The Florida Panthers have been given permission from the San Jose Sharks to speak to Bob Boughner about their vacant head coaching job, according to TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun.
Hearing that the Florida Panthers have received permission from the San Jose Sharks to speak with Bob Boughner about their head coaching job
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) May 2, 2017
The former Windsor Spitfires head coach has been an assistant coach under Pete DeBoer in San Jose for the past two seasons. Before joining the Sharks, Boughner coached the Spitfires for eight of the previous nine seasons, guiding the team to back-to back Memorial Cup championships in 2009 and 2010.
Boughner played defence in the NHL for 12 seasons, recording 15 goals and 57 assists over 630 career games with the Sabres, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Calgary, Carolina and the Colorado Avalanche.
The Panthers are in need of a new coach after firing Gerard Gallant in late November. Tom Rowe took over for the rest of the season on an interim basis, but was not retained.