Macklin Celebrini<\/a>. Both players are from North Vancouver, their families grew up together, and Iorio has joined Celebrini for a few summer skates previously.<\/p>\nOver Christmas, the two were in Vancouver, and on Dec. 26, they hopped on the ice together. Also skating were Macklin\u2019s older and younger brothers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI skated with Mack, RJ, and Aiden with our hockey coach, friend, fantasy football buddy, Cole Todd,\u201d Iorio said. \u201cIt was just good to get our legs, honestly. It was a good little holiday skate. We got some puck touches. It was a lot of fun to see Aiden and RJ too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iorio called 13-year-old RJ a \u201clegit carbon copy of Mack\u201d with the skills he brings in practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a very good player. I give him a hard time because he\u2019s so young, but for his age and to see what he\u2019s doing. I haven\u2019t watched him in a game, but to see what he does in practice and the skill that he has,\u201d Iorio said. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
And on the 27th, instead of a pre-dawn wake-up to catch an early flight to Vancouver for the Sharks game against the Canucks, Iorio got to comfortably wake up in his hometown.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was perfect. It was really nice. I stayed the night at the hotel downtown, woke up, went for a nice walk, had a nice coffee at one of the coffee shops, Caff\u00e9 Artigiano, and just enjoyed the city. It\u2019s my home. I love it there. The brisk, fresh air, the coolness,\u201d Iorio said. \u201cJust being home for the holidays, best time ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
The San Jose Sharks and Iorio proceeded to take home the win in his first NHL appearance in front of his hometown crowd. Iorio notched an assist in a 6-3 win.<\/p>\n
Christmas was one of the only opportunities the Sharks have had to slow down this season. With the speed of games played in an Olympic year, it\u2019s been a busy time for Iorio, without a lot of time to get to explore San Jose.<\/p>\n
But Iorio said his favorite spot has been going over to Tyler and Cat Toffoli\u2019s house.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing over to Toff\u2019s, that\u2019s what I like the most honestly, is spending time with the guys away from the rink. I think it\u2019s so important, and building that culture and that family-oriented style, it\u2019s so cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the Sharks upcoming road schedule, Iorio said he\u2019s excited to spend more time with his teammates on the road and have more time to bond.<\/p>\n
And on the ice, the 23-year-old is getting connected with his teammates more too. He\u2019s been paired mostly with Mario Ferraro and fellow youngster Sam Dickinson.<\/p>\n
As two young defensemen for San Jose, Dickinson and Iorio have gotten close, working together to get better and grow as defensemen.<\/p>\n
\u201cHim and I have built quite the friendship. He\u2019s a really amazing guy, amazing friend, and just a really cool character. And he\u2019s a hell of a player, too. So for the two of us, just continuing to play simple. I know we\u2019re going to make mistakes along the way, and learning from those mistakes and continuing. We do a lot of video with Houds (assistant coach Doug Houda) and with Warso (Ryan Warsofsky). So just continuing to learn and eliminate those mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for his growth and learning so far with the Sharks, Iorio said he had to get adjusted to the new environment, after only spending time in the organization that drafted him four years ago.<\/p>\n
Settling into that confidence, Warsofsky said he\u2019s seen Iorio\u2019s best hockey recently.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s being more assertive. That\u2019s something we\u2019ve talked to him about when it comes to defending, playing more on his toes, closing his gaps,\u201d Warsofsky said recently. \u201cBut I\u2019d say he\u2019s playing some of his best hockey since we\u2019ve gotten him here, so we\u2019re seeing some improvement with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iorio has three assists in 20 games this season, averaging 16:25 a night. Notably, he\u2019s dressed for 12 of the last 13 Sharks games, some testament to his improving consistency.<\/p>\n
Warsofsky added on Wednesday afternoon, on the eve of the 6-foot-4 defender\u2019s first game at Capital One Arena as a member of the San Jose Sharks, \u201cHe\u2019s got good size. He\u2019s got the play to the ability to make plays. It\u2019s going to come down to, can he defend against bigger people? Being a big guy, we\u2019ve seen it at times, he can do it. He gets away from it a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
In terms of what the two organizations have asked of him, Iorio said things haven\u2019t changed too much.<\/p>\n
He wants to keep his game simple, while working on contributing offensively.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know what I can bring on the ice in terms of breaking pucks out,\u201d Iorio said. \u201cI think I still have a long way to go for that, but for right now, just being solid foundationally as a D-man, making sure you close plays, be firm and break the puck out to guys like Mack and Eky, and let them do all the work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sharks are willing to be patient with Iorio and have been willing to play some roster gymnastics to keep him \u2013 and their\u00a0 other young defensemen like Dickinson \u2013 with the Sharks.<\/p>\n
Since picking up Iorio, San Jose has had nine defensemen on their roster at times. While injuries have eased some of that load at times, when all nine are healthy, it limits the team\u2019s ability to carry other forwards.<\/p>\n
The Sharks have clearly been trying to avoid exposing Iorio to waivers again.<\/p>\n
Warsofsky highlighted Tampa Bay Lightning\u2019s Darren Raddysh as an example of a defenseman being given time to develop, until the right moment for them to step up their play and come into their own. Raddysh bounced around in the AHL with three NHL organizations, before establishing himself an everyday player as a 27-year-old. He\u2019s now a point-per-game blueliner for the Lightning.<\/p>\n
A less lofty comp, right-hander Ty Emberson, who the San Jose Sharks claimed off waivers from the New York Rangers in the summer of 2023, has developed into a credible bottom-pairing blueliner for Stanley Cup contender Edmonton Oilers.<\/p>\n
Either way, the Sharks are intrigued enough by Iorio to keep him around and keep developing him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes time. Right shot D are obviously hard to find. We like the toolset. We like the makeup of the player,\u201d Warsofsky said. \u201cStack some games together. Are you going to play 82 perfect games in every year? It\u2019s not going to happen. But can you be consistent enough, five, six games [in a row], and okay, the seventh game might just be your B-game, but it\u2019s still suitable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSolid waiver pickup. Needs to get stronger, but efficient puck play, long and mobile. Really like his transition game,\u201d an NHL scout, not with the San Jose Sharks, said of Vincent Iorio<\/a>\u2018s play in teal so far. \u201cPotential to be a steady third-pairing type.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s how you evolve as a young player in this league,\u201d Warsofsky said of Iorio\u2019s improving consistency. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen that with Mack and Will and Eky and what have you. That\u2019s the next step of progression for him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vincent Iorio has settled with his new team. The San Jose Sharks claimed Iorio off waivers on Oct.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[9882,93,1035,55461,1036,1037,88,90,89,98,4254,31561,8318],"class_list":{"0":"post-134320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-aiden-celebrini","9":"tag-featured","10":"tag-macklin-celebrini","11":"tag-rj-celebrini","12":"tag-ryan-warsofsky","13":"tag-sam-dickinson","14":"tag-san-jose","15":"tag-san-jose-headlines","16":"tag-san-jose-news","17":"tag-san-jose-sharks","18":"tag-sjhn","19":"tag-vancouver","20":"tag-vincent-iorio"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}