My Takeaways from Boughner’s Exit Interview (+)

Sharks players held their exit interviews on Saturday, and head coach Bob Boughner and interim general manager Joe Will held court today.

You can see my takeaways from Joe Will’s availability here:

My takeaways from Joe Will's exit interview today — from Boughner’s future to the new GM search to a possible Vlasic buyout to a potential Burns trade to what #SJSharks will add this off-season — there's a lot of fat to chew on here https://t.co/2R6IRF2AtN

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) May 3, 2022

As for Boughner, the big question with him is obviously his job security. But he had no answers for that yet, and I believe him.

He provided plenty of more insight on how the San Jose Sharks can add offense, how far the offense is from playoff-caliber, the little things that Brent Burns does on the ice, where Marc-Edouard Vlasic can improve next year, and what type of forward is ideal for Logan Couture’s line.

Team Defense

Bob Boughner: “Limiting chances and defensively, I think we’re 15th in the league in limiting chances, inner slot chances. If you look at, you know, our analytics, we’re a good team in the neutral zone. We deny a lot of controlled entries. We’re a shot blocking team. I think we’re second in the league in blocking shots. When we did have leads, I think we were 20-0-4 for leading after the second period. I think there’s only two other teams in the league that have that record.

“Those are some good things and it shows you that we’re in a lot of games. We had 23 games, I believe, where we had to pull our goalie and try and find that one goal that we needed.”

Takeaway: For what it’s worth, the San Jose Sharks finished the season 12th in the NHL in Quality Chances Against in All Situations, according to SPORTLOGiQ (which the Sharks also use).

That figure is somewhat skewed by their robust penalty kill – they were 17th in the league in Slot Shots Against at Even Strength. But it was an improvement: They were 26th in that category in 2020-21.

The Sharks did follow through with a greater commitment to team defense this season.