In a sudden change of events, the San Jose Sharks have fired head coach David Quinn. The 57-year-old coach posted a 41-98-25 record in 164 games with the Sharks on incredibly awful teams. This is a decision that shouldn’t have fallen on the coach or the players. The San Jose Sharks were intentionally terrible this year with the hopes of landing the first overall draft pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
Quinn was hired to replace Bob Boughner shortly after Mike Grier was hired as general manager. Quinn spent two seasons and saw the team overhaul the entire roster with hopes of becoming a contender again. Quinn went from coaching a roster with Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, Tomas Hertl, Timo Meier and many other star players to an AHL roster playing at the NHL level. The 2024-25 NHL season was supposed to be Quinn’s final year with the San Jose Sharks under contract.
San Jose finished dead last in the league this season which results in them earning a 25.5% chance of earning the number one overall draft pick. The Sharks were outscored by 147 goals this season which also excludes shootouts. Additionally, San Jose lost nine games where their opponent scored eight or more goals, five of those games were nine goals or more and two of them were ten goals. San Jose tied the mark for most games in an NHL season where a team allows six goals or more which happened 18 times. This is the second most in a season since 1996-97.
San Jose set the franchise record for fewest goals per game (2.18) and had the fourth-worst mark in team history for goals allowed per game (3.98). San Jose’s 2023-24 season record saw them finish with 19 wins, 54 losses, and 9 overtime losses. The Sharks also managed to go on two separate losing streaks of 10 games or more.
The Sharks look to improve slightly ahead of the 2024-25 season as they will continue to overhaul the roster and bring in a new core. Mike Grier has significant draft capital and a younger team compared to when he first took over. Alongside Quinn, longtime head athletic trainer Ray Tufts will not return to the Sharks after spending over 20 years with the franchise. Quinn’s replacement is unknown as of right now and is one of many head coaching vacancies at the moment.
