Sharks rising star Macklin Celebrini is still 90 days away from making his NHL debut, but he's already had a sizeable impact on San Jose.
"You mean other than the fact that the song 'Return of the Mack' has been on the radio 10 times more than it was until that point?" Sharks president Jonathan Becher joked during an appearance on the "San Jose Hockey Now Podcast."
"Come on, let's start with the obvious part, which is, there's just a lot more buzz.
"We're seeing more interest from what I would call the casual NorCal hockey fan. ... We're seeing more interest from the national media. ... Frankly, fans in other markets are paying more attention to what's happening here in San Jose than they did a year ago - unless they were paying attention for negative reasons, which they may have."
San Jose limped through the 2023-24 campaign, finishing last in the league with a 19-54-9 record. But the Sharks' struggles weren't in vain, as they won the draft lottery in May, allowing them to select Celebrini with the first overall pick in June.
Celebrini signed his entry-level deal last Saturday, a financially lucrative day for the player and the organization.
Becher said the Sharks enjoyed a "record merchandise sales day for an (offseason) day" since he was hired by the franchise in 2017. He added that around 80% of the sales were Celebrini merchandise.
The franchise also had "a spike in individual game sales," with the Sharks' home opener on Oct. 10 and their Halloween clash against phenom Connor Bedard's Chicago Blackhawks drawing most of the interest.
The SAP Center can hold a capacity of 17,435 for hockey games. This past season, San Jose recorded an average of 13,559 fans at home contests, trailing only the Winnipeg Jets and Arizona Coyotes (who played in a college-sized arena) for the lowest attendance in the league, according to Sports Business Journal. Thirteen of the Sharks' home games saw attendance dip below 11,000, per The Athletic's Ian Mendes.
As a longtime Sharks fan, Becher said the state of the SAP Center was "emotionally tough."
"When the Tank is full, when it has the energy, it's one of the toughest buildings to play in. ... On the other hand, you look at the people in the building and go, 'That's your core fan base.' ... It's getting the more casual fan to pay attention, which has happened a lot in the last 30, 40 days.
"It feels like we're on that upswing."
Though Becher conceded that Celebrini is "the center" of the heightened hype, he was wary of putting too much pressure on the youngster. General manager Mike Grier held the same sentiment after his top prospect put pen to paper.
"I'm not expecting (Celebrini) to go out there and be the MVP of the league or anything like that," Grier said. "There's gonna be bumps ... and we'll help him navigate those things."
