SAN JOSE — Ryan Warsofsky was named the new head coach of the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
Warsofsky, the 11th head coach in Sharks franchise history, will be formally introduced on Monday at SAP Center in San Jose. At 36, Warsofsky becomes the youngest head coach in the NHL.
“We’re very excited to announce Ryan as the 11th head coach of the San Jose Sharks,” Sharks general manager Mike Grier said in a statement. “His 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.”
“I’m overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement to be named as the head coach of the San Jose Sharks,” said Warsofsky. “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.”
Warsofsky, 36, is entering his third season with the Sharks organization after he served as assistant coach on David Quinn’s staff for the previous two years. Quinn was fired on April 24 after the Sharks finished with the worst record in the NHL at 19-54-9, with Grier saying at the time that he felt the team needed a new voice.
The Sharks did not provide an update on the status of assistant coaches Scott Gordon, Brian Wiseman, Thomas Speer, and Nick Gialdini. When Quinn was fired, Grier said it would be up to the new head coach to determine whether he wanted to retain those assistants, and those assistants were free to seek employment elsewhere.
With Warsofsky, they have a coach who succeeded at the minor league levels before he arrived in the NHL.
Warsofsky was considered a rising star in the coaching world two years ago when, at 34, he interviewed for the Sharks’ head coaching vacancy before Quinn got the job. In 2022, he won the AHL championship Calder Cup with the Chicago Wolves. Warsofsky’s record was an impressive 71-25-6-7 in his two seasons in Chicago.
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.
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.
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