Tony Granato Diagnosed With Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
Former University of Wisconsin head coach Tony Granato took to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Sunday to share that he’s been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and will be taking a temporary leave of absence from his roles with NBC Sports Chicago and NHL Network.
Granato, 59, has had an illustrious hockey career. He was originally drafted in the sixth round of the 1982 NHL Draft – going to the New York Rangers at 120th overall, one spot lower than goaltender Ron Hextall. Granato played in four seasons at the University of Wisconsin after his draft selection, totaling 100 goals and 220 points in 152 games with the school. He moved to the IHL for one season after Wisconsin, where he was recruited to represent the United States at the 1988 Winter Olympics. He scored eight points in six games at the event and made his NHL debut a few months later, with the 1988-89 season marking his rookie year. Granato kicked off his career with a bang, recording 36 goals, 63 points, and 140 penalty minutes in 78 games with the Rangers. The performance was enough to land Granato third in Calder Trophy voting that year, behind winner Brian Leetch and runner-up Trevor Linden.
The Rangers traded Granato to the Los Angeles Kings after just two seasons, sending him in a package deal for former 150-point-scorer Bernie Nicholls. Granato would go on to spend seven seasons in L.A., recording the best years of his career between 1990 and 1993, when he totaled 229 games, 106 goals, 214 points, and 512 penalty minutes. But despite the eventful stat line, Granato didn’t receive any more award votes until joining the San Jose Sharks in 1996-97, when he won the Bill Masterton Trophy, the league’s sportsmanship award. Granato received the award after returning from a head injury suffered in the second half of the 1995-96 season that left him with a brain bleed and required surgery. He played in five more seasons with San Jose before retiring in 2001.
Granato took just one season off before joining an NHL bench, initially stepping into an assistant coaching role for the Colorado Avalanche ahead of the 2002-03 season; although Granato would go on to replace Bob Hartley mid-season and serve as the team’s head coach through the 2003-04 season. Granato also served as the Avalanche’s head coach for the 2008-09 season, replacing Joel Quenneville. He otherwise served as an assistant coach throughout his 13-year NHL coaching career. In 2016, Granato returned to the University of Wisconsin, replacing Mike Eaves and carrying on the torch of a former player serving as the team’s head coach.
Granato ranks third on Wisconsin’s all-time goals list and fourth in points. His college showings were the start of a 40-year career around the Big 10 and NHL. We at Pro Hockey Rumors extend our thoughts to Tony and his family.
William Eklund Misses Sunday With Lower-Body Injury
Top San Jose Sharks youngster William Eklund was held out of the team’s Sunday night shootout-loss versus the Vegas Golden Knights with a lower-body injury. No further update was provided about the 21-year-old’s injury.
Eklund narrowly avoids the ‘rookie’ title this season, as playing more than six games in each of the last two seasons removes his eligibility. Regardless, he’s performed well for the Sharks this season, netting six goals and 13 points in 27 games. Four of these points have come in just his last two games – both overtime wins. The 21-year-old has managed this production while serving in a second-line role on the resurging Sharks. Eklund would be tied for seventh in rookie scoring with Philadelphia’s Bobby Brink, if he were eligible.
Eklund has totaled 44 career NHL games since making his debut in 2021-22. He’s managed eight goals, 20 points, and 20 penalty minutes in that span, also recording a career -16. The Sharks drafted Eklund seventh overall in the 2021 NHL Draft,
Ferraro Wants To Stay In San Jose
- With only three months away from the 2023-24 NHL trade deadline, the league is quickly separating itself into buyers and sellers. One seller, the San Jose Sharks, has been receiving plenty of interest in defenseman Mario Ferraro, as reported last week. However, in an article published today by Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now, Ferraro gave indication he has no desire to leave San Jose, saying, “I feel like I have unfinished business here. This organization has done so much for me, right? I feel like I still owe them and the fans.“
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Benning Out Week-To-Week With Lower-Body Injury
- Missing nearly a month to an undisclosed injury in early November, beat writer Curtis Pashelka reports that San Jose Sharks defenseman Matt Benning is listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury. In arguably the weakest defensive core in the NHL, Benning is one of 11 defensemen to play at least one game for San Jose this season, averaging just under 18 and a half minutes of ice time per night, placing him sixth on the team amongst defensemen in that category.
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Marc-Édouard Vlasic Unlikely To Be Traded Anytime Soon
- Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News is reporting that San Jose Sharks defenseman Marc-Édouard Vlasic is unlikely to be traded anytime soon. While that news isn’t surprising, the timing is interesting given that Vlasic was re-inserted into the Sharks lineup two nights ago after being a healthy scratch for a stretch. It seems that for the right price any contract in the NHL can be moved, however, there hasn’t been a contract situation quite like Vlasic’s. The 36-year-old has no points in 15 games this season and is playing under a $7MM cap hit for this season, and two more years after that. He has a modified no-trade clause that allows him to submit a list of three teams in which he would accept a trade. The other wrinkle in a potential trade is that if the Sharks were to retain salary, it would represent the final time they can do that until one of the current retained contracts expires.
Nico Sturm And Filip Zadina Returning Tonight
Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now is reporting that the San Jose Sharks are set to welcome back Nico Sturm and Filip Zadina as they take on the New York Islanders this evening.
Sturm is returning to the Sharks lineup after missing their 6-5 loss on Sunday night to the New York Rangers with a lower-body injury. Zadina on the other hand is being activated off the injured reserve after missing the Sharks’ last five games. Both players figure to play in the bottom six as Zadina is likely to see fourth-line duty while Sturm will most likely center the Sharks third line.
Like many players in the Sharks lineup both Sturm and Zadina have struggled to find any traction offensively this season. Sturm had 14 goals and 12 assists in 74 games last year but has managed just two assists in 22 appearances thus far this season. Zadina on the other hand has three goals and two assists in 20 games which isn’t far off from the three goals and four assists in 30 games he posted last year while he was a member of the Detroit Red Wings.
After starting the season with a 0-10-1 record the Sharks have turned things around recently going 4-5-1 in their last ten games including three wins in their last five games. At 6-17-2 the Sharks are still well outside of the playoff picture and figure to be a non-factor in the playoff picture for the remainder of the season. But for players like Sturm and Zadina, they don’t have much term left on their contracts and are playing for their NHL futures.
Mario Ferraro Drawing Trade Interest
Entering this season, and amid a long-awaited rebuild, the San Jose Sharks were largely expected to be sellers at this year’s trade deadline. Now with a 6-17-2 record through the first 25 games of the season, the Sharks are tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for last place in the NHL and are even more committed to moving out established players to build a new team from the ground up.
Even though the team is bottoming out in a big way, San Jose still holds players with trade value on their team and is open to business on just about every player. Speaking on Hockey Night in Canada, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet indicated that a player who is drawing significant interest around the league is defenseman Mario Ferraro.
Much like most of the Sharks roster, Ferraro has had two relatively poor seasons in terms of production, but the underlying metrics indicate that it may largely be a result of the play of the entire organization. In his last 97 games playing for San Jose, Ferraro carries an abysmal -49 rating, however, according to Hockey Reference’s calculations, his expected rating should land around -16 to -17 when factoring in Expected Goals For and Expected Goals Against.
With two years and $6.5MM left on his contract after this season, the fact that Ferraro is signed beyond this season may boost the Sharks’ return if a trade is completed before the deadline. Since taking over as General Manager of the Sharks back in 2022, Mike Grier is no stranger to trading players with team control, moving out Brent Burns, Timo Meier, and Erik Karlsson in a little under two years on the job.
Given his prowess on the defensive side of the puck, and his ability to block shots and lay hits, Ferraro makes sense for a lot of contending teams this season and beyond. The Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils, and Buffalo Sabres could all use Ferraro’s skill set on their blue line, but if his contract is factored in, other teams who may look to contend for the playoffs next season may open up more options for San Jose.
As the Sharks are not expected to field a competitive team for the foreseeable future, it would make a lot of sense for the team to field offers for a player like Ferraro, as well as others. However, given that he is still signed for two more seasons, San Jose will likely not be in an hurry to move him, and may wait for the 2024 NHL Draft to get the return they are looking for.
Sharks Place Ty Emberson, Ryan Carpenter On IR
The Sharks have made a pair of roster moves ahead of tomorrow’s game against the Islanders, placing defenseman Ty Emberson and forward Ryan Carpenter on IR, as Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group relays. Emberson is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury after missing yesterday’s loss against the Rangers. Meanwhile, Carpenter logged nearly 16 minutes in that game and is now out with an undisclosed injury.
Emberson, 23, has been a pleasant surprise for the Sharks after they claimed him off waivers from the Rangers in September, quickly emerging as a potential replacement for the steeply declining Marc-Édouard Vlasic as a top-four shutdown specialist. A relatively unknown name with no NHL experience entering this season, Emberson has played 16 of San Jose’s 25 games, recently forcing his way up to the team’s top pairing alongside Mario Ferraro. Recording a goal and three assists while averaging 17:51 per game, Emberson has recorded a relatively strong -3 rating on a defensively porous Sharks team and a Corsi share of 46.7% at even strength, far better than the team’s 42.7% overall mark. His pairing with Ferraro has allowed 1.96 expected goals against per 60 minutes, the best of any qualified pairing on the Sharks, per MoneyPuck.
Even if only short-term, his absence cannot be afforded for a team with such a thin blue line. In Emberson’s absence, Kyle Burroughs is expected to play top-pairing duties against the Islanders tomorrow. He has just two assists in 24 games with a -12 rating, averaging nearly 19 minutes per game.
Carpenter has been similarly excellent on the defensive side of the puck this season but figures a bit easier to replace, given he’s seen more limited minutes. The 32-year-old veteran of nearly 350 NHL games has lined up primarily at center for the Sharks this year, recording five points in 18 games and a relatively spectacular Corsi share of 49.3% at even strength despite seeing a majority of defensive zone starts.
After Carpenter cleared waivers and was assigned to AHL San Jose before opening night rosters were due, the Sharks recalled him in late October. He sat as a healthy scratch for one contest but has made 18 straight appearances. Without him, the Sharks are down to 11 healthy forwards (including defenseman-turned-forward Jacob MacDonald), so expect a recall from the minors before tomorrow’s contest.
Emberson will be eligible to return on December 10 against the Golden Knights, while Carpenter will be eligible to return two days later against the Jets. Both will miss at least three games during their mandatory retroactive seven-day stint on IR.
Jan Rutta, Alexander Barabanov Activated
- The San Jose Sharks have activated defenseman Jan Rutta and forward Alexander Barabanov off of injured reserve in advance of their game this evening against the New York Rangers in Manhattan. It had been widely reported that both players were nearing a return, and now the team has made it official. Barabanov is the more notable name of the duo, as he scored 15 goals and 47 points in 68 games last season.
Barabanov Set To Return Tonight
- Max Miller of The Hockey News is reporting that San Jose Sharks forward, Filip Zadina, is back on the ice for practice. It is unclear if he will be able to play in the team’s game tonight or Tuesday, as Miller points out the Sharks are looking for his return against his former team, the Detroit Red Wings. Zadina has been out of San Jose’s lineup for a little over a week with an upper-body injury.
- One player for San Jose who is likely making his return to the ice tonight is forward Alexander Barabanov (X Link). Having not played since late October, Barabanov has been on the injured reserve recovering from an injury to one of his fingers. Being one of the highest-scoring players on the Sharks roster last season, San Jose could certainly use his help, as they continue to struggle as a team on offense.
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