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In this edition of the hotstove, we share our thoughts on San Jose’s decision to make a coaching change.
Todd Cordell
I don’t think Pete DeBoer deserved to get fired.
He enjoyed a lot of success during his tenure with the Sharks and, in my opinion, is not the reason for San Jose’s current struggles.
They’re losing a lot of games because their goaltenders can’t stop a beach ball. Despite the fact the Sharks rank dead last in team save percentage since the beginning of 2017-18, GM Doug Wilson did absolutely nothing to address this issue.
As Brent Burns, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and co. start to decline noticeably, a lack of even average goaltending becomes more of an issue – as we’re seeing.
DeBoer has tried to alter his system to mask goaltending concerns. Over the last 115 games, the Sharks rank 1st in attempts against/60, shots against/60, and 8th in chances against/60 at 5v5. They’ve tried to tighten up and play lower event hockey. It hasn’t mattered.
I don’t see how putting Bob Boughner behind the bench is going to make Martin Jones and Aaron Dell better.
I also don’t see how Boughner will be able to get more out of the Sharks offensively. At the end of the day they still have Barclay Goodrow and/or Patrick Marleau regularly playing in the top-6.
I'm not saying DeBoer was perfect but I just don’t see how moving on from him will fix these very real issues.
James Tanner
The Sharks have wildly underperformed expectations this season, so the firing of the coach seems like a solid move. I am not that familiar with Pete DeBoer and his philosophies and style, but the Sharks are a team built to win now and they aren't even coming close, so it's probably a sensible move.
However, the one thing I will say in DeBoer's defense is that the Shark's goalies are trash. They are dead last in the NHL in 5v5 saver percentage and second last in PDO. You can't win when you've literally got the worst goalies in the league. So that is something that needs to be fixed, but even considering that, it's not like the Sharks' stats are all that good in other areas.
Overall, you can't blame them for trying to shake things up.
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