The San Jose Sharks are beginning a coaching search for the second time in three years after the organization fired David Quinn after just two seasons.
While Quinn was considered the favorite to get the job in July 2022, shortly after Mike Grier was named the team’s general manager, there doesn’t appear to be as obvious a choice this time around.
Instead, it appears Grier will cast a wide net when it comes to finding the Sharks’ next coach.
“We are in the process of putting together a list of candidates that we would like to speak with,” Grier said Wednesday, about an hour after Quinn’s firing was announced. “I don’t really have a specific timetable. It’s a tough day and week. … We’ll start working on it as the week goes on, but I don’t have a specific timeline or date when it will be completed.
Experience in the NHL or as a professional coach is a good thing, Grier said. But he also didn’t want to rule out any other candidates who might impress him or owner Hasso Plattner.
“I wouldn’t rule out anything or anyone if a candidate came along and blew us away,” Grier said. “At the same time, someone who has had time or experience in the NHL or professional hockey would be beneficial.
“But I don’t want to exclude anyone if we meet someone we’d like to talk to.”
The successful candidate will need to possess certain traits that Grier and the Sharks hold dear at this stage of the team’s rebuild. This may include implementing a stricter defensive system or creating a less comfortable atmosphere within the team.
“Meeting with the players and reviewing the season, I think I have a sense of what they’re looking for, what they need and what I think they need,” Grier said. “But I think I’ll keep this in-house for now.”
Here are seven names, in alphabetical order, to become the Sharks’ next head coach.
CRAIG BERBÉ: Bérubé, 58, should generate some interest this offseason as a Stanley Cup-winning coach. He helped turn around St. Louis’ season in 2018-19 before the Blues won the franchise’s first championship.
Bérubé has a demanding style, and if Grier considers him a candidate for the Sharks job, he will need to determine if the former enforcer is the right fit for this stage of the team’s rebuild. But there’s no doubt that Bérubé gets results, as his teams have had a points percentage above .500 in six of his seven seasons as coach with the Blues and Philadelphia Flyers.
Bérubé and Grier seem to share an interest in big-league hockey. During his NHL career, Bérubé received 3,149 penalty minutes in 1,054 games.
DAVID CARLE: If NHL coaching experience isn’t a prerequisite for the Sharks job, perhaps Carle, 34, will be considered. He has successfully led a program at the University of Denver for six years and the Pioneers just won the NCAA Division I National Championship.
Grier might be open-minded to the idea of hiring a college coach, given his track record. Carle is considered one of the bright young minds in the game, and he could become the Sharks’ coach alongside a rebuilding team. But hiring someone without professional experience is a risky proposition, and if that fails and the Sharks have to look for another coach in two years, then Grier himself could be on the ice.
DEAN EVASON: An original Shark, Evason, 59, was fired as coach of the Minnesota Wild earlier this season after the team got off to a 5-10-4 start. Before that, however, Evason had a 142-67-23 record in Minnesota, leading the Wild to three straight playoff appearances, although the team failed to advance past the first round.
Evason also has experience with younger players from his time as head coach of the Milwaukee Admirals from 2012 to 2018. He also has history with a handful of Sharks players, including Mikael Granlund, Luke Kunin, Nico Sturm and Calen Addison.
If the Sharks are looking to move away from Quinn’s more laid-back style, they’ll find it in the intense Evason, who has 1,002 penalty minutes in 803 career NHL games. From 1991 to 1993 with the Sharks, Evason collected 57 points and 231 penalty minutes.
GERRARD GALLANT: If we go the connections route, Gallant, 60, may be a name to watch in San Jose. He became head coach of the Rangers in 2021-22, shortly after the team named Grier as hockey operations advisor. They spent only one season together in New York before Grier was named general manager of the Sharks.
Gallant had winning records as a head coach with the Rangers, Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers. But is he worthy of the Sharks, given that the team is at least two years away, and possibly more, from being a playoff contender?
Mitch LOVE: Love, 39, was in the running for the Calgary Flames head coaching job last offseason before ultimately joining the Washington Capitals as an assistant on Spencer Carbury’s staff. The only problem was he lacked NHL coaching experience. He has that now.
Love was a successful coach in the WHL for three seasons, from 2018-2021, before being named coach of the Flames’ AHL affiliate. In two years, his teams went a combined 96-33-11 and he was named AHL Coach of the Year both seasons.
Love would be a bold choice for Grier, but he may be the right choice at this point in the Sharks’ rebuild.
ALAIN NASREDDINE: Nasreddine, 48, could be ready to become a full-time head coach in the NHL for the first time. He has nine years of experience as an assistant coach in the NHL and is now in his second season as an assistant on Pete DeBoer’s staff in Dallas.
A no-nonsense defender during a 15-year professional career, Nasreddine has a history with Grier, as the two were on John Hynes’ staff for two seasons in New Jersey. Grier would easily guess if Nasreddine is the right person at the moment.
Perhaps Nasreddine’s only downside is that he has limited experience as a head coach at the professional level. His only bench head coaching experience came in 2019-20 as interim head coach. After Hynes was fired after 26 games that season, Nasreddine took over and was 19-16-8 down the stretch.
JAY WOODCROFT: Woodcroft, 47, and Grier overlapped in San Jose for one year in 2008-09. Woodcroft was an assistant on Todd McLellan’s staff while Grier was in the final year of his three-year contract with the Sharks.
Woodcroft has 10 years as an NHL assistant coach, four years as an AHL head coach and 120 games as an NHL head coach, having coached the Edmonton Oilers from February 2022 to November 2023.
Marc-Édouard Vlasic and Logan Couture are the two Sharks players coached by Woodcroft, who no doubt learned from working in a hockey-crazed market like Edmonton. Does his style, however, deviate enough from Quinn’s?
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