Ryan Warsofsky will be regarded in the same way as Jon Cooper…
One day.
He’s the best NHL coach that isn’t coaching in the NHL. That will one day change.
We connected through a hockey conference that T.J Manaskersky and Wes Wolfe organized a few summers ago. Ryan did a presentation and told everyone he had to run… But he dropped his email in the Zoom chat bar and said, “reach out if you have any questions or want to connect.”
I always trust people when they say this, then I end up reaching out with a thoughtful inquiry, and then… I’m Ignored.
But my low response rate did not deter me from taking him up on his offer.
He ended up responding, giving me his phone number and we were soon on a call. One of the hottest coaches in the AHL at the time hopped on a call with a tier 3 junior coach like it was no problem. That’s the kind of guy Ryan Warsofsky is.
He’s now won 2 Calder Cups but we aren’t going to talk about winning in the traditional sense, Ryan wins in the New Wave sense. He’s winning the infinite game.
Get Invited to the Next Game
A great infinite player knows that the best players get invited to the most games. “Traditional Thinking” would lead you to believe that Ryan was out looking for jobs every summer. How else do you go from AC in Division 3 to HC in the AHL in about 8 years?
But as Ryan states on T.J. Manastersky’s Coaching Project Podcast, that was far from the case:
In a previous article, we’ve given you tools to “create a gravitational pull.”
You accomplish this 2 ways:
Create content (blog, newsletter, podcast) and leave digital breadcrumbs for others to follow
Talk to other human beings in real life or on the phone
Ryan explained that he just called other coaches up with no intention of anything to come out of it. He didn’t call to ask if they were hiring, he just called to talk. When you’re curious about what someone else is doing and you find out you align with their philosophy you create a gravitational pull.
On a separate phone call with TJ, he told me this nugget:
“ You’re behind the 8-ball already if you’re sending in a resume, you get a leg up when the person hiring already knows you and can send you a text at 9pm on a Tuesday that asks, ‘are you in a position to take a new job, I might have something here.’”
If you’re not in a position to get those texts, take some steps to get in position.
Create content and start talking to people.
Attract others to you… Don’t force yourself upon them.
Get invited to the next game.