The Sharks announced Friday they have hired Brian Wiseman as an assistant coach just weeks after a strange twist involving him and the New York Islanders.
On July 5, the Islanders announced the hiring of Wiseman as an assistant on head coach Lane Lambert’s staff. On July 28, though, the Islanders announced that John MacLean, not Wiseman, would be joining the staff.
The Islanders offered no explanation for the reversal at the time and had not responded at the time of publication Friday to an email seeking clarification.
Wiseman, in an introductory video conference with Bay Area media Friday, said he had not officially signed a contract with the Islanders and that after further discussions, he and the team “decided to go in separate ways.”
There has been speculation that sexual assault charges Wiseman faced in the 1990s factored in his departure from the Islanders. Wiseman, now 51, was acquitted in a 1996 trial, but reports of the case surfaced shortly after the Islanders announced his hiring in July.
Wiseman, then a forward with the IHL’s Chicago Wolves, and another man were tried on two counts of sexual assault after an alleged 1991 incident with a then-15-year-old girl. Per the Chicago Tribune, the alleged incident was first reported to police in April 1993, and charges were filed later that year. Wiseman was a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Michigan at the time of the alleged assault.
Wiseman and Sharks head coach David Quinn were not asked about the case during their media availability Friday morning. (This news organization became aware of the matter after that call.)
Asked later if the Sharks knew about the case, a team representative relayed the following statement from general manager Mike Grier: “The Sharks organization takes accusations of this nature extremely seriously and the type of behavior described would not be tolerated. In this instance, based on the results of the legal process following the accusation in the mid-1990s, in addition to our own additional diligence and fact-finding, we felt comfortable with the results that came back.”
The Sharks also noted, via a statement attributed to Grier, that Wiseman “was completely transparent with us from the start” and relayed a statement from Wiseman proclaiming the accusations were false.
“In the early 1990s, I was falsely accused of sexual assault,” Wiseman’s statement said. “You never want to be placed in that position, but I understand that the authorities must take accusations like that extremely seriously, as do I. In my situation, I knew what the truth was, the facts were presented to the court, and in the end, I was declared innocent and found not guilty.”
Wiseman played at Michigan from 1990 to 1994 and was a 12th-round draft choice of the New York Rangers in 1991. Wiseman played pro hockey from 1994 to 2000, including three games with the Toronto Maple Leafs in December 1996.
He was the Dallas Stars’ video coach in 2002-03 and began his coaching career as an assistant at Princeton University for the 2003-04 season. Wiseman became an assistant with the Houston Aeros of the AHL in 2010-11, helping the team reach the Calder Cup Final.
Wiseman was an assistant coach at Michigan from 2011 to 2019 before he received his first NHL coaching job, as he joined the Edmonton Oilers under former coach Dave Tippett. Tippett was replaced by Jay Woodcroft in February and Wiseman remained on the Oilers staff before he and the team parted ways in June.
With Edmonton, Wiseman focused on the team’s offensive strategies, working with the team’s forwards with an additional focus on face-offs. With the Sharks, Wiseman, alongside fellow assistant Scott Gordon, will also work with the team’s forwards, assist with the power play and help with pre-scouting opponents, Quinn said.
After his departure from the Islanders, Wiseman said he had interest from the other NHL teams, but relished an opportunity to work alongside Quinn, who he has known for two decades. A week ago, the Sharks announced Gordon and Ryan Warsofsky as their new assistants, with Thomas Speer becoming the goalie coach and Nick Gialdini the video coach.
“One of the biggest things I took from Edmonton was a very well-connected staff, and that’s paramount,” Wiseman said. “I know David’s approach is of the importance of the connected staff, the communication and relationships that we have to have with these players, because we’re all in this together.”
