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Sharks hire Boughner, Hedberg as DeBoer’s assistants

Windsor Spitfires v Niagara Ice Dogs

Windsor Spitfires v Niagara Ice Dogs

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San Jose has filled out Peter DeBoer’s coaching staff with two individuals DeBoer knows very well.

Ex-NHLers Bob Boughner and Johan Hedberg will be behind the Sharks’ bench next season, the club announced on Thursday. Both will work as assistant coaches, with Hedberg pulling double duty as the club’s goaltending coach.

“I’ve known Bob for more than 20 years and he’s an experienced winner, having won championships in both juniors and internationally,” DeBoer said in a statement. “Johan played for me in New Jersey and had a very long and successful career in the NHL as a player.”

Boughner, 44, is a former Columbus assistant that’s spent the last few years coaching in OHL Windsor, where he became the first bench boss in CHL history to win two Memorial Cups and two Coach of the Year awards.

Hedberg, 42, has been AHL Albany’s goaltending coach for the last few seasons, a job he took immediately after retiring from the NHL. DeBoer praised Hedberg as a “student of the game,” adding that coaching “came naturally to him.”

Hedberg and Bougher will now join a San Jose hockey operations department that already included Larry Robinson (director of player development), Corey Schwab (goaltending development coach) and Mike Ricci (development coach).

In related news, the Sharks announced on Thursday that vice president and assistant GM Wayne Thomas has retired.