Ryan Warsofsky says Sharks lack buy-in after Senators rout

Warsofsky got asked the blunt question after the game. He didn't dodge it.

Curtis Pashelka

@CurtisPashelka

Warsofsky was asked if he was lacking buy-in from some players. "Absolutely. We got to work on that." Frustrating that's still the case after one month? "That's probably the most frustrating thing. We're 15 games into it, and we probably still haven't put together a complete game. Maybe Florida, but that was so long ago. We're still off in our game. We've got to find it quickly."

That's a head coach saying out loud, 15 games into the season, that part of his room isn't fully on board. Coaches almost never hand that one over for free. You hear it once things have gone past the point where a vague "we have to be better" covers it. He also said the Florida game might be the only complete game San Jose has played all year, and that one was a while back.

He didn't stop at the players either. Warsofsky said everything is on the table, his own staff's work included.

Sheng Peng

@Sheng_Peng

Are #SJSharks lacking some buy-in from the players? "Absolutely. We got to work on that," Warsofsky says. Says the coaching staff will look at everything, including benchings, playing time & their own systems, in terms of getting team out of rut

Benchings and playing time are the usual levers. Putting "our own systems" on the review list is the part that stands out. It's an admission that the problem might sit with the coaching as well as the effort, and it comes after a game where the Sharks barely got the puck to the net. Ottawa got goals from Dylan Cozens, Drake Batherson, Tim Stutzle, a shorthanded one from Ridly Greig and an empty-netter from Shane Pinto. Michael Misa scored the only San Jose goal. Alex Nedeljkovic made 30 saves and still wasn't at his best, and Sam Ersson needed only 22 saves to get his first win as a Senator.

Even before the buy-in question, the beat writers were watching Ottawa's checking strangle the Sharks for most of the night.

Curtis Pashelka

@CurtisPashelka

Sharks with just 14 shots on goal during 5-on-5 play through 50+ minutes. Tough to win thay way The Sharks can learn a lot from the Senators about how they check and take away time and space. It's been a clinic so far.

Warsofsky said much the same after the game, telling NHL.com his team was "just slow all night" and "got outworked all over the ice." San Jose has now lost 3 of its last 4 and sits at exactly.500 at 7-7-1 to start November. That record isn't a disaster by itself. A coach saying publicly that his message isn't landing with everyone is a much bigger deal than the record.

Now we find out whether the review means anything. If guys start getting scratched or minutes get shuffled around in the next few games, Warsofsky is backing up what he said. If the lineup looks the same and the effort doesn't change, the people asking whether his message is getting through will only get louder. One month in is early. It's a strange time to be saying any of this, though.