San Jose Sharks Add Steve Spott To Coaching Staff
By Felix Chow
The San Jose Sharks filled the final spot on their coaching staff with training camp just around the corner. On Monday, the Sharks named Steve Spott their second assistant coach to Peter DeBoer.
Spott, 47, joins fellow assistants Bob Boughner and Johan Hedberg in rounding out DeBoer’s staff in San Jose. DeBoer seemed quite pleased with the addition of Spott, saying the following in a statement by the Sharks:
"“I’m excited to work with Steve again. We have a great relationship and he has grown significantly as a coach in the seven years since we last worked together. We are very fortunate he was available.”"
During the 2014-15 season, Spott was an assistant coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs, serving two seasons with the Maple Leafs. In the 2013-14, he was head coach of the Toronto Marlies, the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Leafs. He led the team to a record of 45-25-2-4, reaching the Western Conference Final, where they fell to the eventual Calder Cup champions, the Texas Stars.
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Spott has also coached in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with both the Kitchener Rangers and Plymouth Whalers. With the Kitchener Rangers, he was an assistant/associate coach under DeBoer, and he was named as DeBoer’s replacement in Kitchener when DeBoer became the head coach of the Florida Panthers.
Spott also has a bevy of international coaching experience on his resume. He has served as an assistant and head coach of Team Canada’s under-18 team, while also holding the same position of their renowned World Junior teams, being an assistant in 2010 and the head coach in 2013.
Obviously, DeBoer and Spott have plenty of familiarity in working together as they have spent many years on the same staffs. Hopefully, their knowledge from past seasons should help in the transition.
Spott’s primary duties will focus on the power play and he will have plenty of weapons at his disposal. The Sharks finished last season with the NHL’s sixth ranked power play at 21.6 percent, and Joe Pavelski ranked second in the league behind Alex Ovechkin with 19 power-play goals.
With Spott on board, it appears DeBoer’s staff is all set and ready to go for the upcoming season. DeBoer will be expecting Spott to maintain the level of success the power-play has developed, while trying to ensure bounce-back campaigns from some forwards who struggled last year.
Be sure to check back to Blades of Teal for more news and updates as we come up closer to preseason and training camp!
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