SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks forward Will Smith wore a coat over a sharp-looking burgundy suit on Monday morning as he and his teammates got ready to board a charter flight to Detroit to begin a five-game road trip.
In other words, Smith is a Shark, and the organization plans to keep the 19-year-old in the NHL and continue to work with him as he experiences his share of adversity at the midway point of his rookie season.
“He’s going to stay here,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of Smith. “He’s going to play against Detroit, and we’re going to keep working with him.”
Two days after he was benched for the final 25 minutes of San Jose’s 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild, Smith was on the ice first thing Monday morning, working with the Sharks coaching staff to try and improve his work along the boards as he continues to make the adjustment from center to wing.
It hasn’t been easy. Not only is Smith, listed at 181 pounds, trying to battle fellow wingers at this level who are often 20-30 pounds heavier than him, but he’s also doing it in his first season as a professional after he was drafted fourth overall by the Sharks in 2023.
A pair of Smith’s miscues along the wall Saturday led to Wild scoring chances, with one resulting in a goal by forward Matt Boldy that gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead in the second period. Shortly afterward, Warsofsky benched Smith.
“Just got to be better on the walls and make better plays, to be honest,” Smith said Monday of the message he received from the Sharks coaching staff. “Just limit the mistakes.”
“Just getting back to the basics here. Play with the puck, play towards his strengths,” Warsofsky said. “So we went out there early, worked with him, just on wall plays, picking pucks up off the yellow (kickplate) and playing with the puck, and his skating.
“Just got some low confidence right now, so we’ve got to help him.”
Not only is Smith adjusting to a new position, but he’s also trying to improve his two-way game as a middle-six forward.
During his freshman season at Boston College, Smith led all NCAA Division I players with 71 points in 41 games. But he’s going into Tuesday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings with just three points in his last 15 games while on a seven-game goal drought. Smith has 14 points in 38 games this season.
“It’s obviously tough, but the pucks will eventually go in,” Smith said. “Not too worried about it. It’s the best league in the world. They’re eventually going to go in.
“Sometimes (goals) come in waves. One goes in, you kind of get the confidence going, and more start going in. But once that one comes, it’d be good.”
Smith was given some what the Sharks termed as “development days” in the first half of the year. The organization sat him for select games — usually on the second half of back-to-backs – to try and keep him as healthy as possible while also giving him extra time to build his strength and refine his skills.
Those seem to be a thing of the past, as Smith has played in 13 straight games since returning from an injury in mid-December. Still, Warosfsky wouldn’t specify whether Smith might again be given a development day as he works through an up-and-down season.
“We have a plan. I’m not going to really delve into it,” Warsofsky said. “We haven’t talked about (sending him to the AHL).
“He’ll bounce back. It’s a 19-year-old kid. He’s going through part of his development where a lot of times it happens when you’re in college, it happens when you’re in the American League. For whatever reason, it’s happened in the National Hockey League, and it’s tough. It’s a tough league to play in.
“I’m sure he’ll look back on this, and whether that’s in 20 games, or in 60 games, or whenever it might be, and probably be happy that he kind of went through it in a sense because it’s such a good learning moment,” Warsofsky continued. “He’s going to go through it again. (Macklin Celebrini’s) going to go through it. All of our young guys … have had blocks and speed bumps and getting through that, and mentally getting through it, is a challenge.”
As the Sharks planned for after signing him to an entry-level contract in May 2024, Smith has support around him, not only with his teammates and coaches but also away from the rink, as he continues to live with Patrick Marleau’s family. Marleau, of course, was also a teenager when he first began playing in the NHL.
“I talk to him all the time,” Smith said of Marleau. “Just at family dinners and stuff like that, I’m always asking questions about his time in the NHL. Obviously, he’s a legend, and he worked out just fine.”
Smith, still two months away from his 20th birthday, is learning a lot about himself this year and what it takes to play in the NHL.
“You’ve got be ready to go every night,” Smith said. “So just because you have one bad game doesn’t mean it’s going to ruin everything. Got to put it behind you and get ready for the next one.”