Is Boughner Coming Back? Latest on Barabanov, Ferraro Contracts

Check out my last “Sharks Pregame Live” hit this year!

Sheng Peng: Is Bob Boughner coming back next year as San Jose Sharks head coach?

Well, even he doesn’t know. Boughner said this morning that he hasn’t received assurances yet from interim GM Joe Will that he’ll be back.

“We’ve not talked about that, to be honest,” Boughner told us. “We’ll get through the season here and get through this weekend and the exit stuff, and I’m sure there is going to be a lot of time to talk about that.”

Complicating the decision to bring Bob back or not? Well, it’s not necessarily Will’s decision to make. Will is the interim GM, and the Sharks are currently looking for a new general manager.

San Jose Hockey Now has learned the new GM will be empowered to make his or her own personnel or coaching decisions, answering just to owner Hasso Plattner and president Jonathan Becher, the only mandate being that the Sharks are trying to win, that they aren’t going into a total re-build.

The new general manager, like Doug Wilson was, will be the lead hockey voice in the organization, answering only to Becher in financial matters, they will be able to hire their own coach.

Now that doesn’t mean that Bob is done as San Jose Sharks head coach. For all we know, the new GM will like Bob’s body of work. But that’s going to be for the new GM to decide.

However, that doesn’t mean that interim GM Joe Will won’t be busy for now.

Even with Tomas Hertl back in the fold, the Sharks have important free agents like Alexander Barabanov and Mario Ferraro to sign.

Just a quick update on both: Earlier this week, we reported that talks between unrestricted free agent Barabanov and the Sharks could be starting as soon as this week. And indeed, talks between both sides have started. We’re still in an early phase, so no big updates, but it’s good that Barabanov and the Sharks are talking well before the Jul. 13 start of free agency.

Mario Ferraro is a different story because he’s a restricted free agent, so there’s not as much urgency to get his deal done. I’m hearing talks have NOT started between Ferraro and the San Jose Sharks, but we’re still very early in that process, so nothing to worry about.

Anyway, thanks for watching me all year, Sharks fans, follow me on Twitter or read San Jose Hockey Now to get all your GM search, Barabanov, and Ferraro updates over the summer.