Hockey History
Who’s Best Coach in Sharks’ History?

Kyle, Erik, and JD answer a question from the fans. Who is the best coach in San Jose Sharks’ history? We start by looking at some of the coaches who didn’t quite make the cut, then we discuss Todd McLellan’s resume (9:00) and Ron Wilson’s tenure (12:30). We debate if Darryl Sutter is underrated (19:00) and where Peter DeBoer ranks among San Jose Sharks coaches (21:00).
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My rough list, in order (and only judging performance as Sharks coach), is topped by:
Cap Raeder (perfect record!)
But seriously, I’ll have to think about the top-five hard: Sutter, DeBoer, Wilson, McLellan, and Constantine all have legitimate arguments. Sutter and Constantine might top it because they did more with less.
Boughner tops the bottom-four, but obviously with room to grow. Boughner, Kingston, Wiley, and Sims all dealt bad hands in different ways. But Boughner seemed to keep the room’s attention, which didn’t seem to be the case for the other guys in this group
I wonder if fans would think of McLellan differently if the reverse sweep hadn’t happened. After that, he was a dead man walking.
My personal knock against McLellan was that he coached some of the most boring Sharks hockey. The last couple years of McLellan literally had me falling asleep during games on occasion.
Sutter beat both Ron Wilson (with CGY in the 2003-04 playoffs) and Todd McClellan (with the LAK in the 2012-13 playoffs and again in the 2013-14 playoffs “reverse sweep”). DeBoer’s the only SJS HC to beat him in the playoffs (2015-16).
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