Fantasy Take: Boughner Out as Sharks Coach

Ian Gooding

2022-07-01

The San Jose Sharks have terminated head coach Bob Boughner as well as three assistant coaches.

The timing of this decision seems unusual, since the Sharks have still not yet hired a general manager. However, it's possible that the Sharks have shortlisted candidates that have indicated that they would like to bring in their own coach, so why delay the inevitable?

After a long run as a playoff team, the Sharks have missed the playoffs for three consecutive seasons, with Boughner behind the bench all three seasons (took over partway through the first season). Usually that's enough time for a team to determine that significant changes to the core are needed. However, years of contending resulted in key players being rewarded for past performance. As a result, the Sharks are now hamstrung with several inefficient contracts that will take years to clean up when they realize they need a true rebuild. Although how “inefficient” these contracts are will vary, here are some examples:

Erik Karlsson: 5 more years, $11.5 million cap hit

Logan Couture: 5 more years, $8 million cap hit

Brent Burns: 3 more years, $8 million cap hit

Marc-Edouard Vlasic: 4 more years, $7 million cap hit

📢 advertisement:

All of these players are at least 32 years of age. In addition, the Sharks' decision to extend Tomas Hertl by eight years ($8 million cap hit) only pushed the rebuild further down the road. This also begs the question about what to do with Timo Meier, who has one year remaining on his contract. Don't forget that the Sharks are also paying the bill on the Martin Jones buyout for five more seasons (between $1.67 million and $2.9 million per season).

Of course, these contracts have more to do with the general manager than the coach. Yet it's the coach who has to maximize the talent provided on the roster. It's difficult to truly say whether Boughner did that. Whoever the new GM will be will have their work cut out for them, while the new coach will likely have a difficult time meeting the expectations of Sharks management.

We'd have to wait and see what a new coach will do to the Sharks roster, if there's much that they can do. Remove one of Burns or Karlsson from the first-unit power play? Both are right-shot defensemen at a time when most PP1 units feature four forwards and one defenseman. Could William Eklund force his way onto that spot on the first-unit power play? These are just a couple of questions that fantasy players could be interested in.

Leave A Comment

UPCOMING GAMES

No data found.

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
JACKSON LACOMBE ANA
MATIAS MACCELLI TOR
MASON MCTAVISH ANA
NIKOLAJ EHLERS CAR
CHASE STILLMAN VAN

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
ARTURS SILOVS PIT
JESPER WALLSTEDT MIN
YAROSLAV ASKAROV S.J
PYOTR KOCHETKOV CAR
NIKITA TOLOPILO VAN

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency COL Players
23.7 MARTIN NECAS NATHAN MACKINNON ARTTURI LEHKONEN
22.4 VALERI NICHUSHKIN BROCK NELSON GABRIEL LANDESKOG
19.0 LOGAN O'CONNOR PARKER KELLY JACK DRURY

DobberHockey Podcasts

Fantasy Hockey Life: Stefan Rosner on the New York Islanders

Stefan Rosner is here to report on the New York Islanders. Jesse and Victor interview Stefan Rosner about returning pros Bo Horvat, Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal, Simon Holmstrom, JG Pageau, Maxim Tsyplakov, Calum Ritchie, Noah Dobson, Ryan Pulock, Alexander Romanov, Scott Perunovich, and Ilya Sorokin. In Cat’s Instincts, Cat Silverman of InGoal mag breaks down […]

Fantasy Hockey Life: Draftastic 2 – Q&A on the NHL Draft

Victor and Jesse are back in studio as Victor reports on his time at the NHL Draft and his outlook on fantasy rookie drafts. We discuss Michael Misa, Matthew Schaefer, Cole McKinney, Mason West, Milton Gastrin and Jacob Ihs-Wozniak with player audio. Victor also answers patron questions on which players you’ll want to target for […]

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

📢 advertisement: