San Jose Sharks
Sharks Locker Room: Why Veterans Matter

The San Jose Sharks were smarter with the puck on Monday.
That helped them snap a six-game losing streak, as they pulled out a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Mikael Granlund and Macklin Celebrini scored, and Yaroslav Askarov made 29 saves.
“We weren’t forcing things,” San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “We don’t want to get to chucking pucks around and putting pucks in the middle of the ice [on the breakout]. So that was something we discussed.”
Two exit passes stood out, one good, one bad, one from a veteran, one from a rookie.
This was also the difference between winning and losing hockey, mature and immature hockey.
Tyler Toffoli (73) did this all game. Take a beat with the puck, make the right play. This ended up as an offsides, but it was a good example of a veteran’s patience with the puck, something that Toffoli has made a career of.
In fairness to Jack Thompson (26) chasing the loose puck, he’s on his backhand, so it’s not a routine play. Philip Tomasino (53) is also chasing him on the forecheck. But this turnover still feels like a rookie hurrying the puck up the ice, especially with partner Henry Thrun (3) in position behind the net as a safety valve.
“Just gotta read the game. Sometimes you gotta play fast, sometimes you gotta slow it down a little bit. It’s just making the right reads, just playing hockey,” Granlund said. “And for the most part, we did a pretty good job with that tonight.”
The Sharks didn’t do as good a job of that on Saturday, when playing too fast got them in turnover trouble in a 7-2 loss to the Florida Panthers. Naturally, a squad featuring a high-pace attacker like Celebrini always wants to go vertical. But?
“What good teams do. You grind out games. You find different ways to win games,” Ryan Warsofsky said. “We just think there’s one way to win a game, that’s cheating the game at times.”
This is one of many reasons why it’s important to have solid veterans on your NHL roster. Typically, it’s more experienced players who know when to speed up or slow down puck play. They’re less likely to hurry plays, and hopefully, they teach the youngsters some of that puck poise.
Ultimately, the right veterans show the kids that there are many different ways to win hockey games. It doesn’t always have to be GO GO GO.
It’s why a guy like Toffoli is here — it’s not to win the Stanley Cup this season, but to provide an example that slowly and surely brings the rebuilding Sharks back to respectability.
“The poise, the way he thinks the game, the way he’s able to kind of play the puck, play off guys. That’s why we signed him this summer, and that’s why he’s such big part of our team,” Celebrini said.
Ryan Warsofsky
Warsofsky, on the San Jose Sharks being more patient with the puck:
We don’t want to get to chucking pucks around and putting pucks in the middle of the ice. So that was something we discussed. Helping each other.
Obviously, you practice things, for instance, breakouts. You practice breakouts, it’s very structured. But sometimes, the game gets unstructured, and we need to be able to break out pucks when we’re a little bit chaotic in our defensive zone. So we did a better job of that tonight.
We did a better job with our tracks and our line rush. The first goal there, we give up, something we just practiced. So it’s a little unfortunate that we’re just a second off from really killing that play.
We weren’t forcing things.
Warsofsky, on a successful penalty kill:
The first penalty kill, they look for a play that we’ve seen on the pre-scout, and we nip it. It’s good for Doug and the penalty killers to understand that.
Warsofsky, on Askarov’s response to his personal losing streak:
He just looked probably a little bit more calmer in the net. Made some huge saves early in the game to keep us in it
He’s a type of kid that he’s an ultra-competitor, so you know that he’s got a belly of fire in him. You could see he was going to want to respond from what’s happened in the past.
Yaroslav Askarov
What goes through Yaroslav Askarov's mind before a penalty shot?
Askarov: "WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA NO NO NO"
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 28, 2025
Askarov, on having to stop both a partial Drew O’Connor breakaway, and then the penalty shot:
That’s why I felt [unsettled], because I felt like I already got it.
Macklin Celebrini
Celebrini, on Tyler Toffoli:
The poise, the way he thinks the game, the way he’s able to kind of play the puck, play off guys. That’s why we signed him this summer, and that’s why he’s such big part of our team. He’s just a very smart player, and it’s definitely easy to play with him.
Celebrini, on wearing Smith's BC jersey to the game today: "Made a bet when BU and BC played [this past weekend] and…they swept, so had to put the jersey on, which didn't feel right."
Says Smith made sure to pick the specific BC jersey: "He made sure it was the one that he…
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 28, 2025
Mikael Granlund
Granlund, on the San Jose Sharks’ ability tonight to be patient with the puck:
Just gotta read the game. Sometimes you gotta play fast, sometimes you gotta slow it down a little bit. It’s just making the right reads, just playing hockey. And for the most part, we did a pretty good job with that tonight.