The Sharks will make Bob Boughner their full-time head coach in the near future, according to a published report.
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic wrote Wednesday that Boughner would have the interim tag removed from his title in “the next week or two.”
A Sharks spokesman said Wednesday morning that nothing is official. For months, though, all indications have been that Boughner, 49, would be named the ninth full-time head coach in Sharks history at some point.
Boughner, who took over the job on an interim basis partway through the 2019-2020 season, was labeled by general manager Doug Wilson in the spring as having the “upper hand” for the Sharks’ full-time head coaching position. Wilson felt Boughner’s knowledge of the Sharks roster and his past experience as Florida’s bench boss from 2017-2019 would serve him well going forward.
In July, reports indicated that Boughner was believed to have earned a contract extension with the Sharks and that Rocky Thompson would join his staff. Wilson, in a statement to this newspaper, denied anything had been finalized and said he was still in the “process of identifying candidates to fill out our staff.”
After Boughner replaced Pete DeBoer as San Jose’s head coach Dec. 11, the Sharks, beset by injury, went 14-20-3 over the next three months before the NHL paused its season on March 12. The Sharks played with more structure under Boughner, but finished the season with a 29-36-5 record and 63 points, third-fewest in the league.
Boughner would be the latest NHL coach to have the interim tag removed from his title.
Dean Evason, who took over for the fired Bruce Boudreau in February, was named the Minnesota Wild’s full-time coach in July.
Geoff Ward, who took over as Calgary’s coach after the disgraced Bill Peters left the organization in November, was named the Flames’ full time coach on Monday. It is also apparent that Rick Bowness will remain the Dallas Stars head coach. Bowness, who took over for the fired Jim Montgomery in December, has the Stars in the Stanley Cup Final.
The Sharks are surely looking forward to erasing the memory of last season. What’s unclear now, though, is when Boughner and his team will be able to start training camp.
Earlier this summer, per an NHL memorandum of understanding, the league was looking at starting training camp for next season on Nov. 17, and beginning games Dec. 1. Those dates could be in jeopardy as teams have no way of knowing right now if fans will be allowed into arenas by that time.
Boughner first came to the Sharks in July 2015 when he and Johan Hedberg were added to DeBoer’s staff. Under Boughner, the Sharks defense became more active, and Brent Burns went on to record 151 points over two seasons. He won the Norris Trophy in 2017 as the NHL’s best defenseman.
Boughner was hired by the Florida Panthers to be their head coach in 2017 and his teams went 80-62-22 over two years but did not make the playoffs. He was fired by Florida in April 2019 but returned to the Sharks organization more a month later to be an assistant on DeBoer’s staff.
