SAN JOSE – The 2023-2024 San Jose Sharks reconvened for one last time Saturday, hoping they would never have to experience another season like the one they just endured.
“If this isn’t (rock bottom),” Sharks general manager Mike Grier said, “I don’t know what is.”
After missing the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season, minor and possibly major changes will be in store for a Sharks team that won less than 20 games and finished last in the NHL standings with a paltry 47 points.
Along with the expected adjustments in personnel, with a handful of unrestricted free agents allowed to walk, Grier would not completely rule out a coaching change, saying he and owner Hasso Plattner would review everything after the Sharks finished the season at 19-54-9.
Asked if Sharks coach David Quinn will be back for a third season, Grier said, “I’m still kind of getting all the information I can and we’ll kind of go from there.”
Expectations were modest for the Sharks this season as they were not believed to be anywhere near a playoff team, especially after they traded high-scoring winger Timo Meier and three-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson in 2023.
Compounding the issue for the Sharks were injuries to key players, particularly captain Logan Couture and defenseman Matt Benning. The Sharks also traded Tomas Hertl on March 8, and after the deal, finished the final few weeks with a 4-14-3 record.
For the season, the Sharks allowed a league-worst 326 goals.
Asked specifically about Quinn and his assistants, Grier said, “I think they did a good job communicating and motivating the players throughout the year. (It) would have been easy to throw your hands up and not put in the effort and go through extra video sessions and talk with the players and try and get the players better.
“So I think they did a really good job with that in this situation. It was something that was needed and that they should be proud of.”
Quinn, hired by Grier in July 2022, has a 41-98-25 record with the Sharks as the organization fully committed to a rebuild.
Since Grier was named GM, just weeks before he hired Quinn, the Sharks have turned over most of their roster, and besides trading Meier, Karlsson and Hertl, also dealt Norris Trophy winner Brent Burns in 2022.
Throughout the season, the Sharks were never able to dress centermen Couture, Hertl, Mikael Granlund, and Nico Sturm in the same game. With three of those players in the lineup simultaneously, the Sharks were 11-8-2 this season.
Quinn said this was his most challenging year as a coach at any level. Asked to evaluate his own performance this season, Quinn said, “It was really morale, managing the morale when you’re in the situation we’re in. You’ve got to coach the team you have, you’ve got to coach the situation you have, and It was morale-driven.
“In the meetings we’ve had, the guys felt good about coming here every day, regardless of the circumstances. That was that was our job.”
Asked about the circumstances he dealt with, including the injuries, Quinn said, “I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about it, but I do know what our record is when we only had three of our centers. It was a decent sample size so I do wonder what it would have been like if our centers had stayed healthy.
“Not saying we’d be in the Stanley Cup Finals, but I think the pain would have been a lot less severe. .,. I feel good about the job we’ve done.”
Grier said pending UFAs Alexander Barabanov, Mike Hoffman, and Kevin Labanc will not return.
Labanc’s nameplate had actually been removed from his locker – the only one that was removed — and as interviews with players were going on inside the Sharks’ dressing room, Labanc came in and grabbed his equipment, which had already been packed, and abruptly left, ending his Sharks tenure after eight years with 225 points in 478 games.
Other changes are likely forthcoming as the Sharks hope to take a step forward next season. The Sharks have close to $38 million in cap space right now, per CapFriendly, but Grier said he will likely not sign anyone to pricey, long-term contracts this summer.
Instead, with the Sharks wanting to become a harder team to play against, he wants to add certain types of players that fit that identity.
“We definitely need to get faster and be harder to play against,” Grier said. “On my side, that’s through free agency or trades, looking at adding players that fit the bill.
“We have roster space and cap flexibility to be able to try and add and target some guys. So hopefully, whether that’s through free agency or a trade, we’ll be able to add some guys that fit that profile.”
Whatever happens, the Sharks hope they’ll never have another season like this for a long time.
“I mean, we need a lot of change,” Sturm said. “If you come back with 90% the same constellation, I don’t see how you would expect much different results.”