The San Jose Sharks have fired head coach Bob Boughner and his coaching staff, the team announced on Friday. While the team announced the news on Friday, Boughner was reportedly let go on Thursday night, along with his assistant coaches John Madden, Dan Darrow and John MacLean.
Boughner had served as the Sharks' head coach for parts of the past three seasons, amassing a 67-85-23 record and never making the Stanley Cup playoffs -- all with a now aging and expensive roster. Boughner had one year remaining on his contract and was set to make $1.5 million on that deal.
Boughner's firing comes at a time of overall organizational upheaval for San Jose, as Interim General Manager Joe Will explained in a statement.
"It has become apparent that the organization is in the process of an evolution," Will said. "The bottom line is we have missed the playoffs for the past three seasons, which isn't acceptable to our owner, our organization, or to our fans. As part of this evolution and evaluation, we felt it was in the best interest of the club to allow the next Sharks general manager to have full autonomy related to the make-up of the on-ice coaching staff moving ahead."
Though the Sharks cutting Boughner loose allows a new general manager the freedom to select their own coach, it also puts Boughner and his staff in an extremely difficult position. Eight NHL coaching jobs that had opened up this season have now been filled, with only the Winnipeg Jets yet to hire a new coach.
