Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – The Leafs wanted both Zadorov and Tanev episode, on the San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “Okay, so we’re really working a blue line theme here to kick off the podcast”
Friedman: “Are you going to San Jose now?”
Marek: “So let’s go to San Jose. Is, I just put it bluntly, is everybody available?”
Friedman: “I think so. You know, the you know, I had, I had some people who said to me they wonder if you know, they’ve got a couple of young D. You know, the guys they traded for last year in the Timo Meier deal. Like those might not be the guys that they’re too interested in moving which you can, you know, totally understand that that would be the case. Those are young players, but I think that they do have, basically, their blue line is available.
They are willing to listen on just about anything. Now, (Sharks GM) Mike Grier wouldn’t talk about it. He politely declined it, but there’s enough out there that you can kind of figure out what it is.
Now, Mario Ferraro is a guy who last year, the rumor was that Carolina took a big run at him and really tried to get him. And you know, somebody said to me, you look at him, he’s a really talented young player, another guy who’s got a really good reputation. He’s signed for two more years at $3.25 million. There’s gonna be a lot of teams checking the price tag on this one. And because he’s not expensive. He’s young, he’s 25.
He’s a talented player. And you know, people understood why San Jose is doing this. You know, San Jose this year, look obviously, they knew they were going into a rebuild. I don’t think they expected it to be like this. I really don’t think they expect it to be like this. Now all of a sudden they started to play a little bit better. Grier challenged them. They had a big road win. The other day in New Jersey. They scored as many goals in that game against New Jersey as it scored on the road all year pretty much. So it was a big one for them.
Marek: “Gave the Rangers all they wanted Sunday night too.”
Friedman: “Yes. You know, but they need a lot of help. A lot of help. And I think what they’re basically saying is, we’re going to have to do whatever we can to play the let’s increase our asset game. Let’s give ourselves more lottery tickets. Let’s find more young players. And what someone said to me is, they think there will be a team whether it’s Carolina or somebody else that will do it for Ferraro. They said they will be able to get good assets for him because he’s a good player if that’s what they want to do.
We saw those news that some teams have interest in Mario Ferraro from the San Jose Sharks. We have no clue why. But if Carolina wants him, Eric Tulsky definitely knows why. https://t.co/QXJEaLEZCm pic.twitter.com/yaLTCL1QH4
— Andy & Rono (@ARHockeyStats) December 5, 2023
