Toffoli leading by example, helping young players for rebuilding Sharks

CHICAGO -- Tyler Toffoli has done a lot in his NHL career, playing in big moments, winning the Stanley Cup and becoming a strong veteran presence.

The 32-year-old forward now is part of the rebuilding San Jose Sharks, with whom he signed a four-year, $24 million contract ($6 million average annual value) on July 1. He's surrounded by a crop of young players, including Macklin Celebrini, the No. 1 pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, and Will Smith, selected No. 4 by San Jose in the 2023 NHL Draft.

So does he feel like a big brother? A mentor?

"Not necessarily," Toffoli said earlier this month. "I feel really good and feel like the past few years I've been playing some of the best hockey of my life personally. I keep trying to build on that.

"I definitely want to be someone who guys can look up to and talk to if they need anything, but at the same time I've always kind of tried to show on the ice rather than talk about it."

It's been a tough start for the Sharks (1-7-2), who got their first win of the season Monday in a 5-4 overtime victory against the the Utah Hockey Club. They go for two straight when they host the Los Angeles Kings (5-2-2) at SAP Center on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN1).

Toffoli played his first eight seasons with the Kings, helping them win the Stanley Cup in 2014. Now he's trying to help Celebrini, 18; Smith, 19; and the young Sharks learn how to win.

Celebrini has played just one game this season, a season-opening 5-4 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 10. Skating on a line with Toffoli, Celebrini scored his first NHL goal and assisted on Toffoli's first goal with the Sharks.

"I mean, he won a Cup early in his career and been in so many different types of scenarios and situations, so many great teams," Celebrini said. "Having someone like that to ask questions is really important."

With Celebrini out because of a lower-body injury, Toffoli has skated with William Eklund, 22, as well as Fabian Zetterlund, 25, Mikael Granlund, 32, and Danil Gushchin, a 22-year-old who had six games of NHL experience heading into this season.

First-year coach Ryan Warsofsky said having Toffoli and veteran forward Barclay Goodrow, who won the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and 2021, is huge.

"It's really good," Warsofsky said. "A guy that's won a Stanley Cup. You can put Barclay in that too. These guys have to learn how to win in this league, our whole group does. It's important to have those pieces, of men of high character, around these young players."

Toffoli was that young player in 2012-13, debuting with the Kings as a 20-year-old March 13, 2013. He had five points (two goals, three assists) in 10 games that season and played a bigger role the next season when he had 29 points (12 goals, 17 assists) in 62 regular-season games and 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in 26 Stanley Cup Playoff games to help the Kings win the Cup.

He has nine points (five goals, four assists) in 10 games this season, and 530 points (265 goals, 265 assists) in 822 games with the Kings, Vancouver Canucks, Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils, Winnipeg Jets and Sharks.

He said "the whole group" of Kings helped him in those early years.

"It felt like everybody was in their prime and everyone was playing their best hockey, winning in 2012 and then for me and [forward Tanner] Pearson to come in and help win in 2014," Toffoli said. "I always sat next to Trevor Lewis at home in L.A. and on the road, it was [center Jeff Carter] a lot, [center Anze Kopitar] every once in a while. It was everybody as a group. We had a lot of fun at the same time, so that definitely helped."

Toffoli passed down what he learned when he played for other teams, including Montreal, where he played from 2020-22 and went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021. Chicago Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson was a Canadiens assistant when Toffoli was there.

"He was great in Montreal with a young Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield coming in," Richardson said. "That was a pretty good line.

"He's just an experienced guy. He goes under the radar sometimes on the ice and I think he likes that. He's a guy that, when he gets a chance to bury a puck, he can score. A very mellow, solid veteran guy. He's probably there for a reason, to help them score goals but also help mentor the good, young players coming up in their rebuild."

Toffoli said he is a leader more with his play than his voice, though if young Sharks need advice, he has it for them.

"Every day is a new challenge and every day you might be tired," Toffoli said. "It ends up being a pretty long season. But at the end of the day you can't hold your head on having a bad game or a bad shift. You have to look at it in a positive way and look at the positive things you do every single day and try to build off it.

"I think that's one thing I kind of struggled with early in my career, and I think a lot of people struggle with it. It's not easy coming from junior or college and being the best player and playing eight minutes a night in the NHL. It's a big change, so just trying to prevent the highs from being too high and the lows from being too low."