Sheng Peng
Ryan Warsofsky was still raving about this Will Smith shift over a month after it happened.
“If you go back and watch the Montreal overtime, that’s how he needs to play,” Warsofsky said on Apr. 2 about a Feb. 27 OT shift at the Montreal Canadiens. “He does it at times, and at times, he has a habit of not doing it.”
So what was special about this Smith shift?
As we approach the beginning of the 20-year-old center-winger’s sophomore season, let’s roll the tape on what Smith needs to do more of in 2025-26.
Why did Warsofsky like about the rookie’s shift? And according to Stathletes, where can the young San Jose Sharks star improve next year?
“He competed extremely hard for pucks,” Warsofsky said. “He was on his toes, so gotta bottle that up.”
Defensively, Smith (2) knocks Cole Caufield (13) down when he’s off-balance, helping force a turnover. Then on the other end, Smith lifts Mike Matheson’s (8) stick when the defenseman bobbles the puck.
“Not so much outmuscle people, because he’s probably never going to be that guy, but pick sticks and get in positioning and get leverage on guys,” Warsofsky said. “It’s going to be the next step.”
The San Jose Sharks bench boss gave Smith a role model to follow: “A guy like Mitch Marner, who does it a lot, someone he can really learn from, a guy that really has grown in that capacity, of how he needs to compete for 50-50 pucks, how to get into people.”
The result?
“When you do that, you play with the puck more, you get more opportunity to score, you get more opportunity to get points,” Warsofsky said.
Both Smith and Marner are smaller 6-foot-0 forwards.
Smith was eighth among San Jose Sharks forwards in Steals Per 60 at 5-on-5 last year. He also won just 39.4 percent of his Puck Battles, second-worst up front (of 12, 40-plus games played).
To compare, Marner was third among Toronto Maple Leafs forwards in Steal rate and won 58.1 percent of his Puck Battles last year.
Smith did improve noticeably in both categories as the season went on.
“He’s got some habits in his game that we got to get out. But he’s been very receptive to it. He understands it,” Warsofsky said of Smith. “He still has a little ways to go. That’s going to come with a good summer.”