Sharks announce 2024-25 coaching staff

The San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) General manager Mike Grier today announced additions to the team’s coaching staff under the direction of head coach Ryan Warsofsky.

New assistant coaches join San Jose staff Doug Houda And Jeff Ulmer. Returning from the 2023-24 team staff, assistant coach Brian WisemanNHL Goaltending Coach Thomas SpeerVideo Coach Nick Gialdini and assistant video coach Cody Ward.

Houda, 58, joins the San Jose Sharks after spending the previous two seasons with the New York Islanders as an assistant coach, where he oversaw the team’s defensemen and penalty kill. During Houda’s tenure with the club, the Islanders improved 13 spots in goals allowed during the season from 2022-23 to 2023-24, and the team’s defensemen combined for seven game-winning goals last year, tied for seventh among NHL teams. The club finished ninth in penalty killing in his first season on Long Island, and the penalty kill unit scored the 11th-most shorthanded goals (16) during his two years.

Houda led four Islanders defensemen to match or equal their career highs in points scored last season, including a 70-point performance from 24-year-old defenseman Noah Dobson. Alexander Romanov, also 24, was a plus-23 in 2023-24 while matching his career-high of 22 points scored, previously set in 2022-23.

Prior to joining the Islanders, Houda spent six seasons as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings and ten years with the Boston Bruins, where he won the Stanley Cup in 2011. He also spent three seasons as an assistant coach with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League (AHL) from 2003 to 2006.

A native of Blairmore, Alberta, he had a 17-year professional playing career during which he played 561 NHL games with the Red Wings, Islanders, Hartford Whalers, Los Angeles Kings, Buffalo Sabres and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, recording 82 points (19 goals, 63 assists). He also played 550 AHL games with the Rochester Americans, Adirondack Red Wings and Utah Grizzlies, recording 238 points (55 goals, 183 assists) and winning the Calder Cup with Rochester in 1995-96.

Ulmer, 47, joins the Sharks after serving as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks for the previous three seasons, where he oversaw the team’s power play and forwards. Ulmer oversaw the development of seven forwards who played for the 2023-24 NHL Pacific Division champion Vancouver Canucks during the season, including AHL All-Star Classic participant Arshdeep Bains, 23, who finished second in AHL scoring on the Canucks with 55 points (16 goals, 39 assists) on the year.

The team finished second in the AHL’s Pacific Division in points scored in 2023–24, tied for third in the Western Conference and sixth in the AHL with 234 goals in 72 games. In his first year with Abbotsford, the Canucks finished second in the Pacific Division on the power play, with the special teams unit posting a 23.0 per cent success rate.

Prior to his role in Abbotsford, Ulmer spent two years as director of player development and skills coordinator with the Arizona Coyotes.