Three that come to mind right away are Mike Iggulden, Lukas Kaspar, and Brandon Mashinter...guys with decent amounts of talent but really needed a coach that would have kicked them in the arse as opposed to the "friendly guy" style Sommer has.
I generally don't think a coach's job, at any level above major juniors, is to motivate players. They need to find that from within. A player who think he can coast on his talent is going to do so until he realizes himself that he cannot. If the lure of an NHL job, NHL salary, and a Stanley Cup isn't enough, is a coach yelling at you really going to do it?
On the specific players, I can definitely agree that Kaspar had the talent. But Mashinter (who also failed to develop in NYR) and Iggulden...that is a bit of a stretch.
Sommer does not get the most out of his players. He does virtually no coaching while the game is going on. He has consistently lost with teams more than good enough to make playoff runs. These three facts are well documented.
Let us table the above, as I said that Sommer's primary job is to develop players. Whether he is winning, making in-game adjustments, etc. is window dressing.
Doug Wilson has said on several occasions that San Jose has used more of their draft picks in the NHL than any other organization. Now, a question: is that a good thing or a bad thing? First impulse is that's a great thing, but it's really not a good thing. It's actually a terrible stat. It means the guys you bring up to the NHL aren't good enough to stick, so you have to keep trying new guys. It's also why Sommer's number of players sent off to the NHL is so high.
That is a bit of a blanket statement. The Sharks, especially under DW, have tended to promote-from-within a lot. They mostly move established veterans to give those young guys a chance. Yeah, there has been a bit of cycling of the goons/marginal players, but it isn't like there is a Worcester shuttle of top-6 d-men or top-9 forwards...
And again, we need to establish that those are talented players that Sommer has trashed. It is not secret that with all the draft picks and prospects the Sharks have traded away over the years, the pool is a little barren. What you are observing, could be a symptom of that.
Recalled players from Worcester were pathetically bad in the NHL this season:
93 games, 6-3-9, (-19). One power play point (assist, Kearns), one game winner (Pelech).
But is that Sommer's fault? Or is it just that he hasn't been given, by the organization, any better players?
If Sommer was such a good coach shouldn't there have been a better choice than Eriah Hayes?
Again, we need to establish that Sommer was given a chance to develop a player better than Eriah Hayes.
Eriah Hayes is a fringe talent...