Back on July 1st, the San Jose Sharks announced the firing of head coach Bob Boughner along with all of the assistant coaches. It wasn't a strange decision that Boughner was fired, because the San Jose Sharks missed the playoffs again. It was that he was fired two months after the Sharks last regular season game. Ownership announced that the firing was to clean house for when the next General Manager was hired. Mike Grier was then hired on July 5th to be the new General Manager only two days before the NHL Entry Draft.
The San Jose Sharks have been operating behind the eight ball all year. When free agency opened on July 13th, the Sharks were the only team in the NHL to have named a head coach for next season. Now one week later they finally found their new bench boss. But when you wait this long, you get stuck with leftovers.
David Quinn has had one prior head coaching job in the NHL. He was in charge of trying to turn the New York Rangers around from 2018-2021. During those 3 seasons, the Rangers missed the playoffs twice. The one time they qualified, was the COVID shortened bubble season where they made the Qualifying round as the 11th seed in the East. The Carolina Hurricanes quickly swept the Rangers in three straight games.
All signs point to the San Jose Sharks being at the bottom of the Pacific Division next season. They have a rookie GM, a coach who has never made the actual playoffs, and they just shipped out Brent Burns. Fortunately for them the 2023 NHL Entry draft has multiple franchise changing prospects.
