Warsofsky on Scratching Mukhamadullin, Young Defenseman’s Confidence (+)

The balance between letting a player work through mistakes and making him feel like every mistake will result in a benching can be a difficult one to strike for a coach. That balance can also look different for a younger player compared to a veteran.

So what’s the balance for San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky?

“With the younger defensemen [letting them make] some young mistakes and letting them learn through that mistake and mentally not crushing them. And there’s some older guys that get a little bit longer rope, what they’ve done in their career,” Warsofsky said. “There’s a lot of conversations that I have with our staff, with Mike [Grier] and his staff, to what we think is best. And maybe there probably isn’t a perfect answer for that, but we try to do what’s best for the team.”

It’s a balance that Warsofsky is trying to strike with Shakir Mukhamadullin.

Mukhamadullin, 23, is a former first-round pick and was a centerpiece of Feb. 2023’s Timo Meier trade. The 6-foot-4 left-hander was a revelation after the Trade Deadline last year, skating 21:05 a night in March, before season-ending shoulder surgery. Mukhamadullin has struggled to find the same mojo this season, playing just 16:30 a game, and being a frequent healthy scratch. He’s got a goal and five points through 13 appearances this season.

Generally speaking, how does Mukhamadullin stay in the line-up?

“Needs to be more assertive. Needs to get into people a little bit more. That doesn’t mean he’s gonna blow people up. [You don’t have to] bring a ton of physicality, but you got to get in people’s way, you got to be harder to play against. He’s a big guy,” Warsofsky said. “I think the big thing is being assertive.”

Mukhamadullin was playing some of his most confident – and alongside that, best – hockey at the end of last season.

“They need to play, and they got to go through and then they got to fail, and then that’s how you get better. So they’ll get confident,” Warsofsky said. “That’s what we saw at the end of last year. Mukh was really confident in his ability and the way we wanted him to play, and that’s where his games took a step in the right direction. Obviously, had the injury and a tough summer.”

The 23-year-old Russian is still getting back to that confidence level he had in the spring, showing it in occasional bursts.

Offensively, for example, Mukhamadullin is third among NHL defensemen in Stretch Passes Per 60 at 5-on-5, and he’s in the top quarter of the league in Assisted High Danger Chances this season, according to Stathletes.

But what does that confidence look like to Warsofsky?

“Skating with pucks, moving his feet, getting into people, good stick detail defending,” Warsofsky said. “When he’s engaged and he’s asserting himself in the defensive zone, is when we see it.”

Mukhamadullin, however, hasn’t been able to do that consistently this season.

Warsofsky recognizes that Mukhamadullin is “maybe” playing with some fear of being benched, and that there are other extenuating circumstances perhaps affecting his game.

“Coming off an injury, there’s a little bit of scar tissue mentally, to work from and work through,” Warsofsky said. “A little bit of confidence and getting his confidence back.”

But at the end of the day for Warsofsky, you have to perform, or someone is coming for your job. Especially when you’ve got, like the San Jose Sharks have right now, nine defensemen on the roster, an unusually high number. Also, the Sharks are trying to integrate another even younger prospect in 19-year-old Sam Dickinson.

Warsofsky also noted it’s the repeated mistakes, details that they’ve already talked to Mukhamadullin about multiple times, that stand out.

Take, for example, recent misplays against the Utah Mammoth and Seattle Kraken, in back-to-back games, that look similar.

On Nov. 15 at Seattle, Mukhamadullin (85) chased an errant pinch, going where the puck wasn’t, exposing the middle of the ice.

Bad pinch by Mukhamadullin and the Kraken take full advantage. Beautiful feed by Stephenson to Tolvanen.

The Sharks are falling apart. pic.twitter.com/eFWEzaSZes

— Emerald City Hockey (@EmeraldCityHky) November 16, 2025

“I’ve already talked to him about the one in Seattle, we lose our F3,” Warsofsky said.

On Nov. 18 versus Utah, Mukhamadullin let JJ Peterka (77) get behind him.

🚨 Peterka nets one!

2-1, Sharks. pic.twitter.com/tB9i5bocF2

— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) November 19, 2025

“He needs to scan,” Warsofsky said.

But not putting all the weight on Mukhamadullin, Warsofsky added, “There’s some other pieces involved. I don’t know if that’s a situation where we need to surf [like Macklin Celebrini] on that…If we do surf, we got to kill the play, and we didn’t kill the play.”

This lack of awareness also hurt Mukhamadullin on Nov. 22, when two Ottawa Senators got behind him for a 2-on-0.

Scuse me coming through!#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/bjmpDERhLy

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) November 23, 2025

On a better team, these are frankly, especially when repeated, mistakes that make you unplayable. So sometimes, Warsofsky will bench Mukhamadullin.

Hopefully, Warsofsky, assistant coach Doug Houda, who runs the defense, and a veteran like countryman Dmitry Orlov, are keeping Mukhamadullin’s spirits up. Mukhamadullin’s confidence may be shaken, but that’s normal, and it doesn’t appear broken yet.

“He’s good player. He just needs to trust himself. Be in the moment. Enjoy the moment. Just be himself. Most important, don’t worry about what’s going on, you have to control what you [can] control. He’s still learning,” Dmitry Orlov said on Nov. 23, after a Mukhamadullin goal helped the Sharks beat the Boston Bruins.

“When I was younger too, I had similar situations,” the 14-year NHL veteran said. “Sometimes, you’re upset, sometimes you’re angry at yourself, when you make a mistake, or you’re scared to make a mistake, and it always happens. But I think he’s playing well, and he’s going to get better for this team. For us, it’s important.”

The San Jose Sharks are still figuring out their top-four defense of the future, and Mukhamadullin is as good a candidate as anybody in the San Jose system.

Mukhamadullin still has just 46 NHL games under his belt. Warsofsky believes it takes over 200 games to see who a defenseman really is in the best league in the world.

“This is still a young, young kid that’s learning the pro style and the pro game,” Warsofsky said. “So it will never be perfect, and we’ve got to continue to work on it and the consistency of it, but we’ve got to be there for him and help him, push him and challenge him, like we have, and we’ll continue to work on that.”