Sharks Hire Ryan Warsofsky As Head Coach
Sharks assistant coach Ryan Warsofsky is getting a big promotion. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, he’s filling their head coaching vacancy after being passed over for the title two years ago. San Jose promptly made the hiring official via a press release.
“We’re very excited to announce Ryan as the 11th head coach of the San Jose Sharks,” said general manager Mike Grier. “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.”
Grier made the call to fire former head coach David Quinn, who they tabbed for the role over Warsofsky during their last search in 2022, in April. Quinn compiled a 41-98-25 record (.326 points percentage) while overseeing some of the darkest days of a tough but needed rebuild in the Bay Area.
Warsofsky, a Massachusetts native who had a collegiate career with Sacred Heart University and Curry College, landed his first professional coaching job as an assistant with the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays in 2013, one year after ending his playing career.
He was then promoted to head coach and director of hockey ops for the club in 2016, staying there for two more seasons before the Hurricanes tabbed him as an assistant coach for the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, their top minor-league affiliate at the time. Yet again, he was promoted in short order, taking over as head coach in 2019 and remaining with the Hurricanes organization when they switched their AHL affiliation to the Chicago Wolves for 2020-21.
In Carolina, Warsofsky was a part of two Calder Cup-winning clubs, first as an assistant with the Checkers in 2019 and then as a bench boss with the Wolves in 2022. That latter title, in which he led a veteran-laden team including Josh Leivo, Stefan Noesen and Alex Lyon to the pinnacle of minor league hockey, earned him consideration for multiple NHL coaching vacancies the following offseason, including the Sharks’.
He had to settle for an assistant role, but two years later, his time has come. At 36 years old, Warsofsky becomes the youngest bench boss in the league and the youngest since Jeremy Colliton was tabbed as head coach of the Blackhawks in 2018 at age 33.
Warsofsky beat out ex-Sharks winger Marco Sturm, another potential first-time NHL head coach, for the role. Sturm, who’s coached in the Kings organization for the past six seasons, was deep in the interview process as late as early this week.
With Warsofsky’s hiring, all head coaching vacancies this offseason have been filled.
Senators Listening To Offers For Seventh Overall Pick
The Senators fell short of expectations again this season by finishing 13 points out of a playoff spot. Naturally, entering their first offseason with Steve Staios as general manager, they’ll be looking to make a major roster shakeup to finally get back to postseason play in 2024-25.
According to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun, Ottawa is listening to offers for their seventh overall pick in this month’s draft in order to do so.
As Garrioch points out, the likeliest area for a big trade is between the pipes. He reported earlier in the week that the team is aggressively pursuing a goaltending upgrade. They’ve been in conversation with the Flames about Jacob Markström, made a push for the Bruins’ Linus Ullmark and contacted the Predators about Juuse Saros.
If the Sens parted with the seventh-overall pick in a trade, they wouldn’t be out of action on the first night of the draft entirely. They also own the 25th overall pick, originally sent from Boston to the Red Wings in last year’s Tyler Bertuzzi trade deadline deal and again from Detroit to Ottawa for Alex DeBrincat.
Still, parting with a top-10 selection in one of the deeper early first rounds in recent memory is a tough pill to swallow for a team that’s largely exhausted the prospect pool it has built up from years of rebuilding. Their three first-round picks in 2020, Tim Stützle, Jake Sanderson and Ridly Greig, have all graduated to NHL roles and look to all be on their way to hitting their ceiling. That’s great, but they haven’t managed to draft any true impact prospects since then, and there’s little help on the way.
Garrioch said a trade involving seventh overall may not see them surrender the pick entirely – moving back in the first round to make an immediate roster upgrade is also an option. But that would still see them acquire a significantly lower-quality prospect than the top-six forwards and even top-pair defenders that will still be available at No. 7 unless it’s only a few spots.
“There are so many questions about this early group,” senior vice president of hockey operations Dave Poulin said. “It’s very hard to nail down. Very often, you know who is going to go No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. This group is all over the board. By all accounts, Macklin Celebrini will go No. 1, and after that, it’s wide open.”
Garrioch relays that Poulin also said at a season ticket-holder event last night that the club had offers on the table for short-term upgrades back at the trade deadline. But with the new-look front office coming into shape throughout the season (Poulin wasn’t hired until New Year’s, for example), they weren’t comfortable making any major transactions without more time to develop a long-term plan as a cohesive group.
One thing is clear – the spinning-tires days of the Pierre Dorion era are over, at least ideologically. Whether Staios, who’s months into his first GM job at the NHL level, can execute that remains to be seen.
Aside from seventh overall, they may end up with another high-value trade chip in defenseman Jakob Chychrun. Entering the final year of his contract, they’ll need to suss out quickly whether he’s willing to re-sign.
If not, expect the 2016 16th-overall pick to be on the move for the second time in the last two years. The 26-year-old’s value is high after staying healthy for all 82 games this season, smashing his previous career high of 68 while posting 41 points and averaging 22:23 per game. His possession metrics, while not elite, were far better than his -30 rating would suggest (51.2 CF%, 50.2 xGF% at even strength).
PHR Live Chat: 6/12/24
PHR’s Josh Erickson is holding his weekly Wednesday live chat today at 2 p.m. CDT. You can join using this link.
Oilers Notes: Kane, Nurse, Perry
Oilers winger Evander Kane has been a rare participant at practices throughout the playoffs. He revealed at the start of the playoffs that he’d been diagnosed with a sports hernia but is foregoing treatment/surgery until the offseason.
His routine changed slightly today, though, as he began practice on the ice with an extended chat with head coach Kris Knoblauch before a light skate (via NHL Network’s Tom Gazzola). He only stayed on the ice for a few minutes, leaving the session early. Speaking with reporters after practice, Knoblauch then declined to confirm Kane’s availability for tomorrow’s Game 3 (per NHL.com’s Dan Rosen). If unable to play, it would be his first scratch of the postseason. He’s contributed four goals and eight points in 20 games for Edmonton thus far but has a -7 rating. His 37 PIMs lead the playoffs.
Elsewhere from Oil Country as the Cup Final shifts to Edmonton:
- Defenseman Darnell Nurse will likely play in Game 3 after missing much of Game 2 with an injury, Knoblauch said (via Oilers play-by-play voice Jack Michaels). He missed practice this morning, though, suggesting he definitely won’t be 100 percent. The 29-year-old has seen his average ice time dip below 20 minutes per game in the postseason, and he has just three assists and a -15 rating in 20 contests.
- Veteran winger Corey Perry is also probable to return to the lineup after being held out of Game 2 entirely with an injury, per Knoblauch. Perry is on his 16th trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs but has been in and out of the lineup throughout, posting a lone assist in 14 appearances while averaging 11:04 per game. He’s suiting up in his fourth Stanley Cup Final in the past five years, all with different teams.
West Notes: Wild Draft Plans, Campbell, Klimchuk
Wild fans gained some insight into their team’s plans at the draft later this month thanks to The Athletic’s Joe Smith, who spoke at length in an interview with director of amateur scouting Judd Brackett in an interview published Wednesday.
Notably, he shouted out general manager Bill Guerin‘s willingness to be active on the draft floor, suggesting they’ll try hard to move up from their 13th overall pick if their scouting staff believes it to be the right choice. However, Brackett thinks the likelihood of being able to execute such a move will be extremely difficult this year thanks to the depth of prospects available in the top 15 range. “Teams in those spots are very happy with their choices that they have,” he said.
In regards to who the Wild might take with their No. 13 pick, Brackett didn’t disclose any names specifically. He did, however, have complementary words for U.S. National U18 Team goal-scoring record-breaker Cole Eiserman. He entered the year as a consensus top-three pick but fell down most draft boards to the mid-first round throughout the season, with concerns rising about his play in the defensive zone and his ability to exit his own zone in transition. But he remains the best pure goal-scorer available in the class, with Brackett saying he’s “proven it at every level and continues to do so.”
Other tidbits from the West:
- Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff listed Kings center Pierre-Luc Dubois as his top buyout candidate this summer but acknowledged that general manager Rob Blake said during his end-of-season media availability that it wasn’t something they were planning on doing. That brings us to the No. 2 candidate on his list – Oilers netminder Jack Campbell, who spent nearly the entire season on assignment to AHL Bakersfield after putting up a .873 SV% in his first five games of the season. He was decent overall in the minors, though, compiling a .918 SV% and three shutouts in 33 games played. There’s likely a path back to NHL minutes for Campbell somewhere, but after falling to third on their depth chart despite boasting a $5MM cap hit, it’s unlikely to be in Edmonton. He has three years left on his deal, so a buyout would leave the Oilers with a cap penalty for the next six seasons ranging from as low as $1.1MM next season to as high as $2.6MM in 2026-27.
- The Jets’ AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, added Morgan Klimchuk to their coaching staff as an assistant Wednesday. The 2013 first-round pick of the Flames was a top-flight scorer in junior hockey but only managed one NHL appearance before announcing his retirement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now 29, Klimchuk had spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach for the Western Hockey League’s Victoria Royals.
Extension Talks Quiet Between Maple Leafs, Timothy Liljegren
The Maple Leafs don’t have much in the way of pending restricted free agents to worry about aside from blue liner Timothy Liljegren. While he averaged a career-high 19:40 per game last season and produced at a respectable 34-point pace, he was one of many Leafs that struggled in postseason play and posted the worst even-strength possession metrics of his young career.
Injuries plugged up his regular season, too, limiting him to 55 appearances. He missed weeks with an ankle injury in the first half of the season and missed a significant chunk of the stretch run with an upper-body injury. It’s becoming an unfortunately common theme for the 2017 first-round pick, who’s yet to hit 70 games in a season.
That makes his future in the organization and, even if he stays, his contract discussions this summer quite complicated. To that end, The Athletic’s Joshua Kloke reports Wednesday that “there hasn’t been much dialogue between the Leafs and Liljegren’s camp” regarding a new deal for the RFA.
Whether that means Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving is examining trading his signing rights elsewhere remains to be seen. At the very least, it’s clear that Toronto prefers to reserve its early-offseason cap flexibility for more aggressively upgrading their defense, goaltending and depth scoring during free agency, as well as the increasingly small likelihood of trading superstar winger Mitch Marner elsewhere. Put simply, Liljegren doesn’t seem to be a priority for the Leafs’ front office, likely a telling sign of the role they envision him playing next season and beyond.
No matter what they do with Liljegren, they’re in a bit of a tough spot. His gaffes are clear, and he often seems visibly indecisive or uncomfortable playing the puck in his own zone under pressure – a concern that’s plagued a handful of Toronto defensemen throughout the Auston Matthews era.
But his ability to produce offense took major strides this season in an increased role, and the Leafs have consistently had the better share of possession quality at even strength with Liljegren on the ice. He’s logged a career 54.6 xGF%, including a 55.1% mark this season, although his ability to control shot attempts outright dipped this season down below 50% for the first time since his brief initial NHL showing five years ago.
His deal shouldn’t cost too much or require a lengthy term offering, and his being arbitration-eligible this summer after missing significant time with injuries likely isn’t a major concern either. But it would likely require a $2MM-$3MM cap hit to get across the finish line, a decent chunk of change for a team that will take every inch of available cap space they have this summer to make a deep playoff run.
Offseason Checklist: Toronto Maple Leafs
The offseason has arrived for all but the two teams who are still taking part in the playoffs. For the rest, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Toronto.
An offseason of low-risk, short-term signings for new general manager Brad Treliving paid some dividends for Toronto. Unfortunately, a lack of impact adds at the trade deadline and injuries to star forwards Auston Matthews and William Nylander contributed to yet another first-round playoff loss to the Bruins. Now, a sharp increase in the salary cap is coming at the best possible time for the Leafs, who have a significant amount of roster and spending flexibility available for the first time in a while. It’s up to Treliving to not waste it.
Defense, Defense, Defense
Did we say defense? The Leafs only have three everyday defenders signed next season. Two of them, Simon Benoit and Jake McCabe, had competent showings in shutdown roles last season (especially the latter) but struggled to move the puck up the ice. The other, longtime fixture Morgan Rielly, remains a high-end offensive blue liner but has documented defensive weaknesses that make it increasingly difficult to justify playing him nearly 24 minutes per game.
Nearly all of their pending UFAs on defense, namely T.J. Brodie, aren’t expected to back. Their lone restricted free agent, Timothy Liljegren, is far from a sure bet either, and his signing rights could be used as trade bait this summer.
That leaves plenty of money and roster space for turnover, especially on the right side. All of Benoit, McCabe and Rielly are lefties, although McCabe is comfortable playing his off-side. In any event, Treliving is looking for at least two marquee right-shot blue liners on the open market that can comfortably shoulder top-four minutes.
Two options the Leafs have already been connected to as July 1 draws closer are Brett Pesce and Sean Walker. Both have historically been positive possession forces. While Pesce is coming off a down year offensively, the longtime Hurricane has a solid history of tossing up 20-plus assists per season. Walker was an absolute monster at getting the puck on net this year, though, managing 150 shots on goal (32nd among NHL defenders) despite averaging fewer than 20 minutes per game. Both are logical fits and upgrades over the rotating cast of Brodie, Joel Edmundson, Mark Giordano and Ilya Lyubushkin that was utilized down the stretch and in the postseason.
The Marner Conundrum
Despite producing over a point per game in six straight seasons, Marner immediately found himself in trade speculation after being limited to just one goal and two assists in seven playoff games. Like Matthews and Nylander, Marner likely wasn’t playing at 100 percent after sustaining a high ankle sprain in a regular-season game against the Bruins weeks earlier. But he’s entering the final season of his contract, is headed toward unrestricted free agency, and there’s little appetite to work on an extension on July 1 with another playoff disappointment fresh on everyone’s minds.
Reporting indicates the Leafs haven’t directly approached Marner about waiving his no-move clause, and the 27-year-old has made it clear he wants to stay in his hometown. They likely won’t do so until receiving a serious trade offer, and the likelihood of one of those coming through correlates directly with how aggressively Treliving shops him this summer, if at all.
The question for a Maple Leafs team in win-now mode is simple. Is the potential value of reallocating Marner’s $10.9MM cap hit next season greater than what he’ll give you on the ice? What he is is a consistent 100-point threat (if healthy) who averages over 21 minutes per game and finds himself consistently earning outside Selke Trophy consideration. Playoff disappointment aside, he’s a superstar.
It’s a tough question to answer, but one Treliving and his staff need to in short order.
Complement Woll
Perhaps the greatest certainty about the Leafs’ summer is that Ilya Samsonov will find a new home in unrestricted free agency. That leaves the up-and-coming Joseph Woll as the sole keeper of the crease for now, but they’ll need to find a solid complementary piece to give them better overall goaltending than last season’s roller-coaster ride.
Shelling out for a high-priced starter will be a controversial decision. Woll is still only 25, had a solid regular season and was excellent in brief playoff action this year before getting injured (.964 SV%, 0.86 GAA). He should likely be trusted for around 40 starts – which means the assets needed to acquire a Jacob Markström or Juuse Saros could wisely be repurposed elsewhere.
Unfortunately, the list of established true tandem options is incredibly small. They’ve been connected to Laurent Brossoit, who’s headed to UFA status next month. He’s had great numbers over the past two seasons, logging a .927 SV% through stops in Vegas and Winnipeg, but has never started more than 22 games in a season. He’s an upgrade on Samsonov over smaller stints, but questions will remain about how well he can handle an extended workload.
Find Cost-Effective Forward Depth
The Leafs had no problem putting the puck in the net last year, at least in the regular season. Their 303 goals were second in the league, influenced by a combined 109 snipes from Matthews and Nylander. But as it stands, no player projected in their bottom six next season had more than 0.5 points per game last year, a difficult stat to acquiesce for a team with championship aspirations.
One thing that would be a major boost is pushing shutdown pivot David Kämpf squarely into a fourth-line role. It’s not the most attractive option for a player with a $2.4MM cap hit, but averaging north of 13 minutes per game isn’t feasible for a player who provides as little offense as he does. He’s certainly a capable fourth-line defensive center on a Cup winner, but right now, they’re asking too much. Thus, at least one middle-six option is needed to help create a domino effect and spread out some scoring depth, plus a few more if they do indeed move on from Marner.
A spot can hopefully be filled by either Easton Cowan or Fraser Minten, their two top forward prospects, the former of whom is coming off an electric OHL postseason performance that earned him playoff MVP honors. After 96 points in 54 regular-season games and 34 points in 18 playoff games, Cowan is a solid bet for at least a nine-game trial out of the gate, but they need insurance options in the semi-likely event neither is ready to be an everyday top-nine force.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Islanders Sign Jesse Nurmi To Entry-Level Deal
The Islanders signed left winger Jesse Nurmi to a three-year, entry-level contract earlier this week, per PuckPedia. His deal carries an $870K cap hit and breaks down into an NHL salary of $775K, a signing bonus of $95K, a games played bonus of $80K, and a minors salary of $82.5K each season.
The Isles picked up Nurmi’s signing rights in the fourth round of the 2023 draft. The 19-year-old has played in parts of three major-league seasons overseas, all with KooKoo of the Finnish Liiga. Since his 20th birthday doesn’t fall until next year, his deal will be eligible for an entry-level slide. His contract won’t go into effect until 2025-26 if he plays less than 10 NHL games next season.
Nurmi is still looking for his first professional goal, but he has three assists in 29 Liiga games, including a career-high 19 appearances this season. The checking winger has good speed and good offensive instincts, as evidenced by his 21 goals and 50 points in 41 junior games last season. However, despite a 6’0″ frame, he weighs only 172 lbs, so adding muscle will likely be a priority before he has a shot at making his NHL debut.
And with so little professional experience in his home country to date, Nurmi isn’t close to competing for an NHL roster spot. While he’ll collect a signing bonus from the Isles next season, he’ll likely spend the campaign on loan back to KooKoo, where he’ll have the chance to solidify himself as an everyday contributor in the pros. That will kick in his aforementioned slide and extend the expiry of his ELC to 2028.
Nurmi becomes the first member of the Isles’ most recent draft class to sign. The team’s first pick, second-round selection Danny Nelson, is coming off his freshman campaign at the University of Notre Dame and won’t sign his deal until he’s ready to turn pro.
Penguins Name David Quinn Assistant Coach
June 12: The Penguins officially added Quinn to Sullivan’s staff as an assistant Wednesday, the team announced. He’ll oversee the team’s defensemen, but the release did not say that he’d be running their power play. It’s still unclear whose responsibility that will be as the team tries to return to postseason play in 2024-25.
June 11: The Penguins are likely bringing in former Rangers and Sharks head coach David Quinn to join their staff, The Athletic’s Arthur Staple reports Tuesday.
Quinn, 57, will serve as an assistant or associate under head coach Mike Sullivan, who’s expected back next season for his 10th year with the club. He replaces outgoing associate coach Todd Reirden. The Penguins announced over a month ago that they were not renewing Reirden’s contract.
If Reirden’s duties are replaced directly, Quinn will work closely with Pittsburgh’s defense group and oversee their power play. That reunites him on both fronts with Erik Karlsson, who he coached to a Norris Trophy and 101-point season with the Sharks last year.
Overall, though, Quinn must get the power play back on track. The Pens’ man advantage finished third-worst in the league this season, clicking at just 15.3%. It’s an unacceptable number for any team, but even more so for a club with Karlsson, Kris Letang, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust still around.
The Sharks fired Quinn shortly after the end of the regular season with one year left on his contract. While the roster wasn’t built to give him much support, he guided San Jose to a 19-54-9 record and 47 points, putting them squarely in the conversation for one of the worst teams of the salary cap era.
He’d held the post for two seasons, his second NHL head coaching job after leading the Rangers from 2018 to 2021. It’s been a long time since Quinn took a secondary role on a coaching staff, last serving as an assistant coach for the Avalanche in 2012-13.
He then returned to Boston University, where he had a brief playing career and an earlier run as an associate coach, to take over their program. Over five seasons with Quinn at the helm, the Terriers won three Hockey East titles, and he was named the conference’s Coach of the Year in 2014-15.
The remainder of Sullivan’s staff this season – assistants Ty Hennes, Mike Vellucci and goaltending coach Andy Chiodo – is expected to return.
Sharks Still Listening To Offers For Mario Ferraro
While not a first-pairing defenseman on nearly any other team in the league, Mario Ferraro was the Sharks’ number-one man on the blue line this season by default after Erik Karlsson‘s departure. The 25-year-old was drawing trade interest during the season, but he wore teal for the remainder of the campaign and remains in San Jose – for now.
He’s not explicitly on the trade block, but The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports that Ferraro continues to generate calls, and Sharks general manager Mike Grier is listening ahead of the draft later this month. The 2017 second-round pick is under contract for two more seasons at a $3.25MM cap hit.
The offense was there from Ferraro to some degree this season, recording a career-high 18 assists and 21 points through 78 games. His -31 and -38 ratings the past two seasons should probably be thrown out entirely, given the state of the Sharks’ defense, but his even-strength possession numbers compared to his teammates aren’t particularly promising. The Sharks have controlled 2.4% fewer shot attempts with Ferraro on the ice than off it at even strength over his five-year career, although he did have a slightly positive impact (+0.3%) for the first time this season.
There’s one major complicating factor in a deal, though. He likely won’t be a first-pairing talent wherever he lands, but it seems Grier wants to be compensated for one. Pagnotta expects it will take a first-round pick and potentially two other high-value assets to pry him away from San Jose, a price that interested teams rightfully may not be willing to pay. The list of parties that have called Ferraro dating back to midseason includes the Blackhawks, Flames, Hurricanes, Maple Leafs and Predators, per Pagnotta.
It’s an especially difficult ask when there’s also a bevy of mid-tier defensive options available for no asset cost on the open market this summer, including Dylan DeMelo, Matt Roy and Sean Walker. They’ll certainly require a higher cap hit to acquire, but is the difference in spending worth what may be needed to get Ferraro via trade?
From the Sharks’ perspective, it does make sense to command such a high ask. He’s not headed to the UFA market for two more summers, so there’s no rush to deal him for a return if extension talks fall through somewhere down the line.