Quinn fired as Sharks coach, no replacement named

David Quinn was fired as coach of the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday. No replacement was named.

The Sharks (19-54-9) finished last in the NHL and failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. They were eliminated from contention when the Vegas Golden Knights won 5-4 in overtime against the Seattle Kraken on March 12 after San Jose lost 3-2 at the Philadelphia Flyers.

"After going through our end of the season process of internal meetings and evaluating where our team is at and where we want our group to go, we have made the difficult decision to make a change at the head coach position,” Sharks general manager Mike Grier said. “David is a good coach and an even better person. I would like to personally thank him for his hard work over these past two seasons. He and his staff did an admirable job under some difficult circumstances, and I sincerely appreciate how they handled the situation.”

San Jose's season ended with 5-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on April 18, three days after losing 9-2 at the Edmonton Oilers. The Sharks allowed at least seven goals 10 times and 10 goals twice. They started 0-10-1, second worst in NHL history after the New York Rangers in 1943-44 (0-14, one tie).

Grier said the Sharks record and performance was not a major reason for the decision.

"It didn't factor in too much," Grier said. "It was something I was aware of. But at the same time, going into the season, I kind of knew what the roster was and wasn't expecting us to be a playoff team. This season [went] a little worse than expected, but it's not all performance-related."

Grier said San Jose will take its time searching for a replacement for Quinn and that there is no timeline in mind.

"No, I think we're going to be thorough in that department," he said. "It's a pretty important position, so we want to make sure we get the right guy in there."

Quinn, 57, was in his second season and leaves 41-98-25 in 164 games since replacing Bob Boughner on July 26, 2022. During a rebuild season, the Sharks lost key players to injury including Tomas Hertl (knee surgery) and captain Logan Couture (hip/groin). They traded Hertl to the Vegas Golden Knights and forward Anthony Duclair to the Tampa Bay Lightning prior to the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline on March 8. Couture returned Jan. 20 after missing the first 45 games of the season and had one assist in six games before he was ruled out the rest of the season.

Grier said the final decision to fire Quinn was made Tuesday night.

"It's all part of the autopsy of the season," he said. "All those things go into it. Talking with the staff here, players, owner. Everyone who was in the hockey ops department. that's part of the process of evaluating everything. The decision probably wasn't made until late last night, I would say."

Quinn previously coached the Rangers, going 96-87-25 before he was fired May 12, 2021.

The Sharks were 22-44-16 under Quinn in 2022-23. He is the ninth NHL coach fired this season, joining Jay Woodcroft (Edmonton Oilers), Dean Evason (Minnesota Wild), Craig Berube (St. Louis Blues), D.J. Smith (Ottawa Senators), Lane Lambert (New York Islanders), Todd McLellan (Los Angeles Kings), Lindy Ruff (New Jersey Devils) and Don Granato (Buffalo Sabres).

Grier said assistant coaches Scott Gordon, Brian Wiseman and Ryan Worsofsky will remain for the time being, and no decisions have been made regarding the coaching staff of San Jose of the American Hockey League.

Head athletic trainer Ray Tufts will not return, Grier said.

NHL.com independent correspondent Chelena Goldman contributed to this report