David Warsofsky followed in his older brother's footsteps by coaching the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays, but now he's going to forge his own path.
San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky spent five seasons behind the bench for the South Carolina Stingrays from 2013 to 2018. He initially joined the team as an assistant coach, but was promoted into the head coaching role for the 2016-17 season.
Fast forward a few years and while the elder Warsofsky was put in charge of an NHL team for the first time in his career during the 2024-25 season, his younger brother earned his first coaching job in South Carolina as an assistant coach under Jared Nightingale.
Nightingale departed the Stingrays at the end of the season, taking over behind the bench for the Chicago Blackhawks' American Hockey League affiliate, the Rockford Ice Hogs for the 2025-26 season. As a result, there was a prime opportunity to the younger Warsofsky to further his career and he ran with it. He was named the new head coach of the Stingrays for the season and led them to the ECHL playoffs.
The Stingrays were ultimately eliminated from the Kelly Cup Playoffs by the Florida Everblades earlier this month.
On Wednesday, the Stingrays announced that David Warsofsky has decided to depart the organization after a single season as head coach to pursue other opportunities. He finished the season with a 45-23-1-3 record.
Warsofsky's plans for the future are currently unknown, but it seems as though we may not have to wait long to see what's next for the 35-year-old NHL alumnus.