Newly hired head coach David Quinn of the San Jose Sharks and general manager Mike Grier hold up Quinn’s jersey at his introductory press conference at the SAP Center on Tuesday JUL 26, 2022. (Sports Radio Service)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — Today it became official, the San Jose Sharks have a new captain to steer the ship.

General manager Mike Greier introduced David Quinn as the team’s tenth head coach in franchise history at a press conference on Tuesday morning at SAP Center.

Quinn replaces Bob Boughner, who was let go along with his staff on July 1st, as the new bench boss in charge of a team that has missed the playoffs for three consecutive years.

“David has successfully coached at several different levels in his hockey career, including with Team USA on the international stage at the Olympics and leading the team at the World Championships to the Bronze Medal game. His experience in developing young players as a head coach at Boston University and at the NHL level over the last few seasons has proven to be effective,” Grier said.

Quinn, 55, most recently served as head coach for Team USA at both the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and 2022 World Championship. Quinn guided Team USA to a fourth-place finish at the World Championship and helped lead the youngest team in the Olympics to a perfect preliminary round record before suffering a shootout loss in the quarterfinals.

“My coaching philosophy has always been relationship driven,” said Quinn. “I don’t care what you do in life, if you don’t have a connection to the people that you’re leading, whether you’re the manager of an office or coaching a hockey team, you’re not going to get the most out of people. It’s been the foundation of my coaching philosophy.”

Quinn’s last and first head coaching stint in the NHL was from 2018-2021 when he coached the New York Rangers where he compiled a 97-87-25 record and led the team in the qualification round of the playoffs in the 2019-20 campaign.

Quinn’s relationship with Grier goes back a long way as both are former alums of Boston University. Quinn coached BU from 2013-18 before being hired by New York and went 105-69-21 under his direction.

“I think it’s just the cherry on top, trying to get more (Boston University) Terriers out west,” Grier joked about whether the BU connection had any factor in the hiring of Quinn. “It came down to that David (Quinn) was the best candidate for the job.”

Quinn said he hasn’t picked out who his assistant coaches will be, but he hopes to make that decision soon as well as get to know his players in the next coming days.

San Jose has overhauled its roster by bringing in new players such as Nico Sturm and Oscar Lindblom as well as traded star defenseman Brent Burns to the Carolina Hurricanes since Grier has been in charge of the team the past three weeks.