Macklin Celebrini<\/a> in exit interviews \u2014 Celebrini expressed his desire to sign an extension with the Sharks \u2014 Smith followed with a similar want.<\/p>\nSmith also spoke on what he learned this season, what he\u2019s looking to improve for next year, team expectations next season, World Championships plans, how close the San Jose Sharks room was, and more about Book Club and recipes.<\/p>\n
Will Smith, on how he\u2019d recap his second year:<\/p>\n
It was a lot of fun. We had a great group. Obviously, we came up a little short, but it was a great jump for us, and definitely looking forward to next year.<\/p>\n
Smith, on what he learned from the playoff push:<\/p>\n
I think just how fun it was. We\u2019re all striving to get into that race again next year. Obviously, the end goal is to be in the playoffs, and we wish we were playing right now. We just can\u2019t wait to get back in that race for next year.<\/p>\n
Smith, on what he learned from this season, especially from some of the lows, like getting benched:<\/p>\n
I think I\u2019m definitely relied on to be good every night for this team. It\u2019s something that I definitely don\u2019t take lightly, and want to make sure I\u2019m ready to go every night next year.<\/p>\n
Smith, on what the San Jose Sharks need to do to take the next step:<\/p>\n
I think just at the end of games, making sure we could finish a lot of those out. Even at the beginning of the year, some of those points, you can see that we needed them at the end of the year and how close the race was.<\/p>\n
Smith, on what he\u2019s going to focus on this summer:<\/p>\n
I think there\u2019s a lot of personal stuff that I\u2019m going to work on, just in my game. I think getting faster and stronger is always a common thing, and definitely something I\u2019m still working on.<\/p>\n
Smith, on what position he\u2019ll stay at:<\/p>\n
I mean, I played wing all year this year, so I haven\u2019t really talked about it with Warsofsky or Grier, but I would assume that\u2019s the plan.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m open to anything. I got drafted as a center, but I\u2019ve definitely gotten familiar with playing wing, and playing with Mack\u2019s been pretty special, too, so I\u2019m up for whatever.<\/p>\n
Smith, on what the team can take away from the end of the year:<\/p>\n
I mean, we\u2019re a young team. We have a really good core, and I think the older guys are great with us. A lot of guys who have won one in this league were on this roster this year. Whenever we had questions or needed something, they\u2019re always there to help. I think being in the race this year is going to help us coming into next year.<\/p>\n
Smith, on Macklin Celebrini setting the tone for the room:<\/p>\n
Yeah, it\u2019s big. I think when you have a young guy like that who, like you said, can kind of drive the culture and bring winning habits to an organization, it\u2019s big, and something definitely that we\u2019re all watching.<\/p>\n
Smith, on if he\u2019s going to join USA at Worlds:<\/p>\n
This summer, I\u2019m out for Worlds. I just want to make sure I\u2019m ready to go next year. Like I said, get bigger and stronger and a big May is definitely a big head start.<\/p>\n
Smith, on last year\u2019s Men\u2019s Worlds and winning gold:<\/p>\n
Yeah, it was awesome. It was something I\u2019ll never forget. It was a crazy experience, and getting to do it with those guys was pretty special. Whenever you get to wear that sweater, it\u2019s unbelievable.<\/p>\n
Smith, on whether he\u2019ll be training with Celebrini:<\/p>\n
We talked about it a little bit. I think he might come out to Boston for a bit, and then I\u2019ll go out to Vancouver and train with him for a week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Smith, on joining Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon in the summer at Nova Scotia again:<\/p>\n
That was a blast last summer. Not sure if that\u2019s happening again, but if it does, though, I\u2019ll definitely want to be there.<\/p>\n
Smith, on his personal highlights from this season:<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot of them. Probably one of my favorite games was earlier in the year at MSG. That was pretty cool, just to get the first one of the year and in a special building like that. It was pretty cool.<\/p>\n
Smith, on a contract extension:<\/p>\n
That\u2019s definitely going to be a topic, I think, just for Mack himself, too. That\u2019s awesome. I think being able to get that done would be awesome.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Honestly, I haven\u2019t thought about it at all. Like you said, we have the third year [on the ELC], but yeah, we have a great group, I love being here. Just got to talk to Mike Grier and figure it out. I\u2019m always open to anything.<\/p>\n
Smith, on Collin Graf:<\/p>\n
He was awesome. He definitely put up some big numbers. I played against him in college, and he was great there, so I knew what we were getting when he signed here. Just playing with him, it\u2019s great too. He\u2019s really smart and has an unbelievable stick.<\/p>\n
Smith, on the growth of the San Jose Sharks fanbase:<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been crazy. I think just the following we\u2019ve had this year has been pretty special, and I think we\u2019ve gained a lot of new fans. Just in the Bay Area, it\u2019s been awesome. The support from the whole city, and seeing the Tank full is pretty special.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was crazy. I think just even looking at photos from a couple years ago to now, and just also on Instagram, a Monday night compared to a couple years ago, to this year, and sold out, and the fans are into it. It\u2019s definitely one of the loudest places in the league.<\/p>\n
Smith, on how fun the room was this year:<\/p>\n
We\u2019re always joking around with them, but yeah, it was a crazy bond. I think the older guys were great with us, and just the way they treated us was pretty amazing. Having Misa and Dicky come in, and kind of do what Mack and I did last year was pretty cool too, to just see how well they fit in.<\/p>\n
Smith, on the culture in the organization:<\/p>\n
From top to bottom, it\u2019s been amazing. I think you can hang out with any guy on this team. It\u2019s a special group. I don\u2019t know what to say about it, it\u2019s just a different bond than maybe some other teams have had, and it really is like a family feeling here.<\/p>\n
Smith, on the Book of Mormon outing:<\/p>\n
[Ryan Reaves] sat in between Mack and I. The seats were small too, and he was manspreading. No, that was awesome. He brought the whole team there, and it\u2019s my first time seeing it. It was a blast to just go to a show and be with all the guys.<\/p>\n
Smith, on the change in the locker room:<\/p>\n
I think when you\u2019re winning, it definitely helps. You just come to the rink and every day was fun here, no matter what was going on on the ice, just being around the guys is just truly fun.<\/p>\n
Smith, on the motivation they feel moving into next season:<\/p>\n
It\u2019s huge. This summer is going to be really big for all of us. I think we know the expectations now: it\u2019s to be in the playoffs. I think everyone knows we came up short, but next year, we\u2019re definitely expected to be in there.<\/p>\n
Smith, on what he\u2019s learned about leadership from some of the vets:<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve learned a lot from them. I think just kind of see how they include everyone. Like I said, we have such a tight group that when we have dinners, we all have the whole team there. We got 20 guys there. It\u2019s truly special. Stuff like that off the ice, they\u2019ve been nothing but the best.<\/p>\n
Smith, on his shoulder injury:<\/p>\n
We haven\u2019t really talked about it too much. That sucks when I was out for 13-14 games, just kind of grinding in here. It was great to be around the guys when I was hurt. They would always hang out with me here, whenever they\u2019re on the road, I would always call them. Besides that, just keep [focusing on] the rehab when it came to that.<\/p>\n
I think if you ask anyone who gets hurt, it takes a couple games to get back to the speed and the timing. I think the first game was in Detroit and I felt pretty good that game, and then that week, I felt back to normal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think I\u2019m always gonna feel a little bit after something like that happens. I kept doing the rehab and all the activities that you have to do to keep that going.<\/p>\n
Smith, on the message from Mike Grier:<\/p>\n
Just the expectations of this organization. Like I said, everyone can see this is a winning team, and we\u2019re expected to win next year and make that push. It\u2019s definitely the goal. We wish we were playing right now, but it was such a tight race this year, it came down to the end. Like I said, we\u2019re just excited to get back.<\/p>\n
Smith, on the flight home from Winnipeg at the end of the season:<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a little bit of a weird feeling. I think when you go from playing pretty much every other day to finishing out and some of these guys won\u2019t be back, or you won\u2019t see him again for a while, it\u2019s tough, but we\u2019re definitely just trying to enjoy our company right now.<\/p>\n
Smith, on having his family for the Chicago game recently:<\/p>\n
They come to a lot of them. I\u2019ve had a big group at a couple of games this year. It\u2019s really special getting to play in front of all my family and friends, and I wouldn\u2019t be here without them.<\/p>\n
Smith, on what\u2019s next for the Book Club this summer:<\/p>\n
Well, two guys didn\u2019t finish the book. Mack and I did, so\u2026<\/p>\n
Smith, on Michael Misa:<\/p>\n
He was great. At the start of the year, we could just see how special a player he could be, and he definitely had a huge role for us that last month that we were making the push, and he\u2019s definitely going to be a huge part of this organization for a while.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will Smith also wants to sign an extension with the San Jose Sharks. Following Macklin Celebrini in exit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[4017,116586,7501,93,88,90,89,98,3578,24179],"class_list":{"0":"post-275072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-contract","9":"tag-exit-interview","10":"tag-extension","11":"tag-featured","12":"tag-san-jose","13":"tag-san-jose-headlines","14":"tag-san-jose-news","15":"tag-san-jose-sharks","16":"tag-will-smith","17":"tag-world-championships"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275072","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=275072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}