San Jose Sharks fire coach Bob Boughner well after season ends
Anthony Scultore
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Head coach Bob Boughner and his staff are out of job after the San Jose Sharks opted to go in a different direction.
The announcement came as a bit of a surprise on Friday due to the timing. With a majority of coaching vacancies already filled or about to be filled, Boughner now finds himself out of work with no opportunities to get back behind the bench.
“As we progress through our search for the next general manager of the Sharks following 19 seasons under Doug Wilson’s leadership, it has become apparent that the organization is in the process of an evolution,” said interim GM Joe Will in a statement. “The bottom line is we have missed the playoffs for the past three seasons, which isn’t acceptable to our owner, our organization, or to our fans. As part of this evolution and evaluation, we felt it was in the best interest of the club to allow the next Sharks general manager to have full autonomy related to the make-up of the on-ice coaching staff moving ahead.”
San Jose Sharks continue to make changes
Boughner, 51, was the Sharks coach since taking over for Peter DeBoer almost halfway through the 2019-20 season. He leaves San Jose with a record of 67-85-23 and no playoff appearances.
There’s no word on whom the Sharks are possibly thinking about bringing in as their new coach. Some candidates still out there are David Quinn and Jay Leach who were passed up for the Bruins job in favor of Jim Montgomery.
The Jets are reportedly close to hiring Rick Bowness per Darren Dreger. That would put Rick Tocchet, Andrew Brunette and Jeff Blashill as other potential candidates. All were considered for the Jets job.
To compound the Sharks issues, they still do not have general manager in place. Kevin Weekes is reporting that either Ray Whitney or Mike Grier are the two finalists.
Doug Wilson, who was the general manager since 2003 had to step down in February for health reasons. Current interim GM Joe Will is assisting in the new GM search.
The NHL Draft is on July 7th and it would make sense to have a GM in place before then.
