On May 28, 2015, the team named Peter DeBoer as their head coach. During the off-season, the Sharks let John Scott and Scott Hannan leave as free agents. They traded goalie Antti Niemi to the Dallas Stars for a seventh-round draft pick in the 2015 Draft. Then, they acquired forward Joel Ward, goaltender Martin Jones, and defenseman Paul Martin. They also named forward Joe Pavelski the team's captain.