After David Quinn officially became the San Jose Sharks coach on July 26, he began to reach out to several of the team’s players, including some individual face-to-face meetings in Canada with veterans like Logan Couture, Erik Karlsson, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
With regards to hockey, though, the real get-to-know-yous begin this week.
For the first time since 2015 when Pete DeBoer and company arrived, the Sharks are getting used to a completely new coaching staff, as Quinn, with assistants Scott Gordon, Brian Wiseman, and Ryan Warsofsky, start their first training camp together on Thursday at the team’s practice facility in San Jose.
“The players are on their toes a little more, no question about it,” said NHL Network analyst Ken Daneyko, who played for 11 coaches over a 20-year career with the New Jersey Devils. “I think that’s a good thing. The slate is wiped clean.”
The Sharks went in a new direction after three straight years without a playoff appearance, firing coach Bob Boughner and assistants John MacLean, John Madden, and Dan Darrow on July 1.
That cleared the decks for Mike Grier, named the Sharks’ general manager shortly after Boughner was let go, to bring in his own staff.
It didn’t take long for Grier to hire Quinn, who had spent the previous few months coaching Team USA at the Olympics in Beijing and World Championships in Latvia after three seasons as the New York Rangers bench boss.
With both of those American teams, Quinn had to quickly get everyone on the same page, something he’ll need to do in a truncated Sharks camp with the start of their regular season just over two weeks away.
“One of the things we want to be is a tenacious, fast team,” Quinn said this summer. “A team that plays on top of people, taking away time and space, a structured team that plays with freedom.”
The Sharks already have a few players who know what to expect from Quinn.
Goalie Strauss Mann, projected to play with the Barracuda this season, was on the American Olympic and World Championship teams, and Thomas Bordeleau and Jaycob Megna were on the Worlds team.
“He was telling you what you needed to be told,” Bordeleau said of Quinn’s approach. “He wasn’t holding back and he wasn’t scared of confrontations. He really respects you as a person, but he wants you to be the best hockey player you can be, so if it pays to be tough on you, he (will).”
From 2007 to 2009 at Boston University, Nick Bonino played for Quinn, an associate coach with the Terriers under Jack Parker at the time.
“I’ve kept in touch with him and just a guy who will bring accountability and bring hard work,” Bonino said of Quinn on the Sharks Audio Network. “And as a Sharks fan, you will see us work, I’ll tell you that. That’s one of his hallmarks, and what’s made him so successful.”
Cody McLeod, who played for Quinn for half of the 2018-19 season, echoed that sentiment.
“He is a demanding coach and you better be ready to work,” said McLeod, who played 11-plus seasons in the NHL and is now a development coach with the Minnesota Wild. “He’s a fair coach and whoever’s working hard and playing their best is going to play.”
The Sharks have three days of practice before they host Los Angeles in their first preseason game at SAP Center.
The Sharks then finish their preseason schedule next week with two games against Anaheim and one against Vegas, then fly to Europe for an exhibition game against Eisbären Berlin on Oct. 4.
The Sharks plan to take up to 27 players on the trip to help guard against injuries and perhaps decide the last remaining roster spots for the two regular season games against the Nashville Predators on Oct. 7 and 8. The Sharks have to be down to 23 players a day prior to their games with Nashville.
“Whoever deserves to play will play,” Bordeleau said of Quinn’s approach. “He doesn’t give anything away. You’ve got to earn everything you get. That’s how he is and that’s definitely what we want out of a coach.”
“It didn’t matter who you were, or where you played in the lineup, just do your job and be ready to work,” McLeod said. “I really enjoyed playing for him.”
Time will tell if Quinn will be able to get the Sharks any closer to a playoff spot. The time to get used to his style is now.
“When you have a new coaching staff and have different eyes on you, you want to impress,” Daneyko said. “Everybody’s motivated, but you get just a little more juice and say, ‘I want to prove to this guy that I can be part of a solution and part of the answer with the San Jose Sharks.'”
