Speculation: New Head Coach starting 2020/2021 Season

[Lebanezer]

LeBrun: Head coaching tidbits from Capitals, Flames, Sharks, Stars and Kraken

“For a while now, all indications were that Bob Boughner would have his interim tag removed in San Jose and I’m told that’s finally going to happen over the next week or two.”

Ah good. It's always best to maintain the status quo, or at the very least, deviate as little as possible from it.

Doug has always made some big splashes, but he's never excised a core piece when the team needed a real shakeup. It's been Thornton, Vlasic, Burns, and Couture for 9 years. The only one of those 4, that I don't think should be moved or moved on from is Burns. At some point the team has to move on from a core, or remnants of the core, that isn't going to reach heights previously attained. I would be fine with keeping Thornton on the 4th line, but Vlasic is a dead weight, dead money and a wasted roster spot because of all the baggage that comes with him. Meaning, he has to get his minutes, and powerplay time for some reason, and be put against the top competition etc. etc. Couture is trending down, and I expect his fall from grace is going to be rather dramatic. I would like to trade him while you can still sell people on his playoff performances. I was against him being captain, and I don't particularly like his sullen, jaded attitude. I'd really like to see the team turned over to the newer players and to move in a new direction. It's been the same stale hockey for soooooo long.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Ah good. It's always best to maintain the status quo, or at the very least, deviate as little as possible from it.

Doug has always made some big splashes, but he's never excised a core piece when the team needed a real shakeup. It's been Thornton, Vlasic, Burns, and Couture for 9 years. The only one of those 4, that I don't think should be moved or moved on from is Burns. At some point the team has to move on from a core, or remnants of the core, that isn't going to reach heights previously attained. I would be fine with keeping Thornton on the 4th line, but Vlasic is a dead weight, dead money and a wasted roster spot because of all the baggage that comes with him. Meaning, he has to get his minutes, and powerplay time for some reason, and be put against the top competition etc. etc. Couture is trending down, and I expect his fall from grace is going to be rather dramatic. I would like to trade him while you can still sell people on his playoff performances. I was against him being captain, and I don't particularly like his sullen, jaded attitude. I'd really like to see the team turned over to the newer players and to move in a new direction. It's been the same stale hockey for soooooo long.

Couture is going to end up like Justin Williams. Win SC cups on multiple teams. Just not the Sharks.

 

[The Ice Hockey Dude]

LeBrun: Head coaching tidbits from Capitals, Flames, Sharks, Stars and Kraken

“For a while now, all indications were that Bob Boughner would have his interim tag removed in San Jose and I’m told that’s finally going to happen over the next week or two.”

Lets hope he gets some NHL experienced assistant coaches to join him.

 

[weastern bias]

Couture is going to end up like Justin Williams.

Incredibly overrated?

 

[DepressedSharksFan]

It's going to be another long season.

f*** Doug Wilson and f*** Hasso Plattner.

 

[Coily]

Incredibly overrated?

No, full of grey hair.

 

[Pavelski2112]

I don't mind Boog. The team improved under him and looked re-energized. Nabby made Jones look like a competent goalie at times, even if his stats didn't improve a great deal over the last couple months of the season. Having someone like Thompson around would be good to help pull out whatever offense we can out of this admittedly weak forward group.

We're no Cup contender, but I think this year was another pretty big outlier in terms of what this team actually is on the ice.

 

[STL Shark]

It's going to be another long season.

f*** Doug Wilson and f*** Hasso Plattner.

Inspiring and well thought out words. Very constructive and full of facts and reason. /s

 

[Pinkfloyd]

I don't mind Boog. The team improved under him and looked re-energized. Nabby made Jones look like a competent goalie at times, even if his stats didn't improve a great deal over the last couple months of the season. Having someone like Thompson around would be good to help pull out whatever offense we can out of this admittedly weak forward group.

We're no Cup contender, but I think this year was another pretty big outlier in terms of what this team actually is on the ice.

The team improved defensively and I think that's the best way this team has a shot at winning consistently with the talent it has. He's good enough for where they're at right now but I don't think a Boogie-coached team is going to make the Finals and certainly not with the talent currently on the roster. This team needs a deep set of forwards that has everyone play solid team defense for it to have a shot. They seemingly got the team defense thing better under him but the offense was dry and doesn't have many internal options to make that better so DW needs to go out and get a couple guys.

With the Edmundson trade to Montreal, I think we can effectively kiss any dream of Vlasic going there goodbye if he inks a contract so that likely means he will return to San Jose this season which will hurt their chances of getting multiple pieces that they need to be in a better position for making the playoffs.

 

[matt trick]

If Wilson did his job- acquiring one (preferably two) top 6 forwards, the team would have been world's better off under both Deboer and Boughner. Even so, I think Deboer should have done better. The sharks attained 45% of the available points throughout the year.

To be clear, during Bougner's tenure they attained 41.5%. However, of Boughner's 38 games, he played 20 without at least two of Hertl, Karlsson, and Couture, and 27 with at least one of them missing. For 8 games after the deadline Couture returned, but Goodrow, Dillon, and Marleau were moved out. Is it really realistic to have asked him to do more?

 

[Pinkfloyd]

If Wilson did his job- acquiring one (preferably two) top 6 forwards, the team would have been world's better off under both Deboer and Boughner. Even so, I think Deboer should have done better. The sharks attained 45% of the available points throughout the year.

To be clear, during Bougner's tenure they attained 41.5%. However, of Boughner's 38 games, he played 20 without at least two of Hertl, Karlsson, and Couture, and 27 with at least one of them missing. For 8 games after the deadline Couture returned, but Goodrow, Dillon, and Marleau were moved out. Is it really realistic to have asked him to do more?

No but I don't think people were too worried about the point metrics as a way to assess how Boogie did as a coach. Coaching changes don't often lead to huge mid-season turnarounds. They tend to see upticks in certain trends which Boogie did but there is often more problems than just the coach when the coach needs to go.

 

[The Ice Hockey Dude]

The team after deboer was fired went from 2nd to last in goals against to 12th after deboer was fired. So they moved up 18 spots in that same time frame.

The goals against per game went from 3.42 goals against to 3.03 goals against.

And most of this was done without couture, hertl, karlsson for good chunks of those games.

The defensive side was not the issue after deboer was fired, it was lack of depth upfront. And lots of the players already, just going through the motions to get the season done with.

And you keep bringing up experience when it involves laviolette. Guess how many seasons he had under his belt going into the season he won the cup? If you guess 2.5 seasons the same as boughner you would be correct.

You think a 3.03 GA is good! It's better that under PDB, i don't see how thats the
kind of improvement that gets us into the playoffs. I'm looking for a GA of way closer to
2 for a postseason bid. Sure some players were not available, hurt, etc.
i get that. There are defensive systems that should effect results in GA,
not just the players. I'm not sure his system is / was good enough. For success teams
need effective systems, both offensive and defensive, etc as well as quality players to implement them.

 

[Cas]

You think a 3.03 GA is good! It's better that under PDB, i don't see how thats the
kind of improvement that gets us into the playoffs. I'm looking for a GA of way closer to
2 for a postseason bid. Sure some players were not available, hurt, etc.
i get that. There are defensive systems that should effect results in GA,
not just the players. I'm not sure his system is / was good enough. For success teams
need effective systems, both offensive and defensive, etc as well as quality players to implement them.

The Sharks' GAA under Boughner is irrelevant to what you can expect in 2021 - the universe of players available to the Sharks next year is going to be different (and hopefully better) than it was in 19-20. Whether it was 3.03 or 3.53 or 2.53 isn't important - the key figure is that it went from 3.42 to 3.03 with a similar universe of available players. In and of itself that cannot be anything of a good sign.

 

[Crazy Joe Divola]

It's going to be another long season.

f*** Doug Wilson and f*** Hasso Plattner.

Username checks out

 

[Erep]

The Sharks' GAA under Boughner is irrelevant to what you can expect in 2021 - the universe of players available to the Sharks next year is going to be different (and hopefully better) than it was in 19-20. Whether it was 3.03 or 3.53 or 2.53 isn't important - the key figure is that it went from 3.42 to 3.03 with a similar universe of available players. In and of itself that cannot be anything of a good sign.

You mean "anything BUT a good sign", right?

 

[weastern bias]

I'm fine with Boughner for now, but I look at next season as a throwaway anyway, so take that for what you will

I just hope we can get a Boucher type around the time we're ready to compete again, I'm ready to develop an ulcer watching the Sharks win 2-1 games in the playoffs

 

[Cas]

You mean "anything BUT a good sign", right?

That is correct.

 

[sharski]

Jones is the key to all this

If he improves to average and sharks are back in the playoffs next year this will look like a genius move

 

[hohosaregood]

I'm fine with Boughner taking the HC role for now. I think what might be the best thing about Boughner is that I think there have been some hints that he has a good eye for coaches. He is one of the owners of the Windsor Spitfire so he has had a hand in hiring Rocky Thompson to succeed him there and who has gone on to become a pretty hot coaching prospect himself. DJ Smith was an associate coach for him in Windsor too and seems to have had a pretty positive effect for the Senators so far. And he hired Paul McFarland in Florida and he's become a noted PP guru in his short career so far. Could be something there.

 

[The Ice Hockey Dude]

The Sharks' GAA under Boughner is irrelevant to what you can expect in 2021 - the universe of players available to the Sharks next year is going to be different (and hopefully better) than it was in 19-20. Whether it was 3.03 or 3.53 or 2.53 isn't important - the key figure is that it went from 3.42 to 3.03 with a similar universe of available players. In and of itself that cannot be anything of a good sign.

With all due respect the universe of players is fantasy world. Good luck
living there and evaluating coaches, etc. like that. One really needs to evaluate
based on facts not fantasy.

Time will tell if next years team can have a more competitive defensive system
leading to a lower GAA. I'm hoping with some new players and more effective
systems we can have a competitive team.

 

[one2gamble]

With all due respect the universe of players is fantasy world. Good luck
living there and evaluating coaches, etc. like that. One really needs to evaluate
based on facts not fantasy.

Time will tell if next years team can have a more competitive defensive system
leading to a lower GAA. I'm hoping with some new players and more effective
systems we can have a competitive team.

The fact is boogie shed half a goal a game with a largely worse roster than pdb had in the first half with not a ton of practice time combined with questionable assistant coaches

I think you're discounting that a little much.


I don't think boogie is some hall worthy coach or anything but he's not any worse than the last three the sharks have had

 

[CupfortheSharks]

Jones is the key to all this

If he improves to average and sharks are back in the playoffs next year this will look like a genius move

No. The key is Karlsson. He needs to be in the conversation for the Norris next year or the Sharks won’t be contenders.

 

[Cas]

With all due respect the universe of players is fantasy world. Good luck
living there and evaluating coaches, etc. like that. One really needs to evaluate
based on facts not fantasy.

The "universe of players" just means "the players the Sharks will have under control in 2021." The players Boughner will have to pick from to build his team, from Karlsson and Hertl to Chmelevski and Melnichuk to whoever they acquire in trades and free agency. That's not a fantasy.

Will the 2021 Sharks allow fewer than 3 goals per game? I don't know, but reducing goals allowed by half a goal per game, when the roster was being gutted by injuries and trades, is a very good sign. It sure makes me think that Boughner has a strong chance to do that, with nine months off between games to rest, recover, think, and plan, a (hopefully) stronger and healthier roster, and the opportunity to train the team to play according to a new and improved system. It's not like Boughner (or anyone else) is a "3.00 goals allowed per game" coach, because that's a nonsensical statement stripped of its context. What we need to hope is that Boughner is a "0.25 goals scored/allowed per game better than average" coach.

 

[Doctor Soraluce]

Great points brought up. My biggest thing is not that I think Boughner is a slam dunk hire, but more that there is not anyone else out there available that I think is any better, while there are some (I include Laviolette in this bucket) that I think are guaranteed to be worse.

Everyone here, myself included, thought Quenneville would have been a great hire. Well even Quenneville did not really elevate the Panthers above where Boughner had them in his 2 years, even after they went on an offseason spending spree trying to improve the roster.

No one else is as familiar with this group as Boughner is that would be a candidate and with a full extra long offseason to iron out a system to fit this group and target some players to add to it I think he will be a good addition. Not saying he's going to lead us to a Cup necessarily, but he will clean up a lot of the horrific habits that the dunce Deboer let go unchecked and actually coach hockey.

Agree with all of this. As I've said, I really liked BB system. I think with even minimal depth at forward (which they didn't have AT ALL last season) this team will be able to play with a lead more which will let them play a little more defensively which will reduce that GAA number. The problem was they couldn't score even with the better offensive system so they had to take chances later in the games because they were down a goal or 2 so often. Add even a little goal scoring talent and hope for better injury luck and I think BB's system looks like night and day as far as effectiveness.

 

[Doctor Soraluce]

I don't mind Boog. The team improved under him and looked re-energized. Nabby made Jones look like a competent goalie at times, even if his stats didn't improve a great deal over the last couple months of the season. Having someone like Thompson around would be good to help pull out whatever offense we can out of this admittedly weak forward group.

We're no Cup contender, but I think this year was another pretty big outlier in terms of what this team actually is on the ice.

Jones stats actually did improve quite a bit after BB. Might have been rooster who posted the stats but they were fairly significant if you threw out the very first game BB coached before Jones was sent away to meditate with Nabby.