New Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky looks to bring 'light' to a struggling franchise

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Ryan Warsofsky had a front-row seat to some of the worst hockey played by the San Jose Sharks since their expansion days as an assistant under David Quinn the past two seasons.

Now the 36-year-old who was hired last week as the youngest coach in the NHL will be tasked with overseeing a youth movement led by projected No. 1 overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini that Sharks general manager Mike Grier hopes can get the franchise back into contention.

“We just went through two really tough years. I know what they need,” Warsofsky said at his introductory news conference Monday. “They’re beat up a little bit. We need some new light. We need some energy. We need some positivity. Now we have some hope with the prospects that are coming. This is a really exciting chapter in this franchise with the prospects that Mike’s brought in and drafted and we’re starting to develop and now with this draft coming up. So exciting times are definitely ahead."

Those exciting times have been lacking since San Jose made a run to the Western Conference Final in 2019. San Jose has missed the playoffs for five straight seasons and bottomed out the past two as Grier began a teardown that now seems primed to bear fruit in a rebuild.

Grier traded away several star veterans such as Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier to help restock a prospect pool that was bereft when he took over and now will add the No. 1 overall pick after winning the draft lottery last month to a group that has several talented young players.

Grier believed Warsofsky was the perfect fit to lead a young group with his ability to communicate and relate with young players and his experience developing them as a successful coach in the AHL before joining San Jose.

“He’s a great communicator, which is going to be important,” Grier said. “We’re going to have a young group here. Connecting and speaking with and bonding with these young players is going to be super important. It’s going to be a big part of us taking the next step forward. He just checked every box to us."

Warsofsky previously had been head coach of the Chicago Wolves for two seasons in the AHL. He led the Wolves to the AHL’s best regular-season record with a 50-16-5-5 record in 2021-22 and captured the 2022 Calder Cup.

That kind of success has been lacking in San Jose.

The Sharks went 41-98-25 in Quinn’s two seasons for the worst mark in the NHL in that span, including a league-worst 47 points this past season. San Jose’s 19 wins this season were the fewest in a full season since the franchise’s second year as an expansion team in 1992-93.

The Sharks were non-competitive at times, allowing at least six goals in 18 games, including back-to-back games early in the season of 10 goals allowed.

“There will be some changes,” Warsofsky said. “Obviously, the numbers weren’t great, the analytics weren’t great. We have to make changes. There has to be a system in place that our players know what’s going on. They understand the system. ... When we have the puck we know what to do with it and when we don’t, we know how to get it back.”

San Jose has had the worst record in the NHL the past five seasons and has struggled to fill the Shark Tank with fans turned off by the poor play on the ice. The fan interest started to change as soon as the Sharks won the draft lottery.

Team president Jonathan Becher said the season ticket renewal rate is the highest it's been since the team made a Stanley Cup run in 2016 and that new sales are also trending at a record pace. Becher said the team is on target to sell out its draft watch party and could double the previous high attendance for it by any team.

“Obviously the mood around the franchise substantially changed after the number one pick went our way,” Becher said.

Grier ended the news conference by making a point to shut down rumors that he is looking to trade captain Logan Couture, who played just six games this past season because of injuries.

“That is absolutely false,” Grier said. “If you look at us bringing in young players here and having a young team, he’s exactly the kind of person you want to have around your young players. He’s our captain. He had a tough year but we love him, as a person most importantly but he's also a heck of a hockey player."

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Grier speaks at a news conference introducing Ryan Warsofsky as the NHL hockey head coach of the San Jose Sharks in San Jose, Calif., Monday, June 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Ryan Warsofsky speaks at a news conference where he was introduced as the NHL hockey head coach of the San Jose Sharks in San Jose, Calif., Monday, June 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Ryan Warsofsky, second from right, holds a jersey as he poses for photos with his family at a news conference where he was introduced as the NHL hockey head coach of the San Jose Sharks in San Jose, Calif., Monday, June 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Ryan Warsofsky, left, talks with San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Grier before a news conference introducing Warsofsky as the NHL hockey head coach of the Sharks in San Jose, Calif., Monday, June 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Ryan Warsofsky holds up a jersey at a news conference where he was introduced as the NHL hockey head coach of the San Jose Sharks in San Jose, Calif., Monday, June 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Ryan Warsofsky, left, shakes hands with San Jose Sharks president Jonathan Becher at a news conference introducing Warsofsky as the NHL hockey head coach of the Sharks in San Jose, Calif., Monday, June 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Ryan Warsofsky, middle, holds up a jersey between San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Grier, left, and president Jonathan Becher at a news conference introducing Warsofsky as the NHL hockey head coach of the Sharks in San Jose, Calif., Monday, June 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Ryan Warsofsky speaks at a news conference where he was introduced as the NHL hockey head coach of the San Jose Sharks in San Jose, Calif., Monday, June 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

SHEFFIELD, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 28, 2024--

BOW, the universal robotics software company, has today announced the appointment of Liz Upton, Co-Founder of Raspberry Pi (LSE:RPI), as Chair of its board.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241112850063/en/

The robotics market is projected to reach $260 billion by 2030, yet realising the full potential of robotics is out of reach for many companies and industries because of the high cost and complexity of programming robots. BOW’s robot-agnostic software development kit (SDK) and the BOW platform solves this bottleneck, making it possible for the first time to program any robot using any operating system in any programming language.

BOW – which stands for “Bettering our Worlds” - makes it possible for any software developer to create and deploy robotics applications and manage robots. By removing the need for highly-specialised robotics programmers, BOW’s universal robotics platform allows companies to leverage the skills of generalist software developers and opens up valuable new use cases in sectors that have previously been underserved by robotics.

Liz Upton, who co-founded Raspberry Pi in 2008, played a crucial role as Chief Marketing Officer in the company’s growth, achieving sales of over 60 million units worldwide and a successful IPO on the London Stock Exchange earlier this year.

Liz Upton’s appointment follows news of BOW’s recent partnership with XPLOR, the world’s first Live Events R&D and Innovation centre. The partnership is pioneering the adoption of robotics in the film and creative industries, focusing on developing new applications, improving efficiency and lowering production costs.

Liz Upton, Chair at BOW said: “The BOW team’s passion for innovation and their commitment to developing the world’s first universal robotics platform is inspiring. At Raspberry Pi, we have always been driven by the mission of democratising computing for all. Robotics similarly has the potential to help solve global challenges but only if we can remove the barriers to its adoption. BOW solves the current complexity of developing robotics applications and makes programming any robot in any programming language possible for the first time. I’m excited to join this pioneering and fast-growing company as Chair and to helping BOW make the tremendous benefits of robotics universally accessible.”

Nick Thompson, CEO of BOW, said: “We are delighted to welcome Liz Upton to BOW as our new Chair and I’d like to thank our former Chair, Pete Hopton, for his contribution to BOW since 2020. Liz brings a wealth of experience in scaling a transformational technology business globally. In addition, her deep commitment to innovation and education aligns perfectly with BOW’s mission to enable millions of software developers to develop robotics applications for the betterment of our world.”

For more information about BOW and its leadership team, visit https://usebow.com/

About BOW:

Founded in 2020, BOW is the world’s leading universal robotics software company, working with robotic hardware manufacturers and OEMs, systems integrators, roboticists, and software developers. BOW enables software developers to create portable robotics applications using their preferred programming language and operating system. The company is headquartered in Sheffield, UK.

Co-Founder of Raspberry Pi, Liz Upton, joins Robotics Software Company, BOW, as Chair of the Board (Photo: Business Wire)