San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) General Manager Mike Grier announced today additions to the team’s coaching staff under Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky.
New to the staff in San Jose are Assistant Coaches Doug Houda and Jeff Ulmer. Returning from the team’s 2023-24 staff are Assistant Coach Brian Wiseman, NHL Goaltending Coach Thomas Speer, Video Coach Nick Gialdini and Assistant Video Coach Cody Ward.
Houda, 58, joins the San Jose Sharks after spending the previous two seasons with the New York Islanders as assistant coach, where he oversaw the team’s defensemen and penalty kill. While Houda was with the club, the Islanders improved 13 slots from 2022-23 to 2023-24 in goals against during the season, and the team’s defensemen combined for seven game-wining goals last year, which was tied for seventh among NHL teams. The club finished ranked ninth on the penalty kill in his first season on Long Island, and the penalty kill unit scored the 11th-most shorthanded goals (16) across his two years.
Houda guided four Islanders defensemen to set or match their career-high in scoring last season, spearheaded by a 70-point effort from 24-year-old blueliner Noah Dobson. Alexander Romanov, also 24, logged a career-best plus-23 rating in 2023-24 while matching his personal best in scoring of 22 points, previously set in 2022-23.
Prior to joining the Islanders, Houda served six seasons as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings and 10 years in the same role with the Boston Bruins, where he won the Stanley Cup in 2011. He also spent three seasons as an assistant coach with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League (AHL) from 2003-06.
The Blairmore, Alberta native enjoyed a 17-year professional playing career in which he skated in 561 NHL games, split between the Red Wings, Islanders, Hartford Whalers, Los Angeles Kings, Buffalo Sabres and Anaheim Mighty Ducks, logging 82 points (19 goals, 63 assists). He also appeared in 550 career AHL games as a member of the Rochester Americans, Adirondack Red Wings and Utah Grizzlies, tallying 238 points (55 goals, 183 assists) and won a Calder Cup with Rochester in 1995-96.
Ulmer, 47, joins the Sharks after serving as an assistant coach with the Abbotsford Canucks of the AHL for the previous three seasons, where he oversaw the team’s power play and forwards. Ulmer oversaw the development of seven forwards who appeared on the 2023-24 NHL Pacific Division champion Vancouver Canucks over the course of the season, including AHL All-Star Classic participant, 23-year-old Arshdeep Bains, who finished second in scoring on the AHL Canucks with 55 points (16 goals, 39 assists) on the year.
The club finished second in the AHL’s Pacific Division in scoring in 2023-24, tied for third in the Western Conference and sixth in the AHL with 234 markers in 72 games. In his first year with Abbotsford, the Canucks finished second in the Pacific Division on the man-advantage as the special teams unit clicked at a 23.0-percent clip.
Prior to his post in Abbotsford, Ulmer spent two years as Director of Player Development and as a Skills Coordinator with the Arizona Coyotes.
