On June 17, 2024, the San Jose Sharks introduced former Rays Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky as the 11th Head Coach in franchise history. At age 36, Warsofsky became the youngest active Head Coach in the NHL. The Marshfield, MA, native spent nine years coaching in the minor leagues before spending the last two seasons as an assistant coach for the Sharks.
When Warsofsky spoke at his introductory press conference in San Jose, he started by thanking some people who helped him throughout his coaching journey. He then got emotional when recounting the moment when Stingrays president Rob Concannon offered him his first professional coaching job.
"I emailed Rob Concannon, who is here today, about an assistant coach job opening in South Carolina in the ECHL. I emailed him, and ten minutes later, he called me. That call changed my life forever." Warsofsky said at his Sharks introductory press conference.
Warsofsky was an assistant coach for the Stingrays from 2013-2016 before holding the Head Coach position from 2016-2018. In Warsofsky's time with the Stingrays, the team reached the Kelly Cup finals twice (in 2015 and 2017), and Warsofsky was selected to coach at the 2018 ECHL All-Star Classic.
Warsofsky has often said that coaching in the ECHL molded him into the coach he is today, but working for the Stingrays didn't just make Warsofsky a better coach. In a one-on-one interview after accepting the Head Coach position with the Sharks, Warsofsky said that working for the Stingrays taught him how to navigate the day-to-day grind of working in professional hockey.
"I always say that the ECHL is one of the hardest leagues to coach in because you've got to have a pulse on everything," Warsofsky said. "You've got to know NHL players, AHL players, ECHL players. You've got to know the players in Europe. You've got to be able to talk to agents, and you've also got to be able to pick up the phone and book a bus, or book a hotel, or book a meal. You have to multi-task, you have to be organized, and you have to manage your time. That was really important to me and all those experiences that I went through molded me to get here to this place today."
The Sharks preseason is underway, and Warsofsky has an exciting opportunity this season. This offseason, the Sharks signed 2024 first-round draft picks Macklin Celebrini and Sam Dickinson and 2023 first-round draft pick Will Smith.
Those three players join a pool of younger players who have already worked with Warsofsky during his time as an assistant coach in San Jose.
"All these guys are young, and I'm a younger coach, obviously, and I can relate to that generation a little bit," Warsofsky said. "I'm coming back to an organization with players I already know like Henry Thrun, William Eklund, and Shakir Mukhamadullin. I know these guys. I know what they went through the last couple of years, and I know they want to prove people wrong this year. It makes it a lot easier having that relationship already built in."
The Sharks had the worst record in the NHL last season and will need to show signs of improvement in Warsofsky's first season as Head Coach. For the Sharks' new bench boss, it starts with fueling the competitive fire.
"I'm a demanding coach, but it comes from a good place," Warsofsky said in an interview with Massachusetts Hockey. "My biggest goal here [in San Jose] is to make us more competitive in everything we do. If we are down in Florida and we have an off-day and we're playing beach volleyball, I want to see how competitive our players are. If we're in the locker room and there's a ping-pong game, I want to see how competitive our players are. If we go on the ice for practice and it's a three-on-three cross-ice game, I want to see how competitive we are. That's how I am. That's how I was always coached. I'm not going sit here and pound my chest to say that I've won some championships. That doesn't matter. It's about our players and trying to change their mindset a little bit. We have to start being a lot more competitive."
The Sharks will play three more preseason games before beginning their regular season on October 10 against the St. Louis Blues at SAP Center.
The Stingrays 2024-25 season begins on Saturday, October 19, with the Home Opener against the Orlando Solar Bears at 6:05 p.m. The full schedule can be viewed here.
