SAN JOSE -- Ryan Warsofsky signed a multiyear contract with the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
The 38-year-old, who was named coach on June 13, 2024, was entering the final year of his contract. He previously was a Sharks assistant for two seasons.
"(San Jose general manager Mike Grier) and I, and my agent, have talked a lot through the summer. I wasn't too concerned about it," Warsofsky said after the first day of Sharks training camp.
"(I'm) super excited, grateful, humbled by what they've done, and it's a great place to live. It's a great organization.
“They treat people and families first class. Thank you to (Sharks Sports & Entertainment owner Hasso Plattner), (SSE president Jonathan Becher), and Mike for giving me the responsibility."
San Jose finished fifth in the Pacific Division last season with a record of 39-35-8 and 86 points, four points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The Sharks had 19 more wins and 34 more points than in 2024-25, when they finished last in the NHL standings.
"Ryan's done a good job; his staff’s done a good job,” Grier said. “He's someone who works hard.
He's put in the time. I think he has good relationships with the players, and he's been able to get a lot out of a lot of different players, not just our top guys, but some of the guys in the middle and back of the lineup.
His ability to connect with the group and push the group has been impressive.
Warsofsky and Grier want to see further improvement and growth from the Sharks, who have expectations of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season for the first time since 2018-2019.
"We worked on today, first day of training camp, some things that we needed to work on. Put some foundational pieces in place for the season," Warsofsky said.
"We'll go tomorrow, do it all over again. We'll push our players to be better individually in this group.
That will really be the message all year long.
Grier said he felt it was important for Warsofsky to enter this season at ease regarding his contract situation.
"It's giving him a little bit of peace of mind to go out there and do his job without having this hanging over his head a little bit, if things don't go well to start the season," Grier explained. "He's shown enough here in his time here in these four years, even as an assistant, that he can do the job.
The timing just worked out that we wanted to get ahead of it before the season started.
Under Warsofsky, the youngest coach in the NHL, the Sharks improved to 17th in the NHL last season in goals per game (3.04), up from last in 2024-25 (2.54). The power play also improved, going from 26th (18.6 percent) to 16th (21.2 percent).
San Jose begins the regular season hosting the Florida Panthers on Oct. 1.
