Marco Sturm joins the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast!

Sturm was 19 when he started in the NHL with fellow teenager Patrick Marleau -- a situation that the San Jose Sharks will see this fall with youngsters Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith -- and he recounts that experience. The current Ontario Reign head coach also shared some stories about being interviewed for the Sharks’ head coach job this summer.

But before we get to Marco (1:13:24), we chat about the big Sharks news.

On Sunday, the San Jose Sharks acquired Cody Ceci and a 2025 third-round pick from the Edmonton Oilers for Ty Emberson.

Keegan was a lot colder on the trade than Sheng, Emberson being his big sticking point. (2:10)

How did we grade the trade? (43:02)

Are the San Jose Sharks also circling star goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov? Askarov requested a trade from the Nashville Predators earlier this week. (45:50)

Sheng and Keegan bat around different trade proposals for Askarov, discuss their concerns about the mercurial netminder, and more.

And now, Marco Sturm! (1:13:24)

Sturm talks about what it was like to enter the NHL with fellow teenager Patrick Marleau in 1997. (1:14:00)

Who did Sturm live with? (1:19:30)

Sturm talks about how important it was to have solid veteran leadership around he and Marleau. (1:21:53)

Sturm had a great Sharks career, but he was also part of the biggest trade in franchise history, the Joe Thornton trade. Sturm recalls what he was going through personally at the time, and why he was upset with GM Doug Wilson about it for years. (1:25:55)

Sturm was part of two painful Sharks playoff losses, 2002 against the Colorado Avalanche and 2004 against the Calgary Flames. He shares his memories of both, and says if the Sharks had made the 2004 Stanley Cup Final, that maybe he could’ve played. (1:33:40)

What was special about the Shark Tank during the years Marco played? He says it's tough to see the Shark Tank attendance like it is now. (1:38:20)

In 2018, Sturm, now Team Germany head coach, led Germany to an Olympic silver medal, their first top-three finish in either the Olympics or World Championships since 1976. He shares what he did to help take German hockey to another level. (1:43:05)

When did Sturm realize that he wanted to be a head coach? It wasn’t during his playing career. (1:48:40)

Sturm talks about being interviewed for San Jose Sharks head coach, including coming to San Jose for an interview. Did he ever talk with Hasso Plattner during the process? He also shared some interesting insight about Mike Sullivan as a young coach. (1:57:15)