The Teal Report 03/06/2026

0:00The San Jose Sharks Audio Network is on 24 hours a day. Whether you're in the office or on the co, make sure that you download the Sharks SAP Center app and hit listen anytime. You can also find us on your computer by going to sjsharks.com slash listen. If it's a game broadcast breaking news or a player feature, the place to find it is right here. On the San Jose Sharks Audio Network. The San Jose Sharks Audio Network presents The Teal Report. Here's Dan Ruzinowski. From SAP Center at San Jose, it's the Sharks and the St. Louis Blues and it's also Trade Deadline Day. The Sharks, who traded Tim Lilgegren off to the Washington capitals in exchange for a draft pick earlier today, were generally quiet in terms of all of the big discussions around the league. But that's certainly reflection of the way they've been playing and the way they've been developing under Coach Ryan Worcowski.

1:00Coming into tonight's game against the Blues, the Sharks have won three straight games. Two of them against really high scoring clubs in Montreal and in Edmonton and another against a hard working team like Winnipeg. It's kind of a combination tonight as they face off against the Blues team that may be in last place in the central division, but St. Louis's record certainly does not reflect the kind of team that they're going to put on the ice today, even with the trade of Braden Shen to the New York Islanders. Coach Ryan Worcowski says exactly that. Don't judge the Blues by their record because they're really a different team than that. I've watched these guys, you know, because we haven't played them, so you watch them here, and when we're leading up to it, you kind of get started getting prepared for it as a coach and you've watched them, and you start to crack your head and you wonder why the record is what it is. But I think they had a little bit of a slow start, but they've played some really good hockey as of late. They're not going to hand you the game. You're going to have to work for it. Good structure, and they still have some really good pieces over there, veteran pieces. They're getting better goal-tending now, so this is a team we're going to have to work for our chances

2:01and work for our offense. Having a game on Deadline Day is something that we haven't seen in San Jose for a couple of seasons. I asked the shark's head coach, what it was like approaching a game, like today, when you're paying attention to what's going on in the trade talks, but you're also getting ready for a game. It's unique, but you kind of, if you try to change it and the routine of it from a coaching perspective, it becomes more of a distraction. So again, we're just approaching this, like it's any other game. We've had our meetings this morning. We'll prepare the guys here this morning, whether that's more, obviously, having an optional escape, but again, kind of, we move on, and we keep going and get prepared for tonight. Mario Ferraro, in the last year of his contract, always gets named around Deadline time. He's handled those mental challenges differently as the years have gone on, and he talked about how he dealt with things for today. You know, I've just learned to, you know, not worry about the things that I can't control. Maybe I'm more mature about it now. I've seen it, you know,

3:01I've seen Deadlines happen before. You know, it's my seventh year in the league, and I've been on this team for seven years, and so I've seen a lot of guys come and go. You know, there are things that you can't control. So I guess it may be that, you know, my mindset towards it, and just not worrying about it, not putting any energy towards it. It's kind of what I've been doing. So, I think doing nothing is really the maturity behind it, and just focusing on playing and being the best player that I can be every day, like any other day. For Zacko Stop Juck, who has been traded once in his career from Ottawa to San Jose, Deadline Day brings certain memories. And I asked him whether it was better to have a game on trade Deadline Day or to have the day off. Yeah, honestly, I think you'd rather the game, right? It kind of takes your mind off it a little bit. I mean, everyone still thinks about it. It's impossible not to. But obviously, I think, you know, coming in for Morning Skate, and just going about your game day routine, I think that helps kind of take your mind off it. You're with your buddies.

4:01You know, you get to experience it together. So, yeah, we're all going through it together. I think we'll, yeah, it doesn't mean we'll be ready to go tonight, though. Assigned from the Lilchigan deal, the sharks were relatively quiet on the trade Deadline Day. However, over the last couple of days, they've made a couple of big splashes in the contract extension department. Keep for sure, Woodside, a five-year contract yesterday. And he talked about the excitement of playing hockey in the Bay Area and being a fan favorite wherever he's played. I just try to show up and, you know, I always say I put my work boots on each and every day and kind of rinse and repeat. And, you know, I think, naturally, the fans kind of appreciate, you know, some, you know, the guys that, you know, can obviously, you know, give it all, you know, try to give it all everything. And that's just something that I try to do, obviously, is, you know, inject that life and energy in our group and got to be smart with it sometimes. You know, like, you know, I got us kind of in Newwood and was fired up and then all of a sudden, you know,

5:01they came back and swore three last night. So it's like, you know, that's also the game within the game and trying to understand, you know, the momentum swings and trying to understand, like when we have it, you know, build it, but, you know, we don't want to give it away. And, and that's something that, that too, I've tried to learn and value over the years. You know, I had a great mentor in Nashville and Danny Heino, and he was kind of that rat in Colorado and kind of did those things. But he's a great mentor for me and kind of understanding the value of doing all the little things and, you know, trying to, you know, get the guys going at times and ruffle some feathers at times. But yeah, you know, I try to inject some life and some energy and get, you know, bring some guys in the fight a little bit. You know, because it's contagious and, you know, it's what we need at this time of the year. You know, the second half is such a grind and such a sprint. And ultimately, you know, that's what the playoffs are about. You know, that's what we're trying to build. And that's our goal is, and you saw a little bit of that last night, that desperation, that hunger and that fire.

6:01So continue to try to stoke that and build that. And, you know, we'll try to keep buzzing here and keep these wins coming. Also, today, the sharks made news when Alex Nadellkovich was signed to a contract extension. He had a reaction right away. Exciting, happy to wake up this morning to a deal done. And, yeah, we just get to keep building with this group. Excited to stick around and, you know, we've taken big steps this year. Already hopefully we keep taking more as the rest of the year goes on and we can continue to focus on our ultimate goal and getting into the playoffs. Let's talk about the importance of doing a deal now. Who knows what happens? Well, there's still 20-some games left. And then you got to wait a month, or not even a month. You got to wait like three months to figure out, you know, for playoffs to be done and then the draft. And I'm a lot can happen in that time. So, you know, we were excited. I was excited when Mike said there was interest in getting something done. And, you know, we didn't want to go anywhere. We had talked about it.

7:01You wanted to stick around. This is a young team that's growing and taking steps in the right direction, as I said. And I want to be a part of that. So, to have that stability and a little bit of security in the next couple of years, you know, hopefully we're, you know, being here is just exciting. And you just never know that, you know, the grass is always greener. So, you know, just very happy it's something got done. The Delkiewicz will start in goal today against the Blues. He's looking forward to living up to the contract that he just earned. And he hopes that there's some stability in that deal. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you never know. I think it's changed very quickly in the league. So, last time I signed it to your deal, I didn't make it through the title, right? So, and I'm hoping that's not the case here. Obviously, we'd love to play it out here. But you just take it day by day. Nothing changes. Show up today. You know, just get ready for tonight's game. Also, having a good relationship with your goal-tending partner is hugely important in the NHL. And Ned talked about the way he gets along so well

8:02with Yaroslav Askerov. Yeah, I'm just trying to be a good person and a good friend and a good teammate to him. And, you know, I remember when, and I think I was probably around his age 24-25 when I first got my opportunity to play in the league full-time. And I had good people at Army 2, Peter Murazic, James Rimer, where the two guys that were in Carolina that first year. So, the next year in Detroit was Thomas Christ. And you just have good teammates that were to me. And, you know, I'm trying to do the same thing to him. And just, you know, help him out and encourage him and try to be a positive voice for him. And it's hard. It's a hard position. It doesn't matter if it's a year of one or a year of ten. The pressure is always on. There's always a lot of challenges that come with it. So, you know, just trying to keep it light. You know, keeping the help, keeping it a good friend of mine. And he seems to be like that all the time anyways. You know, he's coming into the rank of smiling and just trying to have fun with it. Anything I'm trying to feed off of him a little bit.

9:02With the physically oriented mues in town tonight, minus their captain, Brayton Shen, who was traded to the New York Islanders this morning, St. Louis is going to be very intense and very much involved in the physical play. Mario Ferraro says the speedy sharks can counter that by playing faster and having the escape ability to also deal with the physical challenges. Yeah, I think, you know, that's been a mentality for us, you know, for a couple of years now, under Warsaw, right, is to play quicker. Us as defensemen, especially, you know, play North, play fast, get movepucks. You know, we got a lot of talent up front and we got a lot of speed and skill. And we could score goals and we can get on our forecheck and a way to do a better job of that is for us to movepucks quicker. So, as much as our speed comes from how we skate and compete and, you know, actually skate fast, it's also how fast we move the puck and make decisions out there, you know, which contribute to our, you know, our success offensively and defensively really, because you spend more time in there.

10:03And so, it's a big part of our identity right now. Join us for all of the exciting live coverage of the sharks in the St. Louis Blue, starting at 630 Pacific time on the Sharks Plus SAP Center app, online, and on terrestrial stations near you. That's the Teal Report today. For the complete Teal Report and more great sharks content, go to sjsharks.com slash listen.