Warsofsky named Sharks head coach

Photo of Ryan Warsofsky on San Jose Sharks during game

Former South Carolina Stingrays head coach Ryan Warsofsky has been named the new head coach of the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League.

Warsofsky takes over the head job in San Jose after serving as an assistant coach with the team the previous two seasons. He spent two seasons as head coach in South Carolina from 2016-18, posting an overall record of 88-44-12, serving as a coach at the 2018 ECHL All-Star Classic in Indy and leading the Stingrays to the 2017 Kelly Cup Finals. During the 2017-18 season, South Carolina set league records for fewest goals allowed in a season (153) and lowest goals-against average per game (2.13).

Following his time with the Stingrays, Warsofsky headed to the American Hockey League, where he was an assistant coach for the Charlotte Checkers in 2018-19, helping the team capture the Calder Cup title, before taking over as head coach for the 2019-20 season. Following the Carolina Hurricanes moving their affiliation to the Chicago Wolves, Warsofsky led the Wolves to the 2022 Calder Cup title as head coach before joining the Sharks staff for the 2022-23 season.

Warsofsky becomes the third former Stingrays' head coach to currently serve as a head coach in the NHL joining Jared Bednar (Colorado) and Spencer Carbery (Washington). Additionally, former South Carolina head coach Cail MacLean is an assistant coach with the Calgary Flames.

In addition to Bednar, Carbery and Warsofsky, three other NHL head coaches previously were head coaches in the ECHL - Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy, Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde and New York Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette - while Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Pascal Vincent, Nashville Predators head coach Andrew Brunette and Seattle Kraken head coach Dan Bylsma were players in the ECHL.