As another coach is fired, Boughner’s job appears safe
Bob Boughner was officially named the San Jose Sharks’ full-time head coach on Sept. 22, 2020, nine months after he was given the job by general manager Doug Wilson on an interim basis.
Just eight days earlier, Geoff Ward also had the interim tag removed from his title by the Calgary Flames, as he was named their fulltime coach.
Ward was fired Thursday, replaced by Darryl Sutter after the Flames began the season with a mediocre 11-11-2 record. Ward was the second coach to be let go in the last two weeks, as Claude Julien was fired by the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 24 after a middling 9-5-4 start.
So far, there’s been no hint that Boughner’s job is in jeopardy, as the transitioning Sharks entered Friday with an 8-10-2 mark and in seventh place in the West Division.
What’s the difference? The expectations each club had at the start of the season.
Both Calgary and Montreal spent big in free agency and had thoughts of contending for the North Division title. If there was a year in which either club could make a deep playoff run, maybe this was it given this season’s postseason format in which each team stays exclusively in their own division for the first two rounds.
The Sharks’ expectations for this year were more modest. Yes, Wilson acquired Ryan Donato and Devan Dubnyk in separate trades with the Minnesota Wild, signed Matt Nieto and Patrick Marleau as free agents, and gave Kevin Labanc a four-year contract extension.
But none of those moves can be considered a huge splash, one that was going to propel the Sharks into title-contender status. As it goes, simply qualifying for a playoff spot would be viewed as a success this season for the Sharks after they finished 15th and last in the Western Conference a season ago.
“This coaching gig, I think that there are expectations of different organizations, what levels and where they’re at,” Boughner said Friday morning. “I think that Calgary, I would take it that they’re a team that should be doing better than they did, I don’t know. It’s a tough situation.”
The no-nonsense Sutter coached the Sharks for fiveplus seasons from 1997 to 2002, leading the team to five straight playoff appearances before he was fired by then-general manager Dean Lombardi on Dec. 1, 2002. He wasn’t unemployed for long, as the Flames hired him to be their coach four weeks later.
Boughner was the Flames’ co-captain during the 2002-03 season and saw how Sutter raised the bar from the team’s previous coach, Greg Gilbert.
“I will say this: Darryl will come in and do a good job,” Boughner said. “I think he’s a guy that’s going to demand respect and accountability, and he’s going to be a different voice for those guys, a much different voice than they’re probably used to.
“But I thought Darryl was done and was going to take a step back from the game a little bit from a coaching level. But he’s obviously still got that fire and I think he’ll do a good job.”
The Sharks and Boughner will see Sutter and the Flames soon enough, as the current division alignments are not expected to last beyond this season. The Sharks and Flames are expected to be back in the same division in 2021-22, along with Anaheim, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver and Vegas.
Sharks fans do not need to be reminded that Sutter’s greatest success, though, came with the Kings, as he led the team to the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014. In 2012, Sutter took over 32 games into the season and helped the Kings clinch the eighth seed for the Western Conference playoffs. In the playoffs, they went 16-4 to win the first title in franchise history.
Two years later, the Kings reverse swept the Sharks in the first round of the playoffs, and also got past the Anaheim Ducks, Chicago Blackhawks and the New York Rangers to win their second Stanley Cup.
The Sharks aren’t in Cup contending mode this season, and it’s unclear as to when they’ll again be considered among the NHL’S elite. Boughner’s contract runs for two more seasons after this one, as he continues to try and establish a winning culture and get the Sharks to play to a certain identity.