SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The San Jose Sharks signed coach Ryan Warsofsky on Thursday to a multiyear contact extension on the first day of training camp before his third season at the helm.
The 37-year-old Warsofsky had a 59-85-20 record in his first two seasons with San Jose as he has helped the rebuilding team get to the brink of the playoffs.
Warsofsky thanked owner Hasso Plattner, general manager Mike Grier and team president Jonathan Becher for giving
him his first shot at being a head coach in the NHL and believes the team is ready to end a seven-season playoff drought.
“The goal when we took over was to make this team relevant again and start being more competitive,” he said. “We’ve taken some steps. I give a lot of credit to Mike to bring in the right people. You don’t change a culture with one person. You change it with a lot different people and a lot of the right people and we’ve done that.”
The Sharks improved by 34 points last season for the 10th best single-season jump in the last 30 years. They finished four points out of the playoffs last season but come into this season with playoff expectations thanks to superstar Macklin Celebrini.
Grier said he wanted to get the extension done before the season so Warsofsky could focus on the team on the ice.
“It gives him a little bit of peace of mind to go out there and do his job without maybe having this hanging over his head a little bit if things don’t go well to start the season,” Grier said. “I think he’s shown enough here in his time here in these four years even as an assistant that he can do the job, so I think the timing just worked out that we wanted to get ahead of it before the season.”
Warsofsky is the NHL's youngest active head coach and has had success at nearly every level of hockey he has coached at in his career. He won a gold medal at the world championships with Team USA in 2025, as well as a Calder Cup title as both a head coach and assistant in the AHL.
Grier believes Warsofsky is still growing as a coach and praised his work with both superstars like Celebrini, as well as in developing other players in the middle or bottom of the lineup.
“He’s a very good teacher,” veteran forward Tyler Toffoli said. “He takes the time to make sure that we understand what’s going on. He’s already starting from day one this year. He is a great motivator. He’s very passionate and he wants to win. You can see at times last year he was borderline devastated and at times he was on the moon. He's very passionate and he wants to win as much as we do on the ice.”
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