Sharks’ Will Smith reflects on NHL success — and failure — as strong rookie season wraps up

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Will Smith started his pro career with zero points in his first eight games. The eye test showed a college star having trouble adjusting to the speed of the NHL game, and calls for him to spend some time in the American Hockey League surfaced and intensified.

San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Grier put a lid on that suggestion.

“The plan is for him to be up here, learn up here, play up here,” Grier told reporters in October.

As he finishes up his rookie season, over which he started to deliver on the immense promise the Sharks saw in making him the No. 4 pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, Smith is thankful Grier kept him with the NHL club all the way through — even if that meant being on a team that will have the league’s worst record for the second straight season.

“Coming in here, I obviously wanted to be with the big club and to make the team,” Smith told The Athletic. “Being up here, it’s good to develop and see what the league is like and the travel and everything like that.”

The Sharks hope Smith’s season will pay off tenfold as they strive toward consistent winning and playoff contention. Smith sat out occasional games when San Jose played on back-to-back nights in a load management exercise, as the Anaheim Ducks did with Leo Carlsson in his rookie season. He also put together stretches in which his playmaking and shot-making resulted in the point-producing ability the Sharks can come to expect for years.

Much of the spotlight around the Sharks has been on Macklin Celebrini. Last year’s No. 1 pick has delivered on huge expectations as he leads all first-year players with 25 goals and could be a finalist for the Calder Trophy. In a way, Smith has been able to proceed nicely in Celebrini’s shadow and form the kind of potent tandem San Jose sees leading its revival.

Heading into their season finale Wednesday at home against the Edmonton Oilers, Smith sits fourth in rookie scoring with 43 points. Only three first-year players — Celebrini, Philadelphia’s Matvei Michkov and Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier — have more goals than Smith’s 18. The bulk of that production has come in a strong second half. Since the season’s midpoint, Smith has scored 30 points in his last 33 games.

Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said it was around January when Smith started to grasp what it took to process the game mentally and physically at the NHL level. Another spike in his performance came after the 4 Nations Face-Off break when he had 12 points over an eight-game stretch, including five goals.

And while Warsofsky said Smith had hit “another little bit of a speed bump” during a run of games in late March and early April, he responded with a four-game goal streak and eight points. Fittingly, his four-point night last week in Minnesota was overshadowed by Celebrini’s hat trick — the first by a No. 1 pick in his rookie year since Auston Matthews in 2016 — and five-point effort against the Wild.

Smith has made strides after leaving Boston College, where he led the NCAA in scoring as a freshman. And there are more gains to be made.

“It’s going to be in the gym, to be honest with you,” Warsofsky said. “It’s going to be getting stronger physically. We’re still talking about a kid that just turned 20 years old where you watch the NCAA tournament, half the teams are 20-year-olds or older. It’s not his fault by any means.

“This is good for him to go through this and go through the grind of it. Go through playing against heavy physical teams. The game’s slowed down for him now, which is positive. But again, I think now he’ll have to get into the gym and mature his body a little bit.”

After starting the season at center, Smith thrived when playing right wing. He’s been paired with Celebrini over the last few weeks and the two created magic against the Wild, teaming up on four goals.

Macklin Celebrini’s got his first career hat trick! 🤩

Hat Trick Challenge presented by @AstraZenecaUS pic.twitter.com/PEsAj5dWyl

— NHL (@NHL) April 10, 2025

The attention has been on Celebrini’s momentous debut, but Warsofsky said Smith has dealt with a lot of pressure as well, given his own pedigree.

“These two are kind of the face of our organization if we’re going to start having success,” Warsofsky said. “I think they’ve both handled it really well as far as the grind of it, the schedule, the day-to-day, the long season, where we’re at. I think they’ve both done a really good job.”

Smith felt the team’s plan to sit him occasionally in the first half of the season enabled him to push through the “wall” many college players hit in their first full pro season. He got to the NCAA title game with the Eagles last season, but that was still 41 games compared to the 74th he will play on Wednesday.

“I was going to do whatever the organization wanted me to do,” Smith said. “I thought it was good. It’s a long year. At the start, you’re still trying to get used to the travel. Coming out of college, it’s a lot more games and a lot more travel. It was good. Kind of helped you in the second half of the year.

“I think it just benefits me for next year to get more ready. If you don’t know what it’s like and you come in for your first year, you got 82 games and it’s a lot. It’s a lot of wear and tear so you got to be ready to go and take care of yourself.”

Now he’s got a season under his belt, and he’s seen what success and failure look like at the NHL level. There are personal goals to strive for and stardom may be within his reach.

But there’s also the business of winning, a challenge for Smith and the Sharks to tackle as they begin a new era. Losing a lot has been a new, unnerving feeling.

“My whole life, I’ve been on teams with only five or six losses or something like that,” Smith said. “Obviously I hate to lose. But it’s tough. We got a really young team. Next year, it’s going to be a huge step for us to kind of take it in a more positive way.”

(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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