Peter DeBoer introduced as head coach
Peter DeBoer’s background is similar to many in the game of hockey.
He grew up in a small Canadian farming community in southern Ontario, his father worked for a steel factory and his mother was an X- ray technician at a hospital. DeBoer left home at 16 to pursue major junior hockey in Windsor with the goal of playing pro hockey.
What separates the 46- yearold Dunville, Ontario, native from others is the fact he possesses a law degree, something none of San Jose’s previous seven head coaches held.
“I feel I use the law degree every day in coaching,” said DeBoer, who on Thursday was introduced as the Sharks’ head coach. “Coaching today’s athlete is sitting them down and making a case why you want them to do something — how it’s going to benefit them, how it’s going to benefit the team, and how it’s going to benefit everybody.”
With that strong intellect and recent NHL coaching experience, DeBoer separated himself from approximately a dozen candidates interviewed by Sharks general manager Doug Wilson.
“We spent a lot of time together,” Wilson said of his second coaching hire in 11 years as the club’s top hockey executive. “Even though we had talked on the phone several times, the in- person interview was really impressive.”
DeBoer replaces Todd McLellan, the most successful head coach in franchise history who was let go following the first non- playoff season in his seven years leading the team.
DeBoer repeatedly said at the news conference at SAP Center that he can’t wait to roll up his sleeves, get to know the personnel, hire his assistants — “those who complement maybe the deficiencies of the head coach, but they have to be the right people” — and turn the Sharks back into a perennial playoff participant.
“The expectation is to win right now, regardless of the ages and birth certificates of players” DeBoer said. “There’s a tradition here of winning, going deep in the playoffs. That’s my expectation, I think that’s Doug’s expectation. I don’t think that anyone’s looking for anything less than that here.”
DeBoer compared his challenge to taking over New Jersey for the 2011- 12 season, months after the Devils finished a game under .500 and out of the playoffs. That snapped a string of 13 playoff appearances, which included Stanley Cups in 2000 and ’ 03.
DeBoer guided the Devils to a 48- 28- 6 regular- season mark and, as the sixth seed in the East, the conference title before losing the Cup to the Kings in six games.
“What I found with the group in New Jersey that I see here is a group of veteran guys and young players that have hit a little bit of a rut,” DeBoer said. “I think their true character is going to be tested. I see enough character in that room that I see a big bounce- back year.”
Several Sharks players, including Patrick Marleau, Tommy Wingels and Alex Stalock, were at Thursday’s gathering. Aside from coaching Brent Burns during the recent World Championships in Prague and Joe Thornton and Marleau nearly 20 years ago in an international junior event, DeBoer has limited ties to current Sharks players.
“You don’t know really what to expect,” Marleau said. “It’s all fresh, a clean slate for everybody. Now you know, he’s in place, we can start having talks and find out how things are going to transpire.”
“There’s a tradition here of winning, going deep in the playoffs. That’s my expectation ... I don’t think that anyone’s looking for anything less than that here.”
Peter DeBoer, Sharks head coach