Report: San Jose Sharks ‘zeroing in’ on David Quinn as head coach

When the Sharks hired Mike Grier as their new general manager, one person quickly emerged as a leading candidate to potentially take over as San Jose’s next head coach.

Fewer than three weeks after Grier’s hiring, the Sharks are “zeroing in” on David Quinn to be their head coach, according to a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Thursday.

Quinn, 55, has deep ties to Grier, as both played at Boston University under legendary former Terriers coach Jack Parker, though not with each other. While Grier was at BU from 1993-1996 before he started a 14-year NHL playing career, Quinn spent many years there, first as a player from 1984-1987 before taking on two five-year stints coaching the team, first as an associate coach under Parker from 2004-2009, and then as Parker’s replacement as the Terriers’ head coach from 2013-2018.

Quinn left BU in 2018 to become the coach of the New York Rangers, who were about to enter a self-described rebuild. The Rangers got some lottery luck, though, landing the No. 2 pick in 2019 to draft forward Kaapo Kakko, and the No. 1 selection in 2020, when they chose center Alexis Lafreniere.

Quinn’s Rangers went 96-87-25 over three years, making the qualification round of the pandemic-expanded 2020 postseason. When New York missed the playoffs after the shortened 2021 season, Quinn was fired in by new general manager Chris Drury.

His firing was a surprise to many in the hockey world, even though it’s hard to argue with the results — the Rangers advanced to the Eastern Conference final in this past season, their first after firing him. But now, it looks like he’ll get his second chance at an NHL head coaching job in San Jose, with a general manager he knows well.

The Sharks surprised the hockey industry by firing former head coach Bob Boughner and three additional members of his coaching staff on July 1, more than two months after the team’s final regular season game. In hindsight, it was a signal that they were close to making their new general manager hire, which they would do officially on July 5.

“We just came to the conclusion that, amongst everything else, we just want this fresh start moving forward with a general manager and a head coach,” Sharks interim GM Joe Will said after firing Boughner. “That will also create the opportunity for the general manager to find their head coach and partner up with them moving forward.”

Friedman also reported that Pittsburgh Penguins assistant Mike Vellucci and Toronto Maple Leafs assistant Spencer Carbery were finalists for the job. Either Vellucci, 55, or Carbery, 40, would have been first-time NHL head coaches.

Instead, San Jose is expected to give a successful head coach a second crack at a rebuilding job, with the hopes that he can turn the franchise’s fortunes around as quickly as he did in New York.