Newly appointed San Jose Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer is ready to put the team's past behind them.

The Sharks stripped Joe Thornton of the captaincy prior to last season after he'd held the role since 2010, electing to go with four alternate captains instead. However, DeBoer believes that leadership structure will change.

"I feel very confident by the first game of the season, we'll have a captain," DeBoer told 95.7 The Game in San Jose on Wednesday. "It's not something we are going to drag around as a distraction this year. We're going to move past that. I think the players are ready for that too, they just want to play some hockey and get this thing back on track."

The team elected to name Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic alternate captains for 2014-15.

DeBoer is confident the team can get back on track and feels good about the Sharks' chances of returning to the playoffs after finishing last season with the third-worst record in the Western Conference.

"I think we're knocking on the door," DeBoer said. "I think that core group is still in their prime and ready to win and has been supplemented now by some young guys with experience and I love their free-agent signings that we made this summer and I think they are ready to bounce back in a big way."