(San Jose Hockey Now‘s Sheng Peng contributed to this story)
San Jose Sharks head coach David Quinn is trying to get by with a little help from his friends.
Quinn’s team is 0-10-1 and trying to avoid becoming the first team in NHL history to lose its first 12 games of the year.
Enter former Nashville Predators coach John Hynes, who was spotted on Tuesday by the coach’s office. Like Quinn, Hynes is a Rhode Island native and Boston University alum. They’re also best friends.
Hynes served as the head coach of the New Jersey Devils from 2015 to 2019 and the Predators from 2020 to 2023. He also played with Sharks GM Mike Grier at BU, so his hanging around the organization isn’t completely out of left field.
“He’s been here for a week,” Quinn shared on Tuesday. “He’s going to be here once a month.”
So, Hynes is here for rock bottom too. The Sharks lost 10-1 to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday and 10-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. They’re the first team to allow 10 or more goals in consecutive games since 1965.
“He’s watching firsthand our struggles and what we’re going through,” Quinn said. “He’s a great sounding board for me.”
There’s no doubt that at this juncture, Quinn and the Sharks could use all the help that they can get. They’re the only team in the league yet to score 15 goals, and their 55 goals allowed and -43 goal differential are both the worst in the NHL.
However, it won’t come from Hynes — at least in an official capacity.
“He’s got no interest in that,” Quinn laughed. “We talked about that this summer. He’s got plenty of golf in Nashville and Florida.”
This is the first time Hynes has resurfaced since being relieved of his duties as Predators head coach on May 30 by first-year general manager Barry Trotz and replaced with Andrew Brunette. He was in consideration for the New York Rangers head coaching job over the summer but ultimately lost out to another former Predators coach, Peter Laviolette.
Hynes had a 134-96-18 record in three-plus seasons with the team with a 3-11 playoff record. Trotz admitted before he took over the GM job from David Poile that he thought Hynes had run his course with the Predators. It wasn’t until he settled on bringing Brunette over from New Jersey that Trotz officially let Hynes go.
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