Sharks Locker Room: Team Is Still Playing Hard for Warsofsky

TORONTO — You don’t often praise the head coach of a last-place team.

But Ryan Warsofsky deserves some credit for how he’s guided the San Jose Sharks through a difficult season.

The Sharks snapped an eight-game losing streak on Monday night, topping the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 in the shootout.

Area natives Jack Thompson and Tyler Toffoli scored, Fabian Zetterlund won it in the shootout, and Alexandar Georgiev stopped 25-of-27 shots.

But here’s what stood out about Warsofsky, five contests into a seven-game road trip

The San Jose Sharks played a dismal second period at Scotiabank Arena, putting just two shots on goal, and down 2-0, looked to be on the way to another defeat. Who would’ve blamed Warsofsky if he kicked a trash can or two at the intermission?

But instead, he appeared to pick the Sharks up.

“He just came in and said it wasn’t that bad,” Thompson said. “We gave two power play goals, but we can go out there and the game’s still up for grabs.”

“The biggest thing was, I just felt like we were down on ourselves,” Warsofsky said. “Just remind them that there’s eight guys in there that have a lot of family and friends here to watch you. And they came to watch 60 minutes, not 40.”

Thompson, Toffoli, Mario Ferraro, Barclay Goodrow, Ty Dellandrea, and Jake Walman, a third of the Sharks’ skaters tonight, are all from the Greater Toronto Area.

“My last message was it’s gonna be a hell of a story [if we come back],” Warsofsky said.

On a micro level, the San Jose Sharks, despite trading their No. 1 goalie (in December) and center (in February) are still a team that appears to be playing for each other and their coach, holding the Leafs to just two shots in the third period, and tying the game.

On the macro level, the Sharks have played hard and simple most of the time since coming back from the 4 Nations break, and have seemingly adhered to Warsofsky’s defensive-minded neutral zone changes since coming back on Feb. 23.

“Reflected a lot during that break. Obviously, a longer break than usual,” Warsofsky said during Mar. 1 morning skate. “I’ve been on teams where we had a bunch of Ferraris and we can get aggressive and we can get on the attack and be [1-on-1] all over the ice.”

For example, in the 4 Nations, that’s how a star-laden Team USA played.

“We’re in a little bit of a different situation right now with the younger team, and the way the game is so fast. You have to have numbers, you have to have support,” Warsofsky admitted. “So obviously changed some things to the neutral zone through the break, and I think it’s helped us.”

Before the break, according to Natural Stat Trick, San Jose was surrendering an NHL-worst 31.49 5v5 Shots Per 60. Since the break, the Sharks are giving up just 27.2 5v5 Shots Per 60, 18th in the league.

It’s a small sample size of just five games, but both the eye test and stats suggest San Jose is still listening to their coach.

It’s easy to forget that Warsofsky is a rookie NHL head coach himself, who’s also getting better.

“Sometimes, what’s great for me is not what’s great for the team. I think that’s been the big thing I’ve looked back on, is some things maybe the way I really want to play, right now, we can’t technically do it in such detail, night in and night out,” he admitted.

Earlier in the season, with Mackenzie Blackwood there to help erase his team’s mistakes, the Sharks got off to a solid 10-13-5 start, not bad for a squad that had just 19 wins all of last year.

But between trading Blackwood on Dec. 9 and their last game on Feb. 8 before the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Sharks have gone 5-20-2, giving up four goals against per game.

So Warsofsky has made changes that have insulated his current goalies Vitek Vanecek and Alexandar Georgiev better. That’s not a knock on the netminders, but perhaps a reminder of how underrated that Blackwood was in teal.

San Jose is now 1-2-2 after the break, every game on the road against quality Canadian teams, and they’ve cut their GAA down to 3.2. They’ve also had a lead or a tie in the third period in each of these contests.

You can criticize Warsofsky for not adjusting more quickly, but point is, he did, and most importantly, the team appears to still be on the same page with him, even after he turned the page.

Again, small sample size, but if the Sharks can keep playing like this, that’s another credit to Warsofsky’s rookie campaign behind the bench, along with his No. 1 job for a rebuilding squad, the obvious development of youngsters like Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, William Eklund, Henry Thrun, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Collin Graf, and more.

Ryan Warsofsky

Warsofsky, on his message to the San Jose Sharks after they were down 2-0 after the second period:

The biggest thing was, I just felt like we were down on ourselves.

That can happen where we’re, right? The losses have piled up, but we’ve been doing some pretty good things, and we can’t feel bad for ourselves. It’s the National Hockey League.

Just remind them that there’s eight guys in there that have a lot of family and friends here to watch you. And they came to watch 60 minutes, not 40.

My last message was it’s gonna be a hell of a story.

Credit to the group, they dug in, just kept competing, found a way to win.

Warsofsky, on how Alex Wennberg has taken Mikael Granlund’s spot up the middle:

Stepped up tremendously. He is such an underrated player in this league. It’s incredible. I know he’s been around and played for some organizations, but coaching him first-hand, you see how smart of an individual he is when he’s skating. He’s got a good skill-set. Sees the ice well.

Warsofsky, on defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin, Timothy Liljegren, and Mario Ferraro:

Shak’s took a stride. He’s really made a stride on this road trip. He’s really commanded more minutes and demanded it. He’s earned it. Obviously, still ways to go, but he’s done some really good things and continue to build off [it].

I thought Lily was one of our best D tonight. Obviously, Mario steps up and scraps, but I thought Lily has taken the biggest stride in these last three games of a defenseman we’ve seen all year.

Alex Wennberg

Wennberg, on the Tyler Toffoli game-tying goal:

Obviously, I was coming in with a lot of speed. He’s a big goalie, so I didn’t have much room. So for me, waiting it out a little bit and then obviously Toff just has that skill to always find an open spot. Kind of just teed it up for him.

Wennberg, on if he made an intentional move to freeze Anthony Stolarz, which opened up the net for Toffoli:

I mean, yeah. (laughs) It did work out how I planned that one. So a little bit of credit, maybe.

Tyler Toffoli

Toffoli, on Alexandar Georgiev’s game:

He was great. The second period, we weren’t good at all, and he stood on his head and made some huge saves. Even the goal at the end of the period wasn’t his fault at all, and came back and was huge for us in the third as well.

Jack Thompson

Thompson, on Warsofsky’s message after the second period:

He just came in and said it wasn’t that bad. We gave two power play goals, but we can go out there and the game’s still up for grabs. We went out there in the third with a good mindset.

Thompson, on scoring against his hometown growing up: "When you're a kid, I dreamed about scoring goals out here. So it was pretty cool to do it. I think I blacked out a little bit, but yeah, it was special."

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 4, 2025