Macklin Celebrini’s availability is suddenly the biggest question hanging over the Sharks as they head into Thursday’s road game against the St. Louis Blues.
San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said Celebrini is a game-time decision, a welcome update after the 20-year-old center sat out Monday’s 5-0 loss to the Dallas Stars with a lower-body injury. For a Sharks team built around its newest captain, even one missed game already felt significant.
Celebrini has been San Jose’s top scorer through the opening stretch, collecting five points on five assists in two games. He hasn’t scored yet this season, but the early production still leads the club.
The numbers from last season show exactly why the Sharks are treating his status so carefully. In all 82 regular-season games, the Vancouver native piled up 45 goals and 70 assists for 115 points, finishing fourth in the NHL in scoring and fourth in Hart Trophy voting.
His game has only grown on the biggest stages, too. At the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in February, he helped the Canadian men’s national team reach a silver medal, finishing with five goals and five assists for 10 points in six games.
The Sharks selected Celebrini first overall out of Boston University in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, and he wasted no time making an impact. As an 18-year-old rookie in the 2024-25 season, he put together 25 goals and 38 assists for 63 points in 70 games.
San Jose named Celebrini its 14th captain in franchise history in September, and he sits at the center of a young core that also includes forwards Will Smith, Michael Misa, and Ivar Stenberg, among others. The Sharks are aiming for their first playoff berth since 2019, with the bigger picture still pointing toward eventual Stanley Cup contention.
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