By Jordan Long
The San Jose Sharks are on a 5 game losing streak, looking to snap that tonight against the New York Rangers. They stand at 15-16-2 for a total of 32 points, 5 points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for the 2nd Wild Card position. For their struggles so far this season, they fired Head Coach Peter DeBoer.
DeBoer was introduced as San Jose’s Head Coach on May 28th, 2015. He brought 7 years of NHL Head Coaching experience to the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks were hoping he was going to win the Stanley Cup. The Sharks have never won the Cup since the franchise started in the 1991-1992 season.
In 2016, DeBoer’s first season behind the bench, the Sharks made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. They lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 6 games. San Jose was anticipating another run to the Cup Final and this time win it.
It never happened. The Sharks made the postseason the next 3 years but didn’t make a deep playoff run until last year. The Sharks advanced it all the way to the Western Conference Finals but were knocked out by the St. Louis Blues in 6 games.
San Jose had high expectations entering this season. They wanted to make the playoffs but anything less than advancing to the Stanley Cup Final would be a disappointment. San Jose isn’t looking like a team who is going to earn a playoff berth at this point.
The Sharks are one of the worst teams on offense this season. They score 2.64 goals per game, ranking 24th in the league. The Sharks power play is a disappointing 16%, 23rd in the NHL. Those numbers are perplexing because they have scorers in Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, Erik Karlsson, Patrick Marleau, and Joe Thornton.
On defense, the Sharks allow 3.42 goals per game, 29th in the NHL. They allow teams to dictate the play in the defensive zone. When they try to move the puck out of their own zone, teams keep it in. Those are scoring chances and opponents take advantage.
The only area where they are playing well is the power play kill. They kill off 88.3% of the penalties they take, ranking number 1 in the NHL. The Sharks are blocking shots and firing the puck to the other end of the ice, taking time off the power play kill.
Looking at the offensive and defensive numbers shows why San Jose was struggling under DeBoer. It was time to let him go. He was not adjusting his game plan to put the Sharks in the best position to win games.
According to ESPN, San Jose Sharks’ General Manager Doug Wilson said, “When you have had a level of past success, change is never easy, but we feel this team is capable of much more than we have shown thus far and that a new voice is needed. As a team and as individuals, our play has not met expectations this year and our level of consistency has not been where it needs to be. This group of individuals who will lead our team moving forward are very familiar with our players, and we think this change can provide our group with a fresh start.”
San Jose’s interim Head Coach is Bob Boughner. He has NHL Head Coaching experience with the Florida Panthers from 2017 to 2019. His overall record is 80-62-22, a winning percentage of .555. He has his chance to turn San Jose’s season around. If the Sharks are able to climb in the standings and make the postseason, Boughner will stick around as the Sharks Head Coach for the next few years. If not, San Jose will start a coaching search once the year is over.
Leave a Reply