SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — April has an old-time feeling around the San Jose Sharks this year.
The Shark Tank is buzzing again, the team is playing meaningful late-season hockey games, and San Jose has a shot to snap a six-year playoff drought thanks in large part to a teenage sensation putting up numbers reminiscent of some of the game’s greatest players.
Macklin Celebrini had an assist on Will Smith’s game-winning goal against Chicago on Monday night to give the 19-year-old 66 assists to go with his 41 goals this season as the Sharks remained in the playoff hunt. San Jose is two points behind Los Angeles for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference with one game in hand.
“We can talk about him all day,” teammate Alexander Wennberg said. “He’s unbelievable. He’s a game-changer. He’s the leader right here. He’s stepping up and making key plays. He’s making the difference. I feel like everyone’s doing a great effort, goaltending, defensively. But he just has a little bit extra.”
Celebrini is fourth in the league in points with 107 and is just the sixth teenager ever to have at least 100 in a season.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “It was a goal of mine. I didn’t really think I’d do it this year. I have a bunch of amazing teammates that helped me get here.”
Only two players have ever won the Hart Trophy in a season before they turned 20 with Wayne Gretzky doing it in 1979-80 and Sidney Crosby in 2006-07.
Gretzky and Crosby are the only teenagers ever to score more points in a season than Celebrini’s 107 with the Great One setting a record for teens with 137 in his Hart Trophy season and Crosby finishing with 120 when he won it.
But those players had far more help than Celebrini, whose MVP case is about how much of a share of the Sharks offense he has to carry. Celebrini has a point on 46.1% of goals for San Jose this season — the best mark ever for a player before turning 20 -- and the second highest in the league this season to Connor McDavid’s 47.5% for Edmonton headed into Tuesday night.
“He can handle it,” teammate Zack Ostapchuk said. “He’s not a typical 19-year old. He can do that. He’s our guy.”
Celebrini turned the fortunes of the franchise ever since he was chosen No. 1 overall in the 2024 draft. San Jose had gone from one of the most successful franchises in the league over a 15-year span starting in 2003-04 with five trips to the conference final and one Stanley Cup Final appearance to one of the worst before this Celebrini-engineered turnaround.
San Jose had the worst record in the league the past six seasons and finished last in points the previous two seasons before getting back into contention this year.
“No one thought we’d be here,” coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Let’s be honest. Here we are. We’re going to embrace it and keep going."
One of the few people not surprised is Celebrini, who expects success. He grew up getting to see great athletes up close with his father, Rick, having served as director of sports medicine and performance the past eight seasons for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
Celebrini has also played on a high level internationally, appearing in the 2025 World Championships for Team Canada and leading all players with five goals on the way to winning a silver medal at the Olympics in February.
“I think we had expectations on ourselves,” Celebrini said of the Sharks. “You can say all you want about the division or the position we’re in. But the goal is to make the playoffs, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
Celebrini has helped renew interest in the team locally. The Sharks have sold out 21 games this season — nearly double the total of 11 from the season before he arrived — and attendance is up nearly 2,000 fans per game over last season.
An arena that was one of the most difficult for opposing teams to play in during the franchise’s heyday is back to its old form after years of small crowds and empty seats following the pandemic.
“The fans are here. It’s loud. We’re winning games, and we’re making a push,” Celebrini said. “This is exciting. I haven’t really been through this before. I’m just trying to soak it up.”
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
