Macklin Celebrini is having quite the sophomore season.
The first-overall pick in the 2024 draft has been as advertised for the San Jose Sharks to start the season, helping guide the team into playoff contention as the new year approaches.
The West Vancouver, B.C. native leads the Sharks in both goals (15) and assists (28) through 31 games played, and his 43 points are good for third among all NHL skaters behind Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid.
With less than three weeks remaining before Team Canada’s roster is finalized for the Milano Cortina Games, Celebrini has played his way into serious consideration for the Olympics and could very well end up forcing general manager Doug Armstrong’s hand for a selection.
“We’re not a part of those [Olympic] conversations but I don’t know how you can’t put him on that team,” Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky in an appearance on TSN1050’s First Up Thursday morning. “What he brings every single night, being a 200-foot player, the physicality … he stays where his feet are and I think he’d be a welcome addition.
“Hopefully, when they play the U.S. he has a slow night,” joked Warsofsky, who served as head coach for the United States at the 2025 IIHF Men’s World Championship. “But he’s a great player, and I think he should be on that hockey team, for sure.”
While Celebrini has been among the most productive players in the league this year, Warsofsky believes what sets the young phenom apart from other budding stars around the league is his all-around game and prowess in the defensive end.
“Everyone sees the points and the highlights and his skillset of creating offence, but what you don’t probably see is how much of a 200-foot centre he is, how physical he is down low in closing and killing plays,” Warsofsky said of Celebrini. “He takes pride in that. I think that’s what’s so impressive for us as a coaching staff.
“At 19 [years of age], we have a guy that takes a lot of pride on the other side of the puck, and that’s unusual these days. That’s probably what sticks out the most for us, is how much he defends with purpose and pride.”
Celebrini is coming off a promising 25-goal, 63-point rookie campaign, but the Sharks ended up finishing dead last in the NHL with just 20 wins and 52 points last season, also Warsofsky’s first year behind San Jose’s bench.
Now both armed with a full year of experience, Celebrini and Warsofsky have the Sharks just one point out from the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference with their sights set on ending a six-year playoff drought.
“We’ve played some pretty good hockey, I think at times we’ve been a little bit inconsistent game to game, but that comes with youth and transitioning as an organization and going forward,” Warsofsky said of his team.
“We can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel through his rebuild here.”
The Sharks (14-14-3) continue their push for the playoffs on Thursday with a meeting against the Toronto Maple Leafs, before ending the calendar year with a stretch of eight games.
Five of those contests will come against teams currently in a playoff spot, and will wrap up on Dec. 31, the day Celebrini could officially be named to Canada’s Olympic roster.
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