San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky joins the show | October 31, 2025
Welcome into NHL tonight. First shift for a Friday, October the 31st, 2025. Happy Halloween everybody. EJ Ratic here alongside Mike Kelly. And uh Mike Kelly, you have young kids, so will there be any trick-or-treating for you uh in the early evening? 100%. I’m getting that candy. my my bucket’s going to be the one that’s most full. So, yeah, my kids are young. They’re pretty excited about it. Um, I’ll tell you what I’m dressing up for tonight, EJ, up here in Canada. Dressing up for a game six World Series victory. I was going to say that’s got to be the hottest costume in Canada right now. It’s got to be the Vlatty Guerrero look, right? Oh my goodness. Like, it’s uh that it’s kind of the cool thing about the Jays being the only team in Canada is pretty much the whole country gets behind it. Yeah. um which is if it’s just a city somewhere else, you know, it’s not the same. And to Americans that might not know, like if one Canadian team in hockey gets to the cup final, no, the country does not cheer for them, but there’s one baseball team, so everyone’s behind them. Yeah. How about favorite candy for you? Oh, it kind of, you know, changes with the wind a little bit, but I’m I’m a Snickers guy right now. Give me a Snickers bar. What are you saying? All right. I’m I like the peanut butter. I love Reese’s peanut butter cups. I’m just I love chocolate and peanut butter. A great marriage. One of those marriages that has worked for many, many years. So, there you have it. There you have it. All right, let’s get to first things first on this Halloween. We’ve got uh three games on the docket today, including a game that’s going to be getting underway shortly out in Vegas. It is uh Nevada Day, and the Vegas Golden Knights host a day game that is part of it. This is a holiday, a state holiday that’s commemorates when Nevada was accepted into the union. I think it was 1864. Not so sure my math and my history is always accurate, but that is the reason for the celebration. And they play an afternoon game. And it’s a good one today against the Colorado Avalanche. A lot of people were wondering, Mike, if McKenzie Blackwood would get the start. He’s close to coming back for the Avalanche. Well, he will not be in gold today. Uh they will go with Scott Wedgewood, the veteran. And for Vegas, they have Carl Lindbomb, the young kid, just 22 years old, making his second career start. So, uh should be a really interesting game this afternoon with the Knights and the Avalanche, who I think are probably I mean, they seem to be the two best teams in the West for me. I agree. I mean, if if I had to pick a conference final right now, I would I would go with these two teams. They’re they’re fantastic. in and from a results standpoint, from a process standpoint, Wedgewood has been terrific in goal for Colorado, which is great. Well, here’s your results and your process. Goal differential, expected goal differential. These teams are wagons and uh I this is the game. This is the game probably in the NHL I would want to see right now just to see how they fare against each other. So, I’m excited for it. Um you know, what Vegas has been able to do without Mark Stone who was piling up points before he got injured. Jack Eel has been terrific. Um, Dorify of what he’s doing there. And then on the Colorado side, Nas and McKinnon are so good together. Landisk coming back. I don’t think you can underestimate that impact on and off the ice, what he means to that team. These teams play fast. And EJ, I am pumped for this game. Yeah, listen, as you should be. And you know, uh, you know, Olison last year, he was a member of the Golden Knights, signed with the Avalanche. He had a bunch of shots early, could not score, but he finally got off the schneide the other night against the Devils. He had a hat-tick in that game. And so that’s that’s good news for the Avalanche. You bring in a guy like Olison, you know, he scores goals. You need him feeling good about things. I think he had like 26 27 shots before he scored. So that’s got to be a little bit more good news for the ABS who uh got back in the win column against the Devils on Tuesday night. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, it’s not like that team has trouble scoring in general, but that’s that’s why you bring him there, right? He’s got a great shot, a big one-timer. Um, we we’ve seen that in in past stops that he’s had. And that’s kind of the funny thing about October, though. It’s the start of the year, and there will be guys who get a lot of shots and a lot of chances, but the puck just doesn’t go in. And then the floodgates open. And you talk about how it happened with Olison, Alex Debrink in Detroit. This guy was piling up shots and chances, and he couldn’t score and then goals in three in a row. Um, so I’m sure they’ll keep flowing for for him and for the ABS. No question about it. I’m just looking through here. The Avalanche power play starting to move up the ranks a little bit. They’re up to 17% now. I know when we did their their game against the Devils in the showcase on Sunday afternoon, they were around 10% 9%. So slow start for that ABS power play, but let’s face it, they have just too much talent there with Maralent to not to produce, right? Exactly. Yeah. And again, these kind of early season anomalies where things that should make sense don’t. Well, it doesn’t take long to correct themselves. It’s not like those guys forgotten how to score on the power play. So, um, yeah, this is going to be a great game. Two two juggernaut teams. And when these, as you know, EJ, when these guys play against each other, like measuring stick games tends to bring out everybody’s agame, and there’s a lot of high aames involved in this one. Last thing I’ll ask you with the Are you worried at all about the Golden Knights goalending? Because, you know, Hill is injured. They, you know, they’re they’re hoping to bring in Carter Hart. He cannot play in the NHL until December. You can see here’s the matchup again today. Carl Lindbomb, who played very well in having an overtime loss in Tampa earlier in the week. You can see there stopped 26 of 28. He gets the opportunity today. Are you concerned at all with the goalending with the Knights? They also got, you know, the young kid Schmid who was with the Devils with the, you know, previously. This would be an area I would think that Kelly Mcrimin and company just they want to they have to shore it up at some point. Yeah. Uh look, Aiden Hill, I give him full credit. That year they won the Stanley Cup. He was outstanding in in those playoffs. Like he really really played well. Um and that team was a beast. Uh you know, for me, if he’s a platoon guy, sure. Um but I don’t know that he can be a true number one and a number one at this point where you’re riding them all playoffs and expecting that kind of performance. Uh he’s a big guy, blocks a lot of shots, and is a good goalie, but I’m not surprised they went out and tried to address the position to at least get a real good one, too. Um if not have somebody else take over the net. So if if he’s out as well, where they’re at right now, yeah, and you can stop the bleeding for a little bit, but maybe we get to April and you get a matchup like this in May and you’re and that’s where you look and you say, “Well, close, close, close, close.” Maybe that’s the difference, right? Yeah. So, we’ll see. But a great one today. We’ll keep you posted throughout the day here on NHL Network. One of the three games on the slate. Uh, another game. We’ve got a little bit of reunion tonight. The Detroit Red Wings are in Anaheim to take on the Ducks. John Gibson will be in goal for the Red Wings. Of course, he spent the entirety of his career in Anaheim until being traded over to Detroit earlier in the summer. And, uh, you know, the Red Wings, they’ve been playing really well out of the gate. They blew a two-goal lead late. A couple of six on five goals for the LA Kings. Cory Perry just keeps getting things done somehow even at this late stage. They got into overtime. The Kings actually scored a power play goal in overtime. Looked like they won the game. The play was reviewed for goalie interference. No goal. They went to a shootout and the Red Wings ended up getting the extra point in the shootout. But, uh, I got to think for John Gibson, this is going to be an emotional day to take on a team. I mean, it was the only team he knew in the National Hockey League for the entirety of his career. Yeah, definitely. And, you know, he had a lot of really, not surprisingly, a lot of really nice things to say about his time in Anaheim and spent his whole career there before coming here and a lot of good things to say about the organization as well. And it just it for so long it seemed like the you know a change of team will probably be back and Anaheim starting to come out of being that real bottom team they were for many years and Gibson’s on a team now that like I look at Detroit their record and I wouldn’t have said this before the season started but they like they might really they might make the playoff. I I there’s there’s a lot of good there. And his first game with the Wings did not go well. But if you look at what he’s done since then, it’s been pretty good. Um and I think he’s a good goalie. I think he can be like a a you know, legitimate play a lot of games number one type of goalie and play well for them. So it’s uh it’s going to be obviously a big deal for him playing in this game. You look at just forgetting that first game, his last five. Yeah, same percentage not bad. Goals against pretty good. But again, Detroit gives up a fair bit. goal saved above expected. When you factor the quality of shots he faces, it’s actually quite good. Um, and that’s the the level of goalending I think he’s going to give them all year. Yeah, I like that we we we threw out that first game because that really was a bad start against the Montreal Canadians and he has kind of pieced it together and kind of f found his way over the last several games. They’ve been also getting good goalending from Cam Talbot and Dylan Larkin. I mean, the captain uh and he’ll be a member of Team USA at the Olympics this year. He is playing lights out right now. He’s been a really a big part of why the Wings are sitting there at 8 and three. Yeah, no doubt. He um I don’t know if it’s the best comparison, just a name that popped into my head. He kind of reminds me of Jonathan Taves a little bit from when Taves was doing his thing in his prime. Just the the 200 foot complete center game leadership, all that stuff. He’s so sneaky good. And I I I still don’t think he probably gets the amount of respect around the league, like on the outside looking in at least that he deserves as a a superstar player, which I I think he is just because of every facet of the game that he touches, but man, he’s he’s unbelievable. Um Finny, the the rookie story there is is a great one as well. So there there’s a lot of good stuff going on in Detroit. No question about it. And there’s been some good stuff going on in Anaheim as well. So we’ll see if they can uh spoil the return of their former teammate John Gibson. and uh Cutter Goce, he’s looking to maybe uh send a message. He’s got six goals so far this year. So playing very very well out in Anah Anaheim. And the other game we got tonight, the New York Islanders in Washington, second of a back-to-back 7:00 right here on the NHL Network. The Islanders uh struggling last night. Matt Barzel, that was the story yesterday. He was a healthy scratch, missed the team bus going to the morning skate. So as a uh kind of a think you’re account, you know, they want accountability there now. It’s a culture change. New general manager, Matthew Darch, and you know, so he sits out. They didn’t farewell in Carolina. Hey, a lot of teams don’t farewell when they go to Carolina. So, second of a backto-back against the Washington Capitals here tonight. The Islanders just won three and one on the road. Try to get things back together with Barcel back in the lineup. And on the flip side, I mean, the interesting story here to me is that Alex Ovuchkin, you remember last year, right, the Ovie Chase, where did he who did he break the record against? the Islanders and Ilia Sroken. Well, guess what? He’s looking to get to goal number 900 tonight. And now this time the game isn’t at UBS, it’s in Washington. But it’s those same old Islanders and that same old Ilia Sorroen. So maybe it’s just meant to be Mike that he does it he has these uh records against the Islanders and against a particular goalie. It might be a fellow Russian goalie and to do it on home ice would be really cool. Um yeah, that would be awesome. That would be that would be cool for Capitals fans to see that. No question. Um the guy just continues to amaze like it’s uh and you know what I think the Capitals understand kind of where he’s at in his career um how to best utilize him to maximize his strengths and and um you know get the most out of him and get the most out of the team. And I think you got to give Spencer Carry a lot of credit for that. That’s probably not an easy thing to manage when you’ve got the best goal scorer ever. Sure, Hall of Famer, first ballot, first day, all the rest of it. But you got to kind of manage situations with them, too, and get the most out of them, which which he’s done a great job of. So, I’m with you. It’ll be cool to see if that happens in this game. But yeah, for the Islanders, they got to start stringing some wins together. I know Sroen takes, you know, a decent amount of heat in that market. To me, he’s not the problem. He’s a good goalie. Can he play better at times? Sure, whatever. But, um, but, uh, we’ll see if we can get it done against him again. That would be that’d be quite a coincidence. Yeah. I mean, I will say this, Srogan, it’s he is a good goalie. I completely agree with you. When he’s playing, he’s one of the best. But when he’s playing well, he has not been playing well. They fired the goalie coach. It’s been a struggle to start the season for him. So, we’ll see if, you know, he could get it turned around in this game tonight. Now, the Capitals have not scored a lot in the last two. They got blown out by the Ottawa Senators at home last Saturday night, and nobody was happy about that. They went down to Dallas, lost a one- nothing tough game there. So now they look to uh kind of get their offense going again beyond just Ovetk. I mean, what do you think of the Caps so far? They were so good out of the gate last year, six and four so far this year. Where do you stand on the Caps right now? Yeah, I I think there’s going to be obviously regression from what they did last year. I mean, last year kind of everything went right. I think having that OV chase was just like there’s a reason that teams wear t-shirts and have slogans every playoffs. Like you want that little carrot all the time. you kind of have to make it up sometimes. Like Michael Jordan was famous for just making stuff up to motivate himself. Like you have to do something every game and they had that carrot with Obi for most of the year. Um not to say that they’re not motivated this year, but um they just I don’t expect them to have as many points. I do think they are still a very good team and a playoff team and all the rest of it, but it shouldn’t shock people if they don’t finish with the same record they did last year, I guess, is all I would say. Yeah. So, the Capitals hosting the Islanders tonight right here on the NHL Network 7:00 Eastern time. Well, it is Halloween. So, when we come back, we’re going to have we’re going to start off with some treats. Who have been who are the teams and the the guys who’ve been playing well? Who have been the treats so far this season? We’ll tell you next on First Shift. So, we’re going to start, Mike. We got I mean, it’s Halloween with tricks and treats, but we’re going to start with the treats, right? Let’s add the good news first. And let’s start with the Pittsburgh Penguins because boy, they’ve been a treat for their fans. I mean, nobody expected that here as we sit here on the final day of October, the Penguins coming into play would have 18 points, the most in the National Hockey League. How are they doing it? Yeah. Uh, nobody saw this coming. Uh, if you go back to the start of the season, all of us for whatever we’re worth, not much apparently was like, well, Pittsburgh’s the one team that’s not really going to try to be that good from an organizational standpoint. Maybe because, you know, there’s Chicago, San Jose, they’re young, they’re not there yet, but Pittsburgh kind of rebuilding. This team plays fast. They’re top five in rush chances. They get to the net offensively process results. It is all good in that respect for the Penguins. Defensively, look, their goalending has been fantastic and if that falls off a bit, we’ll see things normalize. But yeah, offensively, they’ve been buzzing. Sid is still doing his thing. He he had this un unbelievable slap pass to himself on the weak side in the offensive zone last night against Minnesota that set up Brian Ruscoll. Um Malcolin looks like he’s 27 again. And and I think that third line’s given him some speed and some energy. Ben Kindle has been great. Tommy Novak, who they acquired, is kind of a sneaky, you know, I hate the word, analytics darling, whatever, call it that. And Billy Koyven is a young kid with some offensive upside, too. So, um, I don’t know about you, EJ, I didn’t see it coming. No, no. I listen, you got to give Dan Muse a lot of credit because first time NHL head coach. I mean, he had been an assistant coach with the Rangers, with the Preds. He’d kind of been worked with Peter Lavlet in both those places. He’d worked for uh the national team development program, Team USA, but, you know, we weren’t sure. This was kind of a thing we thought we’re thinking about in the run-up to the season, right? Who are they going to trade Carlson to? What are they going to do with Latang? What are they going to do with Malachin? Can they move him? And then what is Sid going to want to do? Is he going to want to stay? Well, right now there’s no not even a question about that. The team is in first place in the league overall. And if Genny Malcin, I mean, I know he’s extra motivation right now because of the fact that, you know, he’s in the final year of his contract. He wants to show he can still play. 17 points and uh you know 14 assists. That’s pretty impressive. Really impressive. Yeah. So, a lot of things are clicking there, which is is great. They’re they’re a fun team to watch and I did not think they would have this kind of offense in them. Um and the goalending has been shaky for a while, but Tristan Jarry is a great story, right? Like last year he was down in the minors and would he be back in the NHL at all? Would he be back with Pittsburgh? Maybe even less of a chance given how shaky things were. Just a great story to see him come back up to the NHL, play as well as he has. Yeah, no question about it. And Arthur Sheilos, that was a nice acquisition there, picking him up from Vancouver. Vancouver was afraid they were going to lose him. He was a guy that helped their minor league team in Abbottzford win the call the trophy last year. So Pittsburgh jumps in and gets him. They’ve been a nice one-two punch. So here’s the last thing on the Penguins. Sustainable. Not to this level, I don’t think that wouldn’t be surprising given given the record. Um, like I said, defensively they they still give up quite a bit and the goalending has been terrific. If that falls off a bit, you’re going to see things normalize, but they’re stacking points. They stack points in October. Um, that’s going to help them if and when they go through a rut, right? Yep. No question. Let’s stay in Pennsylvania. How about the Philadelphia Flyers? They’re another team rebuilding. You know, Rick Tocket comes in. They make a few moves, but really this is a team that’s hoping that younger players are going to take over. They went out and added Trevor Zaggress, took a shot there. So far, paying off, but the Flyers have had a good start and they’re taking advantage of their home schedule. They’ve been very good at home. They have. And like EJ, when is the last time that Philadelphia had solid goending? You didn’t have to worry about it. Yeah, it’s been a while. Is it the Hexaw days? I mean, it’s been a while. Roman Chuckmanic was good for a while, but like we’re kind of grasping the straws here. And that’s to me what stands out about the the Flyers so far this season is team save percentage. They’re top five, goal saved above expected. If you want to get into the quality of it as well, they’re top 10. Zegris, like you said, is is a good story. There’s other things that are going well there, but um Dan Vadar has been lights out. Who who knew he would start the season like this? You’re you’re hoping, but you don’t know. And he’s been outstanding for them. Yeah. 939 save percentage in his six starts. Now Sam Ersen was has been there with him. He’s dealing with an injury right now. So that mean might mean more of a workload for Lar. We’ll see if he can hold up and and you know again six and one at home. Zegris has come in and he’s played well. He had a couple of goals in the game last night against Nashville. So you know the all the things that they need to have happen, right? Good goalending Zegris to come in and play well. These are all things that are working right now. And I’ll ask you the same thing. Is there sustainability? Are the Flyers going to be around in the mix all year long? I I don’t know about that. The again, just some of the underlying numbers that you’re like, well, this is not an elite team. I’m confident about that. They’re off to a good start, and that’s good. You take nothing away from what they’ve accomplished. Um, you earn every point that you get. I don’t expect them to be a playoff team still, and maybe they will. The other thing, too, about the East, EJ, is there are other teams that we’re all like, “Yeah, they’re a playoff team for sure.” that have not got off to great starts. So, will some of this come back to the middle? Of course. But how many points can you stack in October? How many can you stack in November? So, if and when, you know, you do go kind of 500 the rest of the way, maybe you’ve built yourself a little cushion. Yeah. Yeah. So, they certainly have built up a little cushion, but the the worry is once they get on the road, again, six and one in their seven games at home, mostly home games so far. When they get on the road, will they be able to continue to play well? We s we shall see. Let’s go out west. The Mammoth. They have been they’ve been really good. We got their game NHL Network on Sunday. Mammoth hosting the Lightning. Looking forward to call on that one with Kevin Weekes right here on our NHL Network Showcase 3:30 Eastern. But they are off to a good start this year. Is there any one thing in your mind that is powering the Mammoth right now or is this just a situation where the young players have finally matured to the level that we have expected for a while now? I I think that’s a big one for sure. And the offensively, I mean, this team is a juggernaut. They they’ve got their top six like those are two first lines the way that they’re producing and and the caliber of players that they have. Like you you got Keller, you got Schmaltz. They’re doing unbelievable things. Let’s just go to another line. Purka, who they acquired, which was a great addition. Logan Kulie, who has been fantastic, and Dylan Gunther, Mr. OneTe himself. Um, this line has scored 11 goals at five on five. That’s tied for best in the NHL. They’ve been terrific goalending. Vamela, he’s a good goalie. Um, and like Sergev’s having a great year. They’ve And they’ve got guys coming too, EJ, right? Like you you do the draft every year. know what the prospect pipeline is for for Utah, what Bill Armstrong and his group have acquired. The guys that you know a couple that are on this team next year. So, you know, you ask about sustainability and everything. Utah to me is a playoff team. I think they’re good enough. Their starts been fantastic and I expect them to be there and I think they expect it. And I’ll ask you this too, like how big of a deal is it? you we talk about sometimes when a player misses training camp or some of training camp how that can affect the start of a year or even a whole year. I feel like that from a team standpoint that was almost the case with them because they had to move from Arizona and they were playing in the in you know they’re trying to get everything sorted out in a new rink. This is their first year in Utah. They got their name. They’ve got the whole off season. You know what I mean? I think that probably plays a role in some of this. Yeah, they they’re settled in more. I mean I was hoping that maybe there would be a bump last year from all the excitement. I’ve seen that before. I mean, I was down in Dallas many, many years ago when the Minnesota Nordstars arrived in Dallas and the Dallas Stars had a really good first season because of all the excitement around a new franchise. Your point, I thought, was think is well taken. There was a lot of uncertainty with that move from Arizona to Utah and there was a lot of things that had to be accomplished. They did not have a practice facility. They do have one now. So maybe all that stuff settling out and getting everybody kind of comfortable there is working to their advantage. And one little note, I’ve been bringing it up a number of times. I like the addition of of VTEC Vanichek as a number two goalie there to take some of the heat off Carl Vamela because that’s where I think it went bad last year. If you lean on Vamela too much, you know, they had some issues with, you know, their depth in goal. I think that Vanichek can be a helpful guy for them. Yeah, there’s good balance on the team overall. It’s a great point that you bring up. Um, so I I expect that. I mean, the Central division’s tough. We know that, right? Um, but stacking points in October and they they clearly believe in themselves and that’s a big thing, especially with a young team. Like, they believe they can go out and beat any team on any given night. Yeah. How about uh how about back east, the Montreal Canadiens? I mean, the Canadians and the Detroit Red Wings, I guess, have both been, you know, treats, but let’s let’s look at Montreal. They they kind of squeaked into the playoffs last year and off to a great start this year and Cole Coughfield keeps doing what he’s does which is to score gamewinners in overtime. Yeah, he’ll get 25 of them or so this year and that’ll help Montreal get a lot of points. You’re right. He he scores in overtime every time it seems like. Um but that that’s another team a little bit of a parallel to Utah where they got young players that continue to come into their own. Uh Cfield’s been fantastic. That guy right there, Nick Suzuki, if he tied for the league lead in assists, I believe if he’s not on team Canada, I know we’re saying this about like eight guys that weren’t there at the four nations, but really if Nick Suzuki is not on team Canada, that to me is a swing and a miss. He he is so talented. Um their their blue line has come together. I had a question about you bring in Dobson, what does that do to Mat? How does it all fit? That’s come together really nicely. I think it’s made Mat a better player. Um, and then Monteo’s been, you know, up and down. A bit of a rocky start, but Dobish, guy’s numbers are through the roof and and he’s a looks like a legit goalie. So, there’s there’s a lot to like in Montreal, too. I think they should expect to be in the playoffs again. All right, you mentioned Dobish. So, it’s time now for the NHL Edge powered by SAP. And look at these numbers for Dobish at the high high danger save percentage leaders this season. Minimum of five games. I mean, that’s very impressive. It is. I mean, that safe percentage would be good for a goalie from anywhere on the ice to be among the best, let alone high danger shot locations. And Montreal is going to give up looks, so you’re going to have to be good from those areas. And he has been. He He’s been terrific. He had moments last year kind of like this where you’re like, “Wow, this guy is just on a bender, and is this what we should expect?” Again, no one’s going to sustain this forever, but I he’s a really good goalie and it gives Montreal a great one-two punching net because the thing with Montbo is when he’s on, he’s really good. I think it’s part of the reason why he was on Canada at the Four Nations. He can put together a twoe stretch as good as anybody in the league. When he’s off, he’s quite off. Um, so you got Dobbish there as that kind of rock if you need him. That’s a great luxury to have. Yeah, the numbers have been have been really stark so far between them. Dobbish is a perfect 6 and0 and 930 save percentage. And Mambbo, who I agree with you, I think Sam Mambbo is a good goalie, but not been a good start. Just two and three and 842 save percentage. That’s that belongs in our next part of this. That belongs in the tricks. But yeah, we stick with the the treats for now. We will get to the uh tricks that’s coming up next. And who are the teams that have disappointed that have kind of surprised their fans with maybe underachievement in the first month? We’ll have some tricks for you next on First Ship. All right, we gave you our treats. Now for the other side of the coin, the tricks. And these are the teams that really haven’t enjoyed the first month of the season too much. Let’s start start with the Minnesota Wild. Uh you know, they’re on a current homestead right now, a six-game home stand, and it’s not going well. They think it’s 02 and two through the first four. Uh their penalty killing has been just dreadful. Last in the league, 60%. That’s not going to get it done. What are you seeing, Mike, with the Wild? Why has it been such a struggle? uh a lack of consistency in playing to their identity and and look, every team has an identity and they want to play to it. Some teams can get away from it and still be okay. I don’t think Minnesota can get away from it and be okay at all and they’ve done quite a bit of that. So, um I I was working the Minnesota broadcasts against Pittsburgh last night for uh for the Wild side of it and it was a great start. The opening 20 minutes, they played exactly how they want to play against a rushbased team, which Minnesota is not. and they played their game and they dominated the period. They were winning one- nothing and then it turned into a rush game and they lost gave up four goals in a row and lost the game. So you take a look at their identity how they play. They’re number one in the NHL in ozone possession. They’re number four in cycle chances. They don’t create off the rush. That’s fine. That’s not their game. Shooting percentage is super low. Uh twofold. Number one, I don’t think that’s a sustainable number. It’ll go up a bit, but number two, they’re going to need more shots and chances than a lot of teams to score an equal amount of goals. They don’t have a roster full of bonafide finishers. Gold and Capri off will do their thing. Zukarella will come back at some point. That’ll help. Um but yeah, no, they they’ve been fighting it. The goalending, it’s not the biggest thing, but it can be better. Gustoson, I hold him in really high regard. Um and I think he can be better. It’s just a mixed bag of a lot of bad right now for Minnesota. Yeah, Gustoson right now is at 892 save percentage. So I think that that kind of jives with what you’re saying like we I saw him against the Rangers at Madison Madison Square Garden and he was excellent in that game. We think he can be very good but he’s not getting a lot of support offensively right now. So there’s not a lot of room for error and when he’s not good that’s a that’s basically been a loss, right? Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And that’s the thing where it may not be fair, but he’s going to have to steal them games because there’s going to be games where they just don’t quite get enough goals. And he’s capable of doing it. I’m sure he will do it often this season. But, um, you know, big thing for me for Minnesota is if if they can establish that ozone time. Yeah. They’re going to need to get maybe 10 chances for every seven another team gets or most teams get, good teams get. If they can do that, they’ll be okay. But then they did it for 20 minutes last night. They got to do it for 60. Yeah. Hey, it’s a hard league and uh you’re right, that’s who they are. Play to your identity and they just want to play deep in the zone and create chances that way. Let me ask you about the St. Louis Blues, another team in the Central Division, because I I I don’t know what to make of the Blues right now. I mean, I like the way they finished last year. I like their personnel. It’s first full season with Jim Montgomery there behind the bench, and it just hasn’t been happening for the Blues. They’ve had some injury problems, but they’ve lost in every kind of way you could lose, including blowing some big leads. What can you tell me about the Blues? Why has it been so bad in your mind? Well, you’ve said this to me before. A lot of people say this, right? You’re like, you know, sometimes you can make numbers kind of say whatever you want, right? And and there’s some truth in that. Um, really, you can misinterpret information and and make it say whatever you want is what I would say to that. But there are some numbers that have me very confused with the St. Louis blue team. They don’t give up much, but they allow a lot, right? Shots against the third best in the league. Slot shots fourth. Expected goals against. That’s what the team is allowing in front of his goalie. They’re top five. Goals allowed, they’re 31st. This would tell you on the surface, wow, goalending has been really bad. That’s the problem. More often than not, a graphic like that would be true. I’ve watched enough Blues games to know that. Yeah, look, the goalending hasn’t been great. They might not give up a lot. They’ll give up 17, 18 shots. There’ll be three or four breakdowns that lead to three or four great A’s that are catastrophic and sink this team. Like right there, Anthony Mantha bullies a guy out of the way. You got three guys chasing below the goal line, leaving a guy open in the slot. Just these things that are very teachable. Jim Montgomery is an excellent head coach. Um, this is v basic video room stuff that that the players know. they’ve just done it too much and it’s kind of hard to understand why it’s gone on this long this season. Um, but they are a better team than this. I’m I still hold out hope that they’re going to fix some of these very correctable issues. You got no Thomas, you got no neighbors. Like it’s stacking up against you right now. I think they can correct some of this and get back to being a competitive team in a playoff hunt. Yeah. You know, the goalending thing though, I do have to say Joel Hover at 793 save percentage. That’s bad. There’s a lot of mistakes that happen, but that’s bad. That’s bad. And he’s good. He’s a capable goalie. That’s the thing. Like him and Bennington should not be an issue. You shouldn’t really have to talk about them um being an issue. Bennington a little better. Still not as good as he can be. Her not good so far. Yeah. So, uh anyway, those are some tricks. We’re up against it a little bit with Flames, Rangers, Leafs, different levels of uh underperformance. Although the Rangers did get a huge win in Edmonton last night. They’ve won a couple in a row. We’ll see if they can get back on track. Coming up next, the head coach of the San Jose Sharks, Ryan Wars, is going to join us. He’s got the good pleasure there of coaching Celibbrini and Smith. We’ll talk to him about his star young players. Ryan, I’ll get it out, Mike. Ryan Warski next on First. Time to welcome in the head coach of the San Jose Sharks, Ryan Warovski. Ryan, thanks so much for the time today. Sharks coming off a nice performance, beating the Devils 5-3 last night. You guys are three and two in your last five after a bit of a rocky start. How have you guys turned it around in these last several games? Yeah, you know, I think you you look at the result and um there’s some panic on the outside, but inside uh in in our dressing room, our coaching staff, we’ve really just focused on the process and and we played some really good hockey even early on in the first two against Vegas and Anaheim. We find ways to to lose games in overtime where um probably should have been wins. So, I think as a group, we’re learning uh we’re learning lessons every time um we’re in certain situations and there’s been a lot of growth in our game. uh collectively which is which is you know now we’re getting the results. So uh going to keep building it and keep working on it and uh but our guys have done a really good job. Hey Ryan, like EJ mentioned, you’re coming off a win against the New Jersey Devils. They are a good team. They are a fast team when your group can go out there and beat them and play as well as you did. Um what what does that do for a young team that like you said is just starting to get those results now? Yeah, it’s important, right? when you get a result and you get a win, uh you get more confidence, you you feel more uh engaged physically, mentally. There’s a good energy in our in our room, uh especially today for practice and and in our meetings individually and as a group. So, um you know, again, we’re learning as we go, uh with our, you know, our details and how we need to play each and every night. Um but we’re we got good vibes going right now. We’re going to continue it on and um get ready for a good Colorado team tomorrow night. We like the good vibes. We like have We like having good vibes around the team, right? It’s much better than the alternative for sure. But uh I want to ask you about Cabbrini. Before we started, I off camera I mentioned I was at the Rangers game at MSG when you guys had was a wildly entertaining game. It was your first win of the season. You won in overtime. Cabbrini to Smith. He scores. Celebrity had a hat-tick. You had five points. But I was so impressed by his compete level. head-to-head with JT Miller along the wall in the battle, not given an inch on the right side of the puck. Is that the stuff you see as well? Because that to me will make the difference between him being just a great player and being a guy that could be one of the all-time great players. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we saw it, you know, you know, pretty pretty consistently last year and the way he plays on both sides of the puck, he’s a 200 foot center. Um, you know, he wants to go up against the best. Uh he’s good defensively as far as body positioning and getting into people. Uh he’s got no fear. Uh he’s a super competitive kid, ultra um you know, very self-driven and and ultra competitive. And um you know, that doesn’t just happen on the offensive side of it, like you said, on the defensive side of it. Um he’s one of our best down low and and closing and quickly closing on plays. And um you know, the more guys we get doing that, the less time you play in your defensive zone. and he’s done a really good job at such a young age of of understanding on on how to play in the defensive side of the zone and defensive side of the puck. I I want to just go a little more on that if you don’t mind because I was about eight or 10 games into last season when I’m looking at the numbers on Celibbrini and winning puck battles and getting in passing lanes and doing a lot of those kind of detail oriented things. I’m like this guy’s one of the best forwards in the league at doing this in terms of the volume of of how much he does it and he kept it going all year and he’s doing it again this year. There’s a lot of young players that want to be that way but aren’t for many years if ever, right? What is it about him that has allowed him to be that way kind of from day one? Well, I think he realizes, you know, we we we say with our group is um you know, if we play defense, offense comes from it and he’s really taken an understanding to that and uh at such a young age is obviously very impressive, but I think he understands and he thrives on uh playing on both sides of the puck and he knows that’s what ultimately is going to help us win hockey games now and in the future is is being able to be a guy that we can trust in all situations against top lines. Um, you know, I I I I agree it’s a as a as a young man, it’s very very unique. Um, but I think that’s something that comes within himself as being a a very competitive person and uh dragging guys into the fight and and all the leadership capabilities that he has. So, um, you know, it’s obviously very impressive and he’s done a really good job at improving in in some small small detail areas that we’ve asked him to to work on in the on the on the defensive side of it and he’s he’s he gravitates towards it. He wants to get better at it. um he’s not looking to cheat and go on the offense. He knows it’s important to take care of our own end and defend the right way with with urgency and purpose and he knows that in the flip side of it, he’ll get a lot of offense from it. So, um he’s done a great job of of of having uh the mentality of of how we want to play and and continue that in the future. Let me ask you about Will Smith. How has his development now continued over the course of a year plus at the NHL level? Yeah, I think he he’s he’s come along especially lately really since uh we got had went on that little bit of a road trip there out east and um I think he had a little bit of a slow start as far as finding his footing and uh we were trying to get some chemistry going with our lines. Uh but he’s playing some really good hockey, probably the best and most consistent hockey. he’s played the National Hockey League and um again similar to to to Mack as far as we you know we trust him in the defensive side of the puck and the more they can defend with purpose and urgency more offense is going to come from it and and they’ve done a really good job of that and um you know getting on the score sheet score sheet always helps uh skilled players confidence levels and and we’re seeing Will a very confident player right now. We talk a lot about the young players for obvious reasons. You got a lot of good ones. Um, you got some good veterans too there and and obviously that’s important to help bring these guys along. You know, Tofoley, Wenberg, etc. Um, want to ask you about Mario Ferraro. He just kind of seems like a potential future captain type player. He’s not old, but he’s a he’s a veteran. Um, what do you like about his game? For me, he’s just a really good defensive defenseman who’s kind of fun to watch play. Yeah, he he competes and and you know, as a coach, all you can ask is to leave everything on the ice. And I can tell you right now, you know, Mario does that. He does a really good job. uh you know what you’re getting every single night as far as compete uh being hard to play against solid defensively. Um he’s been here for you know especially as long as I have and gone through the ups and downs of of some long four or five years now and and he he’s eager to win. He’s eager to get this team uh winning hockey games again and being part of the solution. So uh he’s been really good for us solidifying you know our our kind of our top four right now and teams playing against teams top line. So he’s done a really good job. He’s been consistent. Um, again, you win with those types of guys for sure. Hey, Ryan, you know, for you personally, I mean, you’re you’re into your second year in San Jose and and you know, I’ll just remind the viewers, congratulations on leading team USA to a gold medal at the World Championships last year. I think that was what, like a 300year drought that they broke. You guys broke. So, it was a it was a it was a lengthy it was a lengthy one, but congratulations again on that. But, you know, I know you you got your coaches, you’re dug in, you’re working around the clock, but how do you like the Bay Area? How do you like San Jose? I mean, have you enjoyed your time so far there? What has it been like for you? Yeah, we we love it. I’m from the East Coast, but um San Jose has been great for for myself and my family. Um, you know, it’s a great place to to raise a family. I have two young kids. Um, you know, it’s nice when you leave the rink and it’s 65 to 75 degrees every single day and there’s not much rain. So, um, when you can get outside and and get away from the rink a little bit, uh, mentally can help you. So, um, it’s a great spot. It’s a great s sports city. Obviously, with the Giants and the Niners having a lot of success here and the history that’s, you know, come with even go back to, you know, in the early 2000s and when San Jose Sharks went the cup final. So, um, they love their sports. They it’s the passionate fan base. Uh, I’ I’ve enjoyed every minute here and and I’m very humbled to be the coach of this team and and hopefully get this team off the ground and start winning some games more consistently. Yeah, great building, great fans as well. It gets loud in there. It’s a it’s a fun place to be at a game. Um, so we wrap up October, you have that great win against the Devils to to end it and you go into November. What are the some of the goals or some of the thoughts that you have going forward as you get ready to tackle the second month of the season? Yeah, I think you know obviously the schedule’s demanding, right? and you know, we get the Colorado Avalanche tomorrow afternoon and then right after that, uh, you know, we come in and and and we got Detroit waiting for us. So, um, it it’s going to be getting to our consistent game and getting to our identity more consistently than not. And I think every coach in the National Hockey League is trying to get their team to play 60 complete minutes. Uh, that is difficult. I think for us, it’s it’s the lessons that we learn uh on how we need to play with with the momentum and we don’t have the momentum. And, you know, we talked about it a lot. when we have the momentum, we want to step on the gas and and really get on teams. And when we don’t, we need to simplify our game. And as a young team, that can take time to learn that lesson. And and we’re seeing that as we go here through this first month. And you know, we want to keep growing our team and individually getting better um from our young guys to our older guys. You know, it doesn’t really matter to me how long you’ve been in the league. We’re going to challenge you to to be the best you can possibly be. And you know, by doing that, we’ll start having our group be, you know, more consistent, more connected, and and I think the results will take care of themselves. So, uh, we can’t get too far ahead of ourselves. We get to take it day by day, and we had a good practice today, and we get ready for the car Colorado Avalanche tomorrow. Yeah, Ryan, uh, it’s been fun to watch the San Jose Sharks playing over the last several weeks now. Keep up the good work out there. And before I let you go, any trick-or-treating tonight for in the Warsawi household? Anybody dressing up? What do you got? We’ll be uh we’ll we’ll be we’ll be trick-or-treating for sure. So, one thing I’ve realized here in San Jose and the where we live is it is uh Halloween is like Christmas. There’s thousands of trick-or-treaters. So, my kids are very excited. They’re waiting for me to get home. My son went, believe it or not, as a coach to school as uh for Halloween just as a coach. And then uh my daughter was a princess. So that will be um be exciting to get get away from the ring for a little bit for a couple hours and enjoy some time with them. All right, solid solid costumes for the kids there. Have a great time tonight. Good luck this weekend. You got the Avalanche on Saturday afternoon. Ryan Warsovski, the head coach of the San Jose Sharks. We come back, we got the showcase, NHL Network showcase game on Sunday afternoon, the Lightning and the Mammoth. We’ll preview that one next on First Shift. [Music] You can’t take us cuz we’re dangerous. [Music] You can’t stop. [Music] [Music] So, the NHL Network Showcase, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, the Lightning and the Mammoth, 3:30 p.m. Eastern time, right here on the NHL Network. I’ll be on the call with my buddy Kevin Weekes. So, uh, that should be a really good game. Mammoth playing so well out west. And the Tampa Bay Lightning, Mike, after a slow start, have kind of found their way, not surprisingly, right? I mean, this is a good team. They’ve won their last four, had an overtime win over the Dallas Stars last evening. Uh why have the Lightning founded in your opinion? Well, I think a lot of it was already there. Um they they weren’t Look, they were making some mistakes. I mean, you can look at at bad turnovers at bad times. You know, the Cooerov one stands out towards the end of the game. Um but to me, a lot of it was already there. They weren’t getting results and goalending’s gotten better. Like Bastilleski is a great goalie. We know this. last season, the first couple months, he wasn’t very good and then he was unbelievable and he’s pieced together three really solid games in a row now. So, I think most of it was there. Uh they shot themselves in the foot a few times, lost in games they probably shouldn’t have lost and now they’ve got it together a little bit overall. The numbers aren’t that flattering because of the poor start they got off to. Um but to me, more than anything, EJ, this was just a good team that had to clean some stuff up a little bit, get some better goalending. They’ve got that and and now they’re winning games. The power play has not been very good so far this year, ranked 27th. Usually that’s an area where they can excel. Braden Point is one of those guys who’s off to a little slow start. Do you think that maybe he’s pressing just to kind of impress for team Canada? I mean, his coach is the coach of team Canada, but it’s been a slow start for Point. Yeah, I don’t think so. He’s a He should be a lock for that team. Um, there’s no scenario he’s not there really. So, I I I wouldn’t think so. Again, October’s can be weird. There’s a lot of stuff that that’s hard to explain. Some guys get off to lightning fast starts. Um, Kefir Sherwood’s got nine goals. Good for him. Some guys got off to slow starts. It’s It’s a I don’t know, without without being in the room, knowing the guys, it’s it’s a it’s a tough thing to say on a playertoplayer basis. Yeah, no question about it. But it should be a really good game. Sunday afternoon, 3:30 Eastern time, NHL Network Showcase, the Utah Mammoth hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning. Mike, thanks for the time. Happy Halloween. Have a great time tonight with the kids. I’ll be out there with the Stockton Ospreys. I’m repping them today. My son’s college team. Go Stockton. NHL Now is next. Everybody have a great weekend.
10/31/2025 – Mike Kelly and E.J. Hradek preview a busy night of NHL action, and San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky joins the show.
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"scary" predictions for the rest of the Season. Reply below