San Jose Hockey Now Podcast #7: Alyn McCauley Talks Sharks Career, New Role As Flyers AGM

Alyn McCauley joins the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast!But before we get to San Jose Sharks great and current Philadelphia Flyers’ assistant general manager McCauley (46:42), Sheng and Keegan chat about the latest Erik Karlsson news and how Sharks prospects performed at the World Junior Summer Showcase.Karlsson talk is hot this weekend because the Pittsburgh Penguins are currently in the midst of their second buyout window (1:45). However, GM Kyle Dubas isn’t a fan of the buyout maneuver.The most popular Penguins buyout or trade candidates are Mikael Granlund (3:30) and Jeff Petry (4:30). Why is Petry an unattractive trade candidate for the San Jose Sharks and an unattractive buyout candidate for Pittsburgh?How about the Carolina Hurricanes? Could they still be in the Karlsson hunt even after signing Tony DeAngelo (7:55)? Sheng thinks so. Also, their cap and contracts situation is way better than Pittsburgh’s (11:00)Keegan and Sheng share their predictions about what happens with Karlsson during this Pittsburgh buyout window (15:00)Next, Keegan and Sheng move on to how the San Jose Sharks performed at the World Junior Summer Showcase (25:00).How impressive was Will Smith for Team USA (26:10)? Does Keegan think that Quentin Musty will start the season with the Sharks (30:05)? Eric Pohlkamp opened a lot of eyes at the WJSS (33:05). Did Cam Lund struggle a bit (35:00)?Going outside of the US, Filip Bystedt stood out again for Sweden (37:25). How about his teammate Mattias Havelid (39:55)? And why were Kasper Halttunen’s struggles different than Lund’s (41:05)?Which Sharks prospect had the best tournament? The worst? Keegan ranks all the prospects (42:50).Now, Alyn McCauley (46:42)!McCauley talks about the challenge of getting traded for two franchise icons, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Doug Gilmour and San Jose Sharks’ Owen Nolan (47:30). He shared an embarrassing story about the first time that he faced Gilmour in Toronto.McCauley breaks down his best NHL season, 2003-04, when he was a Selke Trophy finalist and the San Jose Sharks made the Western Conference Finals. The Sharks were a surprise team that season, what clicked for them (52:45)?How about for McCauley, what came together for him that year (1:01:08)?Why did Alexander Korolyuk leave for Russia after the 2003-04 campaign and never come back (1:03:30)?McCauley talked about slowly taking the reins from veteran Vincent Damphousse (1:05:26), in his last season, throughout the year, and how great a leader that Damphousse was.McCauley also shares why he told head coach Ron Wilson to make Patrick Marleau the captain of the San Jose Sharks (1:07:15). He also defends Marleau’s playoff record.How did Miikka Kiprusoff remind McCauley of Curtis Joseph (1:10:47).Moving onto 2005-06, McCauley shares his memories of the night that the Sharks traded for Joe Thornton (1:12:58). At that point, McCauley and Jonathan Cheechoo both had seven goals on the season. He laughs about how much more Cheechoo outscored him for the rest of the year (1:14:45).McCauley breaks down who was tougher for him to defend, Marleau or Thornton (1:16:30)?He opens up about the knee injuries that ended his career prematurely (1:19:46). McCauley played through injuries in his last Sharks season.McCauley talked about Dean Lombardi’s impact on his career (1:26:38).McCauley chats about his new role as Flyers AGM (1:31:12). He’s survived three Flyers regimes, Ron Hextall, Chuck Fletcher, and now, Danny Briere (1:35:00).Why have the Flyers finally declared a rebuild (1:37:07)? It’s noteworthy how transparent that Philadelphia has been about their rebuild.McCauley ends with a couple thoughts about the Flyers selecting Matvei Michkov (1:42:00).Listen to the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast — it’s a new link — on