For the past few days, I’ve been trying to decide how I feel about the Sharks hiring Peter DeBoer as their new coach. I’ve settled on, “well, at least it’s not Randy Carlyle,” because that really is the best summary of my feelings.
I’m not too sure what to expect from DeBoer given all the mixed messages I’ve seen about him. He’s not good with young players, his style doesn’t fit the Sharks style of play, he can’t manage players well, he’s a big puck possession guy which will benefit the Sharks, he has a style similar to Todd McLellan…so, basically he’s the worst best option. Or best worst option. I’m not really sure.
He comes highly recommended by Larry Robinson, and was apparently a front runner seven years ago when the Sharks picked TMac instead, but most of the Devils fans I know thought he was horrible and find the Sharks choice puzzling. I wasn’t overwhelmingly impressed by what he has to say at his new conference, but those things are designed to be as benign as possible. I was a little surprised that he said he didn’t ask TMac any questions before taking the job; I’d have thought doing a little research into the org with someone who’d been deeply involved in it would be beneficial, but maybe not. Maybe that comes with too much baggage, and I’m sure there’s a lot of that to sort through. Perhaps it’s best to just avoid it and draw your own conclusions. To his credit, DeBoer thinks most of the Sharks issues are fixable, though I question that assessment if it’s really coming from a place that lacks knowledge of what’s really going on.
In the end, only time will tell if this was a good move or not. The Sharks clearly needed a new voice in the room, and Peter DeBoer will certainly provide that. He’s aiming to win now, rather than focus on a broken rebuild, and given his newness to the organization, he may be able to provide a fresh prospective others could not. Regardless of how I feel about his hiring, (which, upon closer reflection, is probably somewhere around ambivalence), this upcoming season will certainly be different, and that’s probably a good thing for the Sharks.
