Sharks Locker Room: ‘Size in this league wins’

Ryan Warsofsky is tired of hearing about it…and that’s a good thing.

The head coach took multiple questions about the Sharks standing up for each other after a 5-1 loss to the Washington Capitals, from newcomer Zack Ostapchuk squaring off with the feared Tom Wilson to Mario Ferraro and Vincent Desharnais trying to get Pierre Dubois to drop the gloves after a late Dubois hit on Will Smith.

“We’ve responded all year. I don’t know why it’s such a big story. When young players get hit or anyone takes liberty with young players, we’re going to respond,” Warsofsky said.

Warsofsky isn’t wrong, for the most part, but this was a big story in December, when Kevin Stenlund boarded Macklin Celebrini in Utah, to a debatable response.

But since then, there’s been no doubt, at least in my mind, about the Sharks’ willingness to stand up for their youngsters, led by alternate captain Barclay Goodrow and others.

So why is Warsofsky’s fatigue with the question a good thing?

It should be taken for granted that the Sharks stand up for each other. It shouldn’t even be a question. But it has been in recent seasons, and it was in December.

But Warsofsky is right, it’s getting to be a non-question. Which is good!

Moving on, Warsofsky gave a crystal-clear outlook of the franchise’s future, when asked what the last-place San Jose Sharks can learn from the Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals.

“Oh, we can learn a lot from that team over there,” he said, before launching into his chief takeaway. “Obviously, size in this league wins. And that will be for hereon going forward. That’s something that we’ve talked a lot about here, going forward, we’re going to add some size. And we’re going to need to play with some size and grit and jam.”

That was especially apparent on the Caps’ second goal of the game, and 6-foot-6 Aliaksei Protas and 6-foot-2 Lars Eller rolling to the net basically unopposed.

It’s clear also in GM Mike Grier’s acquisitions of 6-foot-7 Vincent Desharnais, 6-foot-5 Patrick Giles, and 6-foot-4 Ostapchuk at the Trade Deadline.

Don’t worry, 6-footers Celebrini (and probably Will Smith) are safe. Warsofsky’s proclamation, no pun intended, isn’t a “one size fits all” statement.

But there’s no doubt that the Sharks are looking to both be bigger and play bigger.

“They’re ultra-competitive,” Warsofsky said of the Caps. “They find a way to get back and find ways to win in different ways. And that will be the next step in the evolution of our organization.”

Vincent Desharnais

Desharnais, on his scrum with Pierre-Luc Dubois following a hit on Will Smith:

I told him I didn’t like it. I wanted to go with him and he didn’t want it. That’s out of my power but my job is to let him know that we won’t take it. We have some young players. I got traded here to, yes, play hockey, and I’m not tough guy by by any means, but it’s part of my job to protect those guys and every night I’m going to do it.

Desharnais, on Dubois not dropping the gloves:

Obviously, it’s frustrating. Whether you want to call it the hockey code or whatever it is. At the end of the day, whether he does it or not, it’s out of my power. In the third, at some point you’ve just got to focus on your game and you let it go.

Desharnais on the San Jose Sharks standing up for one another:

That’s something that’s awesome to see. Everyone’s going to stick up for each other. We have some young guys, and whether it’s a late hit or a bad hit, we won’t take it. Whether we’re up by five or down by five, we don’t take any shit. Obviously, it’s not the result we want, but [it’s] something positive, that we stuck up for each other, and we’re going to do it for the last 14 games.

Zack Ostapchuk

Ostapchuk, on how the fight with Tom Wilson started and the aftermath:

I think we needed to get going a little bit, and hopefully I could provide a spark. I just hit him in the corner, and he spun me around.

He was fired up. I mean, he was barking at me, probably a little colorful language, but at the end of the day, we calmed down and said good fight.

Ostapchuk, on the experience of fighting Wilson:

Obviously, I’ve got to work on my skills a little bit. [He had me] pretty clamped up, I couldn’t get much going in that fight, but it’s a good learning experience. He knows what he’s doing, he’s been in a lot of fights. He’s a tough guy.

He kind of surprised me. His gloves came off pretty quick, and I still had one on. So, it’s grabbing him and trying to shake that one off.

Tyler Toffoli

Toffoli, on Ostapchuk dropping the gloves in his debut:

He stood up and fought one of the toughest guys in league. It’s not an easy thing to do, so a lot of the guys in here really respected it. I’m excited to see what he can continue to bring.

Ryan Warsofsky

Warsofsky, on Smith and Graf’s performances:

I thought they had their moments where you can see the future of what they’re going to be and I thought they had their moments where they you saw the youngness and a mature hockey team on the other side. [A] big, heavy, physical, structured team, where if you’re not on every shift, you’re in one and we saw that too.

Warsofsky, on the response following Smith getting hit:

I haven’t seen it. But again, we’ve responded all year. I don’t know where this why it’s such a big story. When young players get hit, or anyone  takes liberty to young players, we’re going to respond. We’ve done that all year. I don’t know why it’s such a big story all of a sudden.