SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks felt they had a rising star on their hands two years ago when they hired Ryan Warsofsky as an assistant coach — shortly after interviewing the then 34-year-old for the team’s vacant head coaching position.
The past two years did nothing to change the Sharks’ opinion of Warsofsky. So when the head coaching job became open again in April, the Sharks did not want to let him get away and promoted him to the position Thursday, seven weeks after firing David Quinn.
Now 36, Warsofsky, who had success in both the AHL and ECHL, becomes the youngest head coach in the NHL, tasked with nurturing the Sharks’ younger players while also attempting to take a step forward after the team’s dismal 19-54-9 record this past year.
Warsofsky will be formally introduced on Monday at SAP Center in San Jose.
In a statement, Sharks general manager Mike Grier said Warsofsky’s “track record of success at nearly every level of hockey as a head and assistant coach speaks for itself.
“Ryan knows our existing group well, has the respect of the players who he will be working with, and will be a great teacher for the young players who will be joining our organization.”
Warsofsky served as an assistant coach on Quinn’s staff for the previous two years and was responsible for working with the team’s defensem*n and coordinating the team’s penalty kill. San Jose was tied for seventh in penalty kill percentage (82.4) in 2022-23, but after losing several key members of that unit, slid to 28th (75.4) this past season.
Quinn was fired on April 24 after the Sharks finished with an NHL-worst 47 points and went a combined 41-98-25 in his two seasons. San Jose’s 19 wins this season were the fewest by any team in the NHL’s salary cap era, which began in 2005.
Although Grier understood that this past season might be the low point of the team’s rebuild, especially after trading Timo Meier and Erik Karlsson last year and Tomas Hertl in March, he said at the time of Quinn’s firing that he felt the team needed a new voice.
Grier’s coaching search began almost immediately, and he reportedly also spoke with Jeff Blashill, the former Detroit Red Wings coach who is now an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Marco Sturm, the former Sharks forward who has spent the past six seasons coaching in the Los Angeles Kings organization.
Still, Warsofsky was one of the first candidates for the job, and his familiarity with the organization and potential to grow with the team appeared to be assets.
“I’m overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement to be named as the head coach of the San Jose Sharks,” Warsofsky said in a statement. “This a tremendous opportunity to continue to be part of a well-respected organization, and my family and I couldn’t be more excited for this next chapter.”
Assistant coaches Scott Gordon, Brian Wiseman, Thomas Speer, and Nick Gialdini remain on the Sharks staff for now, and Warsofsky is free to decide whether to retain those coaches or bring in his own staff. Those assistants have also been free to seek employment elsewhere.
Grier had mentioned that he wanted a coach in place before the NHL Draft, where the Sharks are expected to select top prospect Macklin Celebrini with the No. 1 pick, to help evaluate possible free-agent acquisitions. The draft runs from June 28-29 in Las Vegas, and the first day of free agency is July 1.
The Sharks are entering a crucial phase of their rebuild, with Celebrini, assuming he turns pro, and fellow top prospect Will Smith joining the NHL as soon as this fall. Ten of the Sharks’ players on their roster last season are now 25 years old or younger, including Fabian Zetterlund, William Eklund, Thomas Bordeleau, Ty Emberson and Henry Thrun.
Grier said he also plans to bring in more veterans this offseason to help insulate the younger players, taking pressure off some of those would-be NHL newcomers as they continue to gain experience.
With Warsofsky, the Sharks have a coach who has worked extensively with prospects and succeeded at the minor league levels.
Before coming to San Jose, Warsofsky had been an AHL head coach for four years, including from 2020 to 2022 with the Chicago Wolves.
In 2021-2022, Warsofsky became the youngest coach to win the Calder Cup since Peter Laviolette in 1999, as the Wolves finished the regular season with a 50-16-10 record and went 14-4 in the playoffs. In two seasons with the Wolves, his record was an impressive 71-25-6-7.
Warsofsky began coaching in 2012 as an assistant at Curry College in his native Massachusetts. He then became an assistant coach for the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays. After three years, he was promoted to head coach and led the team to the Kelly Cup Finals in his first year.
Warsofsky then spent two years, from 2018 to 2020, with Charlotte of the AHL, the first as an assistant when the Checkers won the Calder Cup and the second as the team’s head coach.
“This is an organization that has a rich history of winning,” Warsofsky said, “and I can’t wait to get to work on coaching a team that our fans can be proud of.”
