After ten seasons with the San Jose Sharks, Doug Wilson Jr. will be exiting the organization and is currently seeking opportunities elsewhere, per The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun. Wilson had one year remaining on his contract with the Sharks, but reports indicate it was an amicable split, intended to give freshly appointed general manager Mike Grier more control over the future of the club.
“I want to thank Doug for his work in the Sharks organization for the past ten seasons, and especially leading up to last week’s NHL Draft. We wish him the best in his future endeavors,” said Grier in a release this afternoon.
The 36-year-old Wilson began with the Sharks as an analyst for the club in 2012, working in hockey operations and scouting. In 2016, he was promoted to Director of Hockey Operations, a title he held for two seasons before moving into his most-recent role as Director of Scouting.
Wilson also had a short-lived playing career, following his father’s footsteps playing defense. He played in the USHL briefly before attending Tufts University, where he played NCAA Division III hockey, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 2010. He later earned a Master of Business Administration from Santa Clara University.
After Tufts, Wilson played a season in the Australian Ice Hockey League, where he also served as a strategy analyst for the Melbourne Ice.
Since 2017, Wilson has largely run the Sharks’ drafting strategy, which is why this move comes the week following the 2022 NHL Draft, which Wilson and his staff prepared for without a general manager in place. It’s possible he had planned to exit when his father vacated the general manager position earlier this year, but agreed to stay through the transition period. Regardless, with his early draft successes hitting the league over the last few seasons, don’t expect the younger Wilson to be a free agent for very long.
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