Kiefer Sherwood is getting his first taste of the San Jose Sharks locker room.

And so far, it seems like he’s going to fit in well. His aggressive playing style has the Sharks excited for his arrival.

“He’s a dawg. Just the way he compete, the way he battles,” Macklin Celebrini said of Sherwood. “He’s hard to play against, and that’s something that I respected playing against [him]. Anytime you’re matched up against him, it’s not going to be easy. I’m happy to have that on our team.”

Sherwood, by the way, returned the compliment, unprompted, about Celebrini’s game.

Goaltender Yaroslav Askarov called Sherwood a “rat”, in playing style, and compared him to the Florida Panthers’ Brad Marchand.

“I hate him to play [against],” Askarov said. “[He’s] like one of the worst players to play against and probably one of the best to play on the same team.”

Askarov is familiar with Sherwood from mostly the 2022-23 season, when they both played for the Milwaukee Admirals.

Another San Jose Sharks player with ties to Sherwood, Vincent Desharnais, said he immediately told Sherwood he’d fit right in with the Sharks locker room.

“I texted him to welcome him, and the first thing he said was, ‘I can’t wait to stir some stuff up on the ice to start,’ which I think is going to fit right in,” Desharnais said.

Sherwood hopes to bring exactly that to the San Jose Sharks.

“I want to make it hard to play against us and try to complement some of the identity that I know that the team is building,” Sherwood said. “Try to stir things up, occasionally, but at the same time too, I want to be a glue guy and just bring the energy and try to help guys bring in the fight.”

Head coach Ryan Warsofsky echoed that he wants Sherwood to bring a style that he called “nasty.”

“I think I heard Rick Bowness say you need nasty. And you look around the league, the team that wins the Stanley Cup will play with nasty, and they’ll play with jam and you need more types of players [like that],” Warsofsky said. “The rest of the guys, get guys to drag [them] into the fight. So I think he brings that nasty.”

While he’s currently injured and won’t play immediately, Warsofsky said he’s optimistic that Sherwood will be able to play ahead of the Olympic break, so by Feb. 4.

“That’s what I’m hoping. So I’m trying to push it,” Sherwood said. “I don’t know when, I’m just trying to make progress every day. And hopefully, at some point on the road trip, I’ll be good to go.”

Sherwood already has one notable tie to Northern California: He and his wife got married in Carmel in July.

“It’s weird how things work. Me and my wife got married out in Carmel this year,” Sherwood said. “Now it’s kind of full circle, and we’re just looking forward to it and starting this next chapter.”

Now his wife, Ariel, is pregnant, due in April.

Sherwood said he’s looking forward to exploring San Jose.

“Playing on the west my whole career, so I’ve obviously been in San Jose and seen the good spots,” Sherwood. “But now I’m looking forward to visiting the neighborhoods and the suburbs. And even yesterday, I was driving around just trying to get to know everything that it has to offer, and it’s beautiful.”

So while there are reports that Sherwood and the San Jose Sharks are far apart in contract negotiations, it certainly sounds like the pending UFA is excited to be here, and wouldn’t be opposed to staying.

“There’s so many great things about Northern Cali and what it has to offer. And obviously the players, there’s some special players brewing. It’s an exciting time to be part of that. They’re building a great culture moving forward,” he said. “I’m just getting excited to get to know everyone and ruffle some feathers when I can.”