The San Jose Sharks announced the firing of Coach Ron Wilson late Monday in a move designed to change the behind-bench face of the team.

Ron Wilson, generally regarded as an excellent regular season coach, never was able to take the Sharks to the Stanley Cup Finals.

During his tenure, he amassed an impressive record of 206-134-45 in the regular season. However, he was a mere 28-24 in 52 post season matches. Only in 2004 did he take San Jose to the Conference Finals, a six game loss to the Calgary Flames.

"This is not an easy day," Sharks GM Doug Wilson said "Ronnie worked his tail off.

"We are not happy with where we are. This is an organization that will continue to push to a new level. We did not play well enough in the 13 playoff games we played. Sometimes you need a different voice. No one should be happy with the results we had this year."

Doug Wilson is generally known as an impeccable general manager who is bent on bringing the Stanley Cup to San Jose. He also noted that it would be fair to say that there would be players that would not be back.

"Of course I'm surprised with this announcement," Ron Wilson responded. "I was shocked when Doug told me. I'm disappointed they have decided to go in a different direction."

Assistant coaches Tim Hunter and Rob Zettler will be retained.

The search for a new coach will begin immediately. Doug Wilson placed no time table for the decision, noting they will be searching for the right person. He failed to rule out any candidates or any level for the search.