Boughner officially hired as Sharks' head coach, adds Stanley Cup champion to his staff

It's official! And now the Sharks' coaching staff is complete.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Boughner officially hired as Sharks' head coach, adds Stanley Cup champion to his staff
Zuma Press

This just in, the San Jose Sharks have officially hired interim coach Bob Boughner as the team's official head coach.

Check it out:


Boughner becomes the 9th head coach in team history, but of course he'd be rumoured to take over the gig for months after taking over for now Vegas Golden Knights head coach Pete DeBoer earlier this season.

The Sharks also announced that former NHLers John Madden and Rocky Thompson will join the Sharks' coaching staff, as well. In total the Sharks will have Boughner, Madden, Thompson, Evgeni Nabokov, Mike Ricci, Dan Darrow and Charlie Townsend as its coaching staff for 2020-21. By my count that's five former NHLers behind the bench in San Jose and one Stanley Cup champion in Madden.

"Bob did a tremendous job last season, getting our group back to playing with an identity and structure that we need in order to be successful," said Sharks general manager Doug Wilson in a prepared statement. "We saw a marked improvement in our play in several key areas during the second half of the season, before losing some key players to injury."

"We're also very pleased to add Rocky and John to our staff. Both come with a wealth of experience, both in playing the game and as teachers and leaders. With a healthy and motivated group of players, we are confident that this staff will do a terrific job leading our group in the coming years."

"I'm very excited about the opportunity to return to the San Jose Sharks organization as head coach," said Boughner. "I want to thank Hasso Plattner and Doug Wilson for their trust in me. Last year was a difficult season for everyone but I think we learned a lot about ourselves as a group and we made some positive strides over the second half of the year. I've been in contact with many of our players over the break and, as a coaching staff, we are going to make it clear that our team is going compete every night, play hard and be a tight group on and off the ice."

I'll be honest... I'm not sure how I feel about this hiring just yet. Boughner has the pedigree sure, but he hasn't exactly been a triumph at the NHL level thus far. Let's just say that I'm cautiously optimistic.