The Sharks could still be a couple of months away from hiring a full-time general manager although in-person interviews will begin soon, team president Jonathan Becher said.

Becher said the Sharks, who started with a list of more than 50 people, have narrowed the number of candidates to between 20 and 25. The team has had calls with approximately 10 to 12 people already and has scheduled times to talk to other candidates via Zoom.

Based on those video calls, the Sharks will start to schedule in-person interviews in waves, perhaps two or three per week.

San Jose’s leading mayoral candidates gathered at the SAP Center to take questions about the future of the arena amid downtown’s burgeoning developments.

Becher says the team is on board with the plans around the arena—mostly.

“Somehow the narrative has been us versus them, that the future of SAP Center can only happen at the expense of these properties,” Becher said, dismissing this as a false dichotomy. “We can have both… not as the plans are right now, but with modest changes.”

It’s why NHL teams line up and aggressively pursue opportunities to play internationally, like the Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets, San Jose Sharks and Predators will next season. The Avalanche and Blue Jackets will play in Tampere, Finland, while the Sharks and Predators will play a pair of regular-season games in Prague, Czechia after holding preseason games in Germany and Switzerland, respectively.

“As much as the benefit is talked about for players and teams on the ice, there is an equally or even more important impact of getting selected for these games for the business,” said Jonathan Becher, the president of Sharks Sports & Entertainment. “And I mean that in a good way.”

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Sharks president Jonathan Becher and interim GM Joe Will spoke to the media following the announcement.

“Obviously this is a sad day and the end of a milestone,” Becher said. “But it’s also a chance to acknowledge and celebrate Doug Wilson’s incredible legacy. That legacy is probably most obvious on the ice. A period of almost 19 years of sustained success.”

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“Since Doug’s been out, there’s always that question of when will he be ready to come back? It was always when will he be ready, not if,” Becher said. “Doug has definitely improved over the last couple of months. But he took the decision that he needs to concentrate on his health full time. So it’s really only in the last couple of days. This is late-breaking more than anything else.”

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Responding to updated health guidelines from the state, Sharks Sports & Entertainment announced Monday that starting this weekend, fans attending hockey games at SAP Center will no longer be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test for entry.

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Brodie Brazil and Jonathan Becher talk about how the pandemic has impacted attendance at Sharks games.

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Sharks president Jonathan Becher addressed a number of topics during a midseason meeting with the media Wednesday, including the recent drop in attendance, plans for next season and owner Hasso Plattner’s thoughts on the state of the franchise.

Becher’s message about the short-term future of the Sharks from a business perspective was mostly positive, with the usual COVID-19 related caveats, and he announced some intriguing new plans to try to improve the fan experience. He also touched on some of the long-term concerns for the Sharks at SAP Center.

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San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo wants to drop the city’s COVID-19 booster requirement to get into city-owned facilities.

Doing so would impact venues like the SAP Center- home of the Sharks. Team President Jonathan Becher told reporters on Wednesday, mandates and the on-going pandemic are the reason for low-attendance at the SAP Center.

“The drive to get actual people in becomes much more difficult when you have to vax, boost, test, mask, etc.,” he said.

At city-owned facilities across San Jose, visitors have gotten used to following signs for vaccine verification. Earlier this month, COVID-19 boosters were added to the list of requirements at city-owned venues.

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Jonathan Becher, president of Sharks Sports & Entertainment, listed the pandemic as the biggest reason why attendance for NHL games at the downtown arena has cratered this season, even though it appears the Sharks will miss the playoffs for a third straight year.

Becher attributed some of that to the surge of the Omicron variant, adding with cases receding, over 15,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday’s home game with the Boston Bruins. Santa Clara County, as of Wednesday, had a seven-day rolling average of 555 new cases of COVID, down from around 5,000 in early January.

“So that’s evidence that people will come back as restrictions ease and as they feel safer,” Becher said. “There’s no guarantee in life but it does seem that way.”

Becher said the team has sold about 9,500 season tickets for next season, which is down from around 11,000 two years ago, with a renewal rate of about 85 percent.

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