a good team, including the coaches and management, to have this at least the ability and the will to have a good show. To play good hockey. This is a given, whether that is enough. This is a tough League.”
Do you expect the Sharks to make the playoffs this season?
“No. Next year, we should be close. With Dickinson fully engaged, Misa being close to the same Celebrini, scoring. We should not push them too hard this year. If they do it for whatever good reason, fine, but you cannot push them. Some of them are only 18. They’re just allowed to drink a beer.”
How has the city helped with the fans’ excitement?
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“I think there was a very good meeting today to demonstrate that we are aligned with the city. There is no rumor that the Plattner guy might walk to San Francisco, because they have an arena and no hockey team. It’s too far away for me. This is a good place. New leadership in the city is very much supportive. I hope it stays that way. We have to do our part and play good hockey. They have great ideas about what they want to do. Thanks also to Jonathan, we have a good relationship with the local government administration. This is fun for San Jose to have a team and their name in the papers every day. I’m feeling very good about that.”
When the time comes, do you hope to keep the Sharks within the Plattner family name?
“We haven’t talked about that. We have an agreement that if anything should happen to me, short-term, the [Sharks] foundation steps in and carries on.”
How often are you communicating with Grier?
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“Once or twice a week. It depends on how urgent it is. Big things, he always comes to me, but not with every decision. He is very stable and well-founded in decision making.”
Why haven’t you made more appearances over the last few years?
“There wasn’t so much to talk about. I think that was good today to show presence. This is not just one of my many investments, which is not going so well. Actually, financially, it’s going extremely well. We have to show that the main purpose, have a good team, is in the foreground.”
If San Jose didn’t step in and help, was there ever a possibility of leaving the city?
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“Where too? The closest is San Francisco. This is already, for me, too far away. There’s nothing in the neighborhood. Berkeley, because they have a few arenas and a stadium. Oakland. No, no, if I ever said something and you found this somewhere, then it was that I had a bad day and was out of anger that I said Don’t they know who we are and what we could do and others have done, the ones from Oakland, poor city. The outgoing administration they were not so engaged anymore, but the new administration saw that we are an asset. Not that we forced them to do something, it was a mutual agreement, which is much better, so that they understand what we bring. We understand what they have to bring. That is good hockey.”
Do you feel the Sharks are doing what you wished?
“We are on the right track. Whether we achieve what I had wished, we will have to see.”
How was your relationship with Doug Wilson when he decided to step down?
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“You know that he was not well, right? Okay, that says it all. He was a good guy. Very good hockey sense. But when you have a sickness like he had, permanent headaches, I don’t want to have this. He was living in Phoenix while the team was here. [I am] much more negative about his son. He was not drafting well. He was totally over his pay grade, and that was another mistake I probably made. I didn’t see that, and we were always relatively good at drafting. All of a sudden, we lost it.”
What was the Malkin tampering scandal?
“I gave a speech here, and I said we are so strong now that we should even be attractive to Malkin.”
When was this?
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“Six years ago. Tampering. You should not be tempering. I said what? Malkin is a good player. I got a slap on my wrist, and that was it. He was becoming a free agent.”
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