October 10, 2025<\/a><\/p>\nPlattner, on Grier vision, coming to fruition:<\/p>\n
He\u2019s very systematic. Biggest difference to the Wilson team, he and his team are drafting better.<\/p>\n
Good [that the Grier team] got the [high picks], but they\u2019re drafting better. Before, we wasted [high draft picks] and I don\u2019t know what. I have to look them up, whether anyone is really playing in the NHL from those draft picks we wasted.<\/p>\n
Is Bordeleau playing in the NHL? And they were labeled as the next big little thing. When I saw him, he was in love with the puck.<\/p>\n
A hockey team is a difficult [group to build], but they work together and they don\u2019t play for show. Therefore, I\u2019m so happy about Celebrini, how 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, and he is a leader.<\/p>\n
Plattner, on if the decision to rebuild in 2022 was driven by him:<\/p>\n
That was actually my wish five years ago. And quote, unquote, the previous team said that\u2019s not there. EK65 was probably the last real try to keep the level of the Thorntons and Pavelskis.<\/p>\n
First, one [star] is not enough. Second, you know his qualities and you know his deficiencies, he was not the most, how do I say it, team-friendly player.<\/p>\n
He was good, but he was probably very good in a very good team.<\/p>\n
Our good players already leaving the team or we let them go. Was not the right environment, and then Burnsie didn\u2019t like it so much, I think, so the team was already on the way down, and one star player cannot help. You need more.<\/p>\n
We needed someone who can score a goal, and we needed some defensemen.<\/p>\n
It was right to let even the relatively good players like Timo [go]. He\u2019s not a player you can build a team upon. You can put him in [with a good team].<\/p>\n
And when Tomas came and said, Hasso, please let me go. I played 10 years for the San Jose Sharks. I did everything possible. I got three knee injuries. If I get one more, I\u2019m done. I have only so many years. Let me go to a team where I have a chance to win this goddamn Cup. And I said, Tomas, we\u2019ll let you go\u2026which I regret, because I really liked him and we always had fun together and joked. He always had a smile on his face. He was a good guy.<\/p>\n
Plattner, on why the San Jose Sharks extended Tomas Hertl in Mar. 2022:<\/p>\n
We still had the hope, or Wilson still had the hope he could turn it around with Couture and Hertl.<\/p>\n
All these years we worked together, he told me he doesn\u2019t like long-term contracts, and this is wrong, what the other ones do.<\/p>\n
And then all of a sudden, we made long-term Vlasic, long-term Hertl, long-term EK65\u2026I don\u2019t 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\u2019t know how many years, 12 years being top of the league, in the top-five, at least.<\/p>\n
Plattner, on if he had any major regrets from the team\u2019s playoff years, something more that he could\u2019ve done to win a Stanley Cup:<\/p>\n
Not much. He got the people we wanted.<\/p>\n
Remember when Heatley came, 40 goals in the first year, but he was already [injured].<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know whether it was Wilson when we got Selanne\u2026that was Lombardi.<\/p>\n
I had to tell our guys, hey, he has a bad left leg, because sometimes he overskated and could not really stop before the boards. Something\u2019s wrong with him.<\/p>\n
The Finnish Flash. He was such a good player.<\/p>\n
I have a house in Aspen. Sometimes, I went to Denver games. He came to Denver, after a year of rehab, knee surgery, and all of a sudden\u2026Finnish Flash is back, goes back to Anaheim, wins the Stanley Cup. Fantastic. (shakes head)<\/p>\n
We got nearly everybody we we wanted. We could not draft [high] picks because we were always finishing top-five. I think [Wilson] did well.<\/p>\n
We, on average, over 10 years, we might have won the league. We made it to the Finals.<\/p>\n
With a new team, I think we have a good chance that this team is as good or even better.<\/p>\n
I hope we don\u2019t have to go for McKenna\u2026I just talked to the coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo McKenna here now!\u201d And Mike said, \u201cAbsolutely not, absolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n
I think we have enough. And if we bring up Musty and Chernyshov and Cardwell, then we have an excellent team we need.<\/p>\n
And then replacements for the aging defensemen to real star defensemen, that will be the main focus.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s a pretty good team.<\/p>\n
I believe Misa will be good. And the defenseman, [Dickinson], he was so good that I actually was upset when he wasn\u2019t listed [to play] for today. But there\u2019s a reason for that, and I accept that. And in the end, the coach has to say what he wants and how we go.<\/p>\n
Plattner, on if he plans to spending to the fast-rising cap limit, when the Sharks are competitive again:<\/p>\n
I hope that the fans support me a little bit and come to the arena and sit outside or watch on television, [and] that we are sold out again. Financially, it\u2019s not a problem. It\u2019s a problem of self-motivation. So if we are playing better, and if there is this steady trajectory up to a competitive team, then that shouldn\u2019t be a problem.<\/p>\n
Plattner, on how confident he is that SAP Center will be full again:<\/p>\n
[Jonathan Becher] always tells me Tuesdays and Thursdays are tough. We have to do something. Probably you can help.<\/p>\n
We have to play good hockey. People [will] come because they want to see it live.<\/p>\n
Why didn\u2019t I come? (pounds table) Another 5-1 [loss], another 6-4.<\/p>\n
I will come now on a regular basis. As you know, I\u2019m retired. Finally.<\/p>\n
I have a big television screen at home. It\u2019s actually better than live (laughs) with the cameraman zooming in. But I definitely will come more if there\u2019s excitement again.<\/p>\n
Remember the days when after a great [save], the fans were shouting, \u201cNabby! Nabby! Nabby!\u201d That was exciting. I hope that they find some players they can relate to.<\/p>\n
Our youngsters, they will all play well. Look how [Eklund] improved last year, how [Will Smith] came up in the second half of the year.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m pretty sure that we have a good team, including the coaches and management, to have at least the ability, the will, to have a good show, to play good hockey. I think this is a given, whether that is enough. This is a tough league.<\/p>\n
Plattner, on if he expects San Jose Sharks to make the playoffs this year:<\/p>\n
No. Next year, we should be close. With Dickinson fully engaged. Misa being close to the same level with Celebrini.<\/p>\n
We should not push them too hard this year. If they do it for whatever good reason, fine, but you cannot push them. Look, some of them are only 18. They\u2019re just allowed to drink a beer. (laughs)<\/p>\n
Plattner, on relationship with the city of San Jose:<\/p>\n
I think there was a very good [ceremony] today to demonstrate that we are aligned with the city. There is no rumor, oh, the Plattner guy might walk to San Francisco because they have an arena and no hockey team. It\u2019s too far away for me.<\/p>\n
This is a good place. New leadership in the city is very much supportive. I hope it stays that. We have to do our part and play good hockey. They have great ideas what they want to do, since Google is a little bit on a backburner. If people are not coming to the office anymore, you don\u2019t have to build office buildings. So it\u2019s very easy.<\/p>\n
Thanks also to Jonathan, we have a good relationship with the local government administration. It\u2019s fun. This is fun for San Jose to have a team and their name in the papers everyday. So I\u2019m feeling very good about that.<\/p>\n
Plattner, on if his daughters follow the Sharks:<\/p>\n
My daughter in South Africa, she looks in the papers and how did the Sharks play? Sometimes, probably she watches on television. They are both into horseback riding. Tina in South Africa is into sailing. We did sail for five years together, a TP 52, which is a super top racing boat, one of the next to the Sail Grand Prix best collection of top sailors, both as tacticians and as crew. We stopped now that she has sold the boats. So, it\u2019s not that they are hanging on the television, what happened that night in San Jose. But to some extent, they\u2019re interested. In the last years, they walked away a little bit.<\/p>\n
Plattner, on whether he wants to keep the Sharks ownership in his family:<\/p>\n
We haven\u2019t talked about that. We have an agreement if anything should happen to me, short term, the foundation steps in and carries on. Then, actually, I have no say anymore. (laughs)<\/p>\n
Plattner, on how often he speaks with Mike Grier and Jonathan Becher about the San Jose Sharks:<\/p>\n
Mike, once or twice a week, 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, so he\u2019s not insecure, so he doesn\u2019t use me as a decision-maker.<\/p>\n
Platter, on why he hasn\u2019t spoken publicly about the Sharks more in recent years\u2026<\/p>\n
There wasn\u2019t so much to talk about. That\u2019s the only reason. You\u2019re absolutely right. I think that was good today to show presence. This is not just one of my many investments which is not going so well. (laughs) Actually, financially, it\u2019s going extremely well. We have to show that the main purpose, [to] have a good team, is in the foreground again.<\/p>\n
Plattner, on if he ever considered leaving San Jose or SAP Center:<\/p>\n
Where to? The closest is San Francisco and I said, this is already, for me, too far away.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s nothing in the neighborhood. Berkeley, because they have a few arenas and stadiums and whatever. (laughs)<\/p>\n
Oakland, no. If I ever said something and you found this somewhere, then it was that I had a bad day, and it was out of anger that I said, \u2018Don\u2019t they know who we are and what we could do, and others have done?\u2019 Oakland, poor city.<\/p>\n
The outgoing [San Jose] administration, they were not so engaged anymore, but the new administration, they saw that we are an asset. Not that we forced them to do something, it was mutual agreement, which is much better, that they understand what we bring. We understand what we have to bring as well.<\/p>\n
Plattner, on whether the Sharks are on the right track:<\/p>\n
We are on the right track, whether we achieve what I wish, we have to see.<\/p>\n
Plattner, on his relationship with Doug Wilson when he stepped down:<\/p>\n
You know that he was not well? 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.<\/p>\n
He was living in Phoenix, and the team was here. Much more, I\u2019m 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\u2019t see that.<\/p>\n
We were always relatively good at drafting. All of a sudden, we lost it.<\/p>\n
Plattner, on the story of trying to sign Evgeni Malkin:<\/p>\n
I gave a speech here, and I said, \u2018So we are so strong now, that we should even be attractive to a Malkin.\u2019 And \u2018Ohhh!\u201d everybody said. Six years ago, and there was, what is this term, called? Tampering. You should not be tampering, [the NHL] said. Malkin is a good player. I got a slap on my wrist, and that was it because he was becoming a free agent.<\/p>\n
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