"Saying he suffered alongside the team's fans as the Sharks floundered for six straight seasons and slid to the bottom of the NHL standings, Plattner indicated he wished the organization had started a complete rebuild two years earlier than it did in 2022. That year, Mike Grier was hired as the Sharks' general manager and began a systematic teardown of the roster, from which the team is only now emerging."
""It's hard to talk to you guys when the team is sinking slowly," Plattner said Thursday in his first comments to local media in close to a decade. "Then it was necessary that we basically replace the whole team. ... That's where we are." Plattner, who was at SAP Center to mark the team's long-term lease agreement at the downtown arena with the City of San Jose."
Hasso Plattner sharply criticized several previous hockey operations decisions, calling out questionable signings and poor drafting that deepened the team's decline. He said the Sharks floundered for six straight seasons and that a rebuild should have begun two years earlier than 2022. Mike Grier was hired in 2022 and initiated a systematic teardown of the roster. Plattner acknowledged the Erik Karlsson trade as a last-ditch attempt to win a Stanley Cup but noted it cost Josh Norris and an unprotected first-round pick that became Tim Stutzle. Plattner expects the franchise to be competing for a playoff spot by the 2026-27 season.
Read at The Mercury News
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