SAN JOSE, Calif., May 13 (UPI) -- Doug Wilson has accepted the task of rebuilding the NHL's San Jose Sharks.
On Tuesday, Wilson was named Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Sharks, taking over a team many thought could reach the Stanley Cup Finals this season.
The team's first captain and a seven-time All-Star defenseman becomes a GM for the first time, having spent the last 10 years evaluating talent for either the Sharks or Canada's World Junior Championship team.
Wilson replaces Dean Lombardi, who was fired March 18, with San Jose on its way to missing the playoffs for the first time since 1997. The Sharks will hold a news conference late Tuesday afternoon to introduce Wilson.
He has had a hand in shaping the underachieving Sharks.
His responsibilities over the past five years included evaluating talent at all professional and minor league levels, and continuous assessment of the NHL roster and reserve list.
With the likes of Teemu Selanne, Owen Nolan, Vincent Damphousse, and goaltender Evgeni Nabokov on the roster, many thought San Jose could compete for its first Western Conference crown.
Despite the praise, the Sharks got off to a slow start, thanks in part to the holdouts of Nabokov and defenseman Brad Stuart, something for which Lombardi later took blame.
Lombardi fired Coach Darryl Sutter on Dec. 1, but the team never reached the .500 mark after New Year's Eve under Ron Wilson.
With the Sharks out of contention, Lombardi traded captain Owen Nolan and defenseman Bryan Marchment during a three-day span in early March. He was fired less than two weeks later.
Doug Wilson's job is to revive a talented team that finished 14th in the Western Conference, and has never reached the conference finals. The Sharks have won only four playoff series since joining the league in 1991.
