San Jose Sharks
Sharks Fire Boughner, Clean House: Reports
While the Bay Area slept, multiple reports emerged the San Jose Sharks fired head coach Bob Boughner and cleaned out his staff late Thursday night.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman first reported the story.
Not sure what’s happening with GM search in SJ, but it appears that the Sharks have made a coaching change. Word late last night was Bob Boughner was informed he will not be returning.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 1, 2022
Boughner served as the Sharks’ head coach since Dec. 11, 2019, when he replaced the fired Pete DeBoer. Boughner was initially the interim head coach, but in September 2020, he was officially named the head coach.
The Sharks did not make the playoffs in his three seasons, though they improved to sixth place in the Pacific Division last season with a 32-37-13 record.
Boughner had one year and $1.5 million left on his contract, according to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun.
Including his two-year stint as the head coach of the Florida Panthers, Boughner’s career record is 147-147-45.
The Sharks also let go of Boughner’s staff, including John Madden, John Maclean, and video coach Dan Darrow.
The San Jose Sharks GM search is also underway. Several interesting names have been rumored and reported, including Ray Whitney and Mike Grier, who are considered finalists for the job.
The new GM will likely get to hire the new coach.
It is unusual to be terminated so deep into the offseason. Boughner will have a tough time finding work this summer as only the Winnipeg Jets job remains open, and that has reportedly been offered to former Arizona Coyotes bench boss Rick Tocchet.
Check back with San Jose Hockey Now for more details as the story unfolds…
SOURCE: Sharks Want 2nd-Round Pick for Reimer (+)
Barracuda Reveal 2nd New Jersey, What Will Next One Look Like?
Justin Pooni on What Canucks Should Do With J.T. Miller
GOTTA SEE IT: Markus Nutivaara’s Dog Interrupts Press Conference
Can Derrick Pouliot Follow Jaycob Megna’s Path to Sharks?
Burns Is Gone — Are Couture, Karlsson, Hertl, or Meier Next?
BREAKING: Eklund Skipping World Juniors
Sharks Development Camp: Eklund Meets Marleau
NHL Scouts Like Sharks’ New Acquisitions — No, Really (+)
Free Agency Rumblings: What’s Latest on Ferraro, Kane? Did Sharks Go Hard After Strome? (+)
Justin Pooni on What Canucks Should Do With J.T. Miller
Eli Barnett Talks Golf Game, Growing Up a Sharks Fan
Our Top-10 Sharks’ Prospects
Jess Belmosto Talks Flames’ Direction
Sarah Avampato on Warsofsky’s Coaching Philosophy
Well this should make everyone happy. Ticks me off as didn’t even give him a chance. He had to deal with Kane and Karlsson. Then his own divorce – probably why 2020-2021 season didn’t go well at all. I’m sure Karlsson’s exit interview played a big part as he was the only one in his interview not to talk about Boughner like the other teammates. I look for Burns to want to leave now – I wouldn’t be surprised if DeBoer doesn’t ask Boughner to coach with him again and Burns goes to Dallas.
Just my opinion.
Dan Darrow is a damn good video coach. What morons to get rid of him. Sad getting rid of coaches so deep into the summer. Maybe they are happy about it.
I don’t necessarily disagree with the move. I do believe though that Management should have made this move much sooner, especially if they knew they’d be releasing the staff. Doing so would have provided them an opportunity to at least be considered by other teams.
I hope whoever they’re bringing in as GM already has staff lined up and handshake agreements from them to get on board. If not, it appears like it will be a shaky start to the 2022-23 season.
Divorce?
It’s a sign… New GM coming in today. (or very very soon)
I suspect Mike Grier gets named as GM today given Sharks had already planned a news conference for today
Highly likely the new GM requested this ahead of his arrival.
Thought Boughner got a lot of blame for things out of his control. He didn’t draft much of the mediocrity he was forced to play, he didn’t hand out those massive contracts (well-intentioned, but they aren’t working out). To me, Boughner got the results one would expect from the team he was handed. He was literally down to 1 NHL-level goalie for about a month. EK65 missed a big chunk of the season (again). Labanc was out, Vlasic has fallen off a cliff, Ferraro was out for a month + and they traded, at least by some metrics, their top… Read more »
I agree. He came in at a time when the wheels were bound to come off, so to speak, due to all that you mentioned. The Kane drama couldn’t have helped either. The results of the past few years were the inevitable consequence of Wilson signing all those contracts that weren’t going to age well. He did what most GMs were doing for years…overpay for the last few prime years following a deep cup run and then worry about those contracts aging later. Sad to say that kind of loyalty isn’t a good business strategy in a cap strapped nhl.… Read more »
You are right, by the summer of 2019, Karlsson could be considered polarizing. But he still had his supporters too, people who really believed in him. Wilson was one of them. Following that thread of thinking, I get it. The highest-ceiling guy of Karlsson and Pavelski, and I’ve said this before, was EK65. Joe would’ve been the safe guy to bring back during the summer. So I don’t see it as pride, but gambling on a potential franchise player versus somebody who’s great but doesn’t necessarily have the ability to change the course of the franchise
Darrow’s a bit of a surprise, but i called it on Bob’s days being numbered (didn’t exactly take Nostradamus level foretelling).
while everyone’s focused on either Grier or Whitney, i’m wondering if Tulsky might actually be the guy. i’m thinking about the recent talk of the SJS’ analytics being rather subpar for NHL standards.
Where have you heard that about SJS’ analytics? I’ve been wondering about that department since Christopher Boucher left.
i’ve been trying to find where i saw the discussion (or comment) previous to this article from SP, but the firing of Darrow kind of supports it.