Macklin Celebrini is getting the spotlight that comes with one of hockey’s biggest video game stages.
EA Sports announced Tuesday that the San Jose Sharks forward will be the cover athlete for NHL 27, making him the youngest player ever chosen for the game’s cover at 19. It’s a notable milestone for a player who has already gone from promising young talent to one of the league’s most productive offensive threats.
Celebrini is only the second Shark to land on the franchise cover. The series debuted in 1991, the same season the Sharks entered the league, and former San Jose standout Owen Nolan was the cover athlete for NHL 2001.
What Celebrini has done over the last two years explains why he’s there. After a solid rookie year, the Vancouver native took off in his second season and helped drive a Sharks push to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in seven years. San Jose fell short of a Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, but Celebrini’s production was impossible to miss: 45 goals, 70 assists and 115 points in 82 games, good for fourth in the NHL in scoring.
He also made his mark internationally. Celebrini earned a spot on Canada’s roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics and was, by the reporting here, arguably the team’s second-best player behind Connor McDavid.
In six games, he scored five goals and finished with 10 points, leading all skaters in goals and placing second to McDavid in tournament scoring. Canada reached the gold medal game before falling to the United States in overtime.
Celebrini’s run continued in the spring, when he captained Canada at the IIHF Men’s World Championship. Switzerland didn’t bring home a medal, but Celebrini still posted six goals and 14 points in 10 games, finishing second in the tournament in points and tied for third in goals. That performance helped earn him the 2026 IIHF Male Player of the Year award.
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