Macklin Celebrini finished Wednesday night with four points as the San Jose Sharks won again, and by Thursday the club had pulled level with Los Angeles and Nashville in points. With 13 days left in the NHL regular season, San Jose was in a playoff spot.
Celebrini, 19, has been the force behind the surge. He ranked fourth in the NHL with 105 points and sixth with 40 goals, while Will Smith was the next-closest Shark at 22 goals and 54 points. Celebrini had been involved in 47.1 percent of San Jose’s goals.
The numbers only sharpened what has become one of the season’s most surprising turns. Celebrini passed the 100-point mark on Monday with a three-point first period against the St. Louis Blues, becoming the sixth teenager to reach that level in a single NHL season. He finished third in Calder Trophy voting in his rookie year, and the Sharks had the NHL’s worst record in the last two seasons.
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That contrast is why this run has mattered. San Jose was expected to be a year or two away from postseason contention, and its roster has been described as lacking a true star beyond Celebrini. Instead, the teenager has become the centerpiece of a team now being framed as a serious factor in the playoff race. The Hart Trophy, voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, goes to the league’s most valuable player, and Connor McDavid was leading that discussion with 126 points among the top scorers.
The question now is how long Celebrini can keep carrying that weight. The Sharks have already taken the standings pressure out of the realm of theory, and every game from here changes not only their playoff position but the case for where Celebrini belongs in the league’s award conversation.
