Macklin Celebrini may already be thinking beyond the usual max-dollar path.
After a historic 115-point season as a 19-year-old, the San Jose Sharks star is eligible for an extension, and there’s no sign of urgency around getting it done immediately. Still, the expectation is that a deal eventually gets across the line, with both Celebrini and the team publicly happy with each other. In the meantime, he has floated the idea of leaving money on the table.
In a story from ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski, Celebrini said he had thought about following the example of Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby, two stars who have been underpaid for much of their careers. He also explained why that kind of move appeals to him: “…you want to put your team in the best spot possible where you give a team the ability to make moves necessary to win.”
That kind of thinking would be notable anywhere, but especially after the extensions that have gone down over the past year. Kirill Kaprizov, Leo Carlsson, Bowen Byram and others have reset the market in different ways, and Celebrini would have every right to push for the top of it. Whether he does, though, will be his call.
Jonathan Marchessault is back in the rumor mill, and the Nashville Predators are once again at the center of it.
The fit hasn’t been smooth since he arrived in the 2024 offseason, following his Conn Smythe-winning run to the Stanley Cup in 2023. Nashville’s last two seasons have fallen short of expectations, and Marchessault’s production has dipped with them. He has 87 points over the last two seasons, which marks his least productive back-to-back stretch since his first two full NHL campaigns.
There are signs the Predators are still exploring the market. Alex Daugherty wrote that the team is expected to keep looking for a trade that makes sense, while Jimmy Murphy reported that Nashville is actively trying to move him. That said, the contract makes this a tough sell: Marchessault is 35, carries a $5.5 million cap hit for three more seasons, and his value has clearly trended downward.
If he stays, though, he could still matter. Nashville’s depth was one of the biggest issues with the club, and the newly built bottom six looks better on paper. The question is whether Marchessault fits back in as a middle-six scorer.
Patrik Laine is still sitting on the free agent market, and a few teams have at least kicked the tires.
His market has changed after he played just five games last season because of injury and then ended up as a healthy scratch after the Olympics and for the playoffs. That has pushed his price down, and the expectation is that he’ll need to take a low-salary deal with bonuses built in to give him a chance to earn more.
Joe Smith of The Athletic reported that the Minnesota Wild looked at Laine as a target, though they have since filled those needs with Maxim Shabanov and Blake Coleman instead. Vincent Mercogliano also said Laine could be an intriguing option for the New York Rangers, adding, “He’ll likely have to settle for a one-year, prove-it contract, which is right in New York’s wheelhouse, but Drury’s interest is unclear.”
The Rangers have already added scoring with Pavel Dorofeyev, but if they decide they still need more, Laine could be a low-risk addition in a limited role with offensive ice time.
In Other News...
Rangers Finally Made The Blue Line Fix Fans Have Begged For
The Rangers spent the offseason trying to patch a blue line that had too often asked Adam Fox to do too much, and Chris Drurys answer was to target defensemen rather than tear the roster down. Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson were brought in as part of a broader effort to tighten up the back end, a sign the front office believes it can correct the problem without starting over.
For a team that has spent a lot of time looking for cleaner structure in its own zone, those additions matter because they should give the defense more balance and more support around Fox. The hope is that the new pieces can stabilize the group and make the whole unit harder to play against, even if the full shape of the blue line still has to sort itself out. [Read more 🡒]
How Much Faith Do Rangers Fans Still Have In This Core
The Rangers have spent the summer trying to settle the edges of their roster while the bigger questions linger in the background. Braden Schneiders one-year deal took care of an arbitration wrinkle, and Alberts Smits also got his entry-level contract done, but those moves are more housekeeping than anything that changes the conversation around the core. What matters more is how the organization views the next wave of talent, especially with Gabe Perreault now part of the discussion about where the ceiling really sits.
Perreaults name keeps coming up because he represents the kind of upside that can either refresh a contender or expose how far the current group still has to go. The debate around his best-case comparison says plenty about the tension around this roster: there is still belief in the talent, but not a lot of clarity about how it all fits if the season goes sideways. If the Rangers stumble, the direction after this year could get a lot murkier in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
How The Rangers Landed A Franchise Icon Still Feels Unreal
Don Maloneys induction into the New York State Hockey Hall of Fame on July 12 offered a reminder of just how unlikely some franchise-defining moments can look in real time. As the former Rangers assistant general manager reflected on the 2000 NHL Draft, he pointed back to the process that led New York to Henrik Lundqvist, crediting European scout Christer Rockstrom for seeing something special in the Swedish goaltender and noting how the pick came together after some early hesitation inside the room.
Lundqvist was still there late enough to make the decision feel almost surreal, and the Rangers eventually took him in the seventh round. What followed was the kind of outcome teams spend decades hoping for, with Lundqvist becoming one of the greatest goalies in NHL history and the winningest netminder in Rangers history, a legacy that still makes the original draft story sound hard to believe. [Read more 🡒]