In honor of Tony Granato’s pre-game ceremony tonight in Los Angeles, where he will be recognized via the Kings’ Legends Nights series, we proudly present an encore presentation of his appearance on MayorsManor Live, originally recorded in February 2011.
When evaluating a trade in sports years down the line if you’d still make the same trade again, that usually tells you which team won the exchange. In the case of the Kings sending Bernie Nicholls to the New York Rangers for Tomas Sandstrom and Granato, of course they’d do that deal again today in a heartbeat, as the offensive duo helped propel the Kings to new heights in the early ’90s.
While then-serving as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Granato discussed a wide range of topics, including: what it takes to be a successful coach in the current NHL, what he learned from Barry Melrose, playing in New York with Marcel Dionne, being traded to LA, the Kings 1993 playoff run (including the Marty McSorley stick incident), travel challenges for Eastern vs. Western Conference teams, Staples Center vs. the Forum, and choosing his jersey number.
In an interesting look back, in retrospective, Granato also weighed in on the ‘Should Rob Blake’s number be retired in LA?’ debate.
NOTE: There were also two supplementary articles published as follow ups to this podcast with Granato. First, he talked about GM Dean Lombardi from his days in San Jose (linked here) and we played Word Association – a MayorsManor favorite – using many of his former teammates (linked here).
Additionally, all MayorsManor podcasts are now available via a free download on itunes. Two of the most popular PODCASTS that can be streamed right here on MayorsManor are an interview with Ian Laperriere … and an interview with Kerry Fraser.
Now, onto Granato. Hope you enjoy the conversation…
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[…] [note: the podcast with Granato is available here] […]