San Jose Sharks
Grier on Bringing Back Wiseman, Hiring Houda & Ulmer

New assistant GM Ryane Clowe got the headlines, but the San Jose Sharks also rounded out their coaching staff recently.
On Jul. 6, GM Mike Grier shared some interesting insights as to why he brought back Brian Wiseman and hired Doug Houda and Jeff Ulmer.
Assistant coaches Wiseman, Houda, and Ulmer will serve under new Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky this season.
53-year-old Wiseman, who will work with the forwards and power play, doesn’t need much introduction. Wiseman fulfilled similar duties for fired head coach David Quinn over the past two years.
“Wise, I think he did a good job with the power play,” Grier said, of a San Jose Sharks’ PP that was seventh in the NHL with a 25.3 percent success rate from Jan. 31 to the end of the season. “Speaking with the forwards and those guys that were on the power play at our exit meetings, guys had very positive things to say about him.”
Wiseman shared these jobs with veteran coach Scott Gordon, who was let go.
“He kind of grew over the two years where year one he was kind of a third assistant, and in year two, he kind of bumped up to more of a No. 2 and took over the power play and 6-on-5,” Grier said of Wiseman. “He’s got a history of some player development with his time in college as well.”
Wiseman was University of Michigan assistant coach from 2011 to 2019, before his jump to the NHL as an Edmonton Oilers assistant coach from 2019 to 2022.
Houda, 58, will run the defensemen and the penalty kill.
“Doug Houda balances out our staff in general, Ryan included, with all his experience in the league, played for a long time, coached in the league for a long time,” Grier said. “We’re gonna have some young D coming up and I think he’s a great teacher for those players. He’ll be a good ear for Ryan and kind of help him navigate the ups and downs of the season. I don’t think there’s anything that he hasn’t seen.”
Houda, by far, will have the most NHL coaching experience on the San Jose Sharks’ bench, going back to 2006.
From 2006 to 2016, Houda was a Boston Bruins assistant coach — from 2016 to 2022, he was a Detroit Red Wings assistant coach — and from 2022 to 2024, Houda was a New York Islanders assistant coach.
Along the way, he’s helmed four top-10 PKs, and developed the likes of defensemen Johnny Boychuk, Torey Krug, Dougie Hamilton, Filip Hronek, Moritz Seider, and Noah Dobson.
There’s nobody on the San Jose Sharks with close to as much NHL bench experience as Houda, 18 seasons. Warsofsky checks in with two, Wiseman with six, and Ulmer with zero.
Houda is also the only Stanley Cup winner (2011) on the San Jose bench.
Ulmer, 47, will be concentrating on skills and development, especially crucial to the San Jose Sharks with the impending NHL debuts of Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith.
“Jeff Ulmer, he’s played in a bunch of different leagues, and he’s done player development and a lot of skill work,” Grier said. “Last few years, he’s got his foot in the door in the coaching and blended the skill work and player development work with coaching. That’s a good mix for us, where we are, and the young players that we’re going to have around. We have someone who’s got that player development, skill development background to help as we move along.”
Ulmer was an Abbotsford Canucks assistant coach from 2021 to 2024, running the power play and forwards. Before that, he spent two years with the Arizona Coyotes as director of player development and skills coach.
Nils Hoglander, Aatu Raty, Linus Karlsson, and Conor Garland are among the players who developed under Ulmer.
Over a 19-year playing career, highlighted by 21 games with the New York Rangers in 2000-01, Ulmer skated professionally for teams in the United States, Wales, Finland, Germany, Russia, Belarus, Switzerland, Sweden, Slovenia, Austria, Scotland, and Denmark.
From Warsofsky’s promise of structure to Houda’s experience on defense to Ulmer’s focus on development, it looks like the San Jose Sharks will be adding some elements to their coaching staff that they didn’t have last season.