Sheng Peng
Marco Sturm, Ryan Warsofsky, and Jeff Blashill seem solidly entrenched as candidates for next San Jose Sharks head coach.
Elliotte Friedman also “wondered” about Jeremy Colliton today.
Here’s another name that I’m hearing: Jeff Halpern.
I haven’t been able to confirm that Halpern has interviewed yet, but a source told San Jose Hockey Now that the likelihood was “pretty strong” that the Tampa Bay Lightning assistant coach is in the mix.
There is also a solid connection between San Jose Sharks GM Mike Grier and Halpern.
Not only were they teammates with the Washington Capitals from 2002 to 2004, but they also were together in a tear-it-down situation in their last year there, not too dissimilar to the Sharks this past season.
In fact, Grier told this Halpern in Washington story after San Jose’s 0-10-1 start: “Jeff Halpern and I were the older guys who came to the rink every day and had a smile on our faces, we practiced as hard as we could, played as hard as we could. The results were what they were, but we thought it was important to kind of have that mindset and the young guys could watch us and see what it takes to be a pro and play in the league.”
From what I understand, Grier and Halpern remain close.
While Halpern doesn’t have any head coaching experience, he has two Stanley Cup rings to his name, as Lightning assistant coach from 2018 to now. Previously, he was a Syracuse Crunch development coach in 2015-16 and a Crunch assistant from 2016 to 2018.
The big question with Halpern could be how he sees the Sharks’ situation. Does he want to uproot his family and come out west to be on the ground floor of a less-than-competitive situation?
So who might be out from the San Jose Sharks coaching search?
From I’ve heard, the Sharks have not checked in seriously with Dean Evason (as of last week), David Carle, and Jay Leach (Kraken assistant coach who’s in it for the Seattle head coach job).
Interestingly, I did hear that Grier connected with long-time Sharks head coach Todd McLellan about the job recently – but there wasn’t a fit there for either side.
I presume – I don’t know this – that McLellan doesn’t necessarily want to take part in a rebuild.
Something else that I’m hearing, which also makes perfect sense? The San Jose Sharks are looking for a head coach who can connect with future stars Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, I believe as soon as next year for both.
That doesn’t eliminate young or old – and it’s not saying that the guys they haven’t talked to couldn’t connect with Celebrini and company – but it does point to a coach who you can trust the future of the franchise to.
SJHN’s source emphasized, Grier “needs a coach to relate [to] and grow with the young core”.