There is a rarefied group of NHL players worth watching no matter the circumstances—time, place, stakes, teammates, opponents, whatever. Macklin Celebrini might already in that club. The 19-year-old center, drafted first overall in 2024, is leading a resurgent, playoff-minded Sharks squad with 18 goals and 33 assists in just 34 games. Even when, for example, it's a weekday midnight on the East Coast and the Sharks are playing the flickering Calgary Flames, Celebrini alone is enough of a draw to stay awake and tune in.
Following up on his team's huge four-goal, third-period comeback over the Penguins on Saturday, Celebrini contributed four points in a 6-3 victory on Tuesday. The big ones were the the assist he notched just a minute in and the goal he scored to widen the lead early in the third. All together, they kept him just below MacKinnon and McDavid on the list of the NHL's most productive players so far this year.
It was a pretty thrilling start to Sharks-Flames, with five goals in the first period. Before some fans could even make it to their seats, Celebrini delivered a nifty helper to make good on his team's fierce forecheck. The young Shark moved backward to the blue line as he took a pass from John Klingberg, then spun around to reverse toward one of the faceoff dots as he attracted attention from the whole Calgary defense. Without giving the Flames any visual cue that he was thinking about anything but challenging the goalie, Celebrini smoothly slid the puck across the slot and onto Klingberg's stick for a shot and a score. This is why you should get to games with plenty of time to spare.
Celebrini closed out the first with another assist when his close-range shot just barely stayed out and got tapped in. Then it was calm seas through the second, with no scoring on either side. Coming out of Intermission II with a mere one-goal advantage, Celebrini brought the magic. San Jose's Collin Graf took a center-ice turnover and quickly launched a counterattack, finding Celebrini while the kid had his back to the net. In the kind of move that demands to be watched in super slo-mo, Celebrini whipped around 180 degrees to escape his nearest defender, which deposited him right into a red-alert danger zone for netminder Dustin Wolf. It was not the cleanest finish in the world, but it got through, ensuring that this breath-stealing spin will have a place on Goal Of The Year lists come April.
It used to be, if you lost a game like this to the Sharks, you'd have to wear a paper bag over your head the next night out. Not so now that Celebrini is taking charge. He's playing with the creativity of a kid who hasn't yet found his limits, and the ways in which he's been able to spark the Sharks make them feel like a lurking threat to leap out of the water and bite you with no warning. This is still a San Jose team with woeful defense, little depth, and questions at goalie. But they sure have something to build around.
