The San Jose Sharks have hopped on the NHL coaching carousel. Following a last-place season in 2023-24, the Sharks have fired head coach David Quinn, the team announced on Tuesday.
Quinn was hired by the Sharks prior to the 2022-23 season, and he took over one of the worst rosters in the NHL. San Jose was an abysmal 22-44-16 in his first year on the job, and as general manager Mike Grier continued to tear the roster down to its studs, things only got worse in 2023-24.
The Sharks finished with a league-worst record of 19-54-9, and their -150 goal differential ranked dead last by 39 goals. The team hadn’t posted a record that poor since 1995-96.
“After going through our end of the season process of internal meetings and evaluating where our team is at and where we want our group to go, we have made the difficult decision to make a change at the head coach position,” Grier said in a statement “David is a good coach and an even better person. I would like to personally thank him for his hard work over these past two seasons. He and his staff did an admirable job under some difficult circumstances, and I sincerely appreciate how they handled the situation.”
Quinn leaves the Sharks with an overall record of 41-98-25. In his five years of NHL head coaching experience, three of which were with the New York Rangers, Quinn has compiled a career record of 137-185-50.
As the Sharks look toward the future, they will need a head coach who specializes in developing young talent as the rebuild continues. The team already has a handful of highly-anticipated prospects, and it will only add to its deep farm system at the 2024 NHL Draft.
KVSP