While the San Jose Sharks have had a rough go of it in recent seasons, their consolation prize was that they were able to land several top young talents by fortunate luck in the NHL Draft Lottery, including 2024 first overall pick Macklin Celebrini.
Celebrini is now playing in his sophomore NHL season, and he's put the rest of the league on notice by having already tallied 14 goals with 20 assists in just 23 games, a pace of 50 goals and 71 assists. Considering that Celebrini isn't even of legal drinking age in the United States, his stardom is already confirmed if he's able to put up those kind of numbers.
It was 20 years ago during the 2005-06 NHL season that future Hall of Fame forward Sidney Crosby was a rookie, putting up similar numbers. Crosby had nothing but good things to say about Celebrini's work ethic and all-around talent.
“His hunger, his passion for the game (and) how hard he works,” Crosby said via The Athletic.
“He’s an incredible player. Just his all-around game at his age is pretty impressive. He’s committed defensively. He competes hard. He’s got a pretty mature game for his age.”
Crosby and the Penguins enjoyed a 3-0 shutout victory over Celebrini and the Sharks on October 13, and they'll play for the second and final time this season on December 13.
Macklin Celebrini could soon lead the Sharks to contention
The Sharks may still be a ways away from legitimate Stanley Cup contention, but with an established young core of players like Celebrini and 2023 fourth overall pick Will Smith, the Sharks have an exciting future ahead of them.
San Jose is currently over the .500 mark with an 11-9-3 record, and the team is only four points behind the Anaheim Ducks for the top spot in a very competitive Pacific Division.
Just as players like Crosby and Evgeni Malkin once did for the Penguins, don't be too surprised to see Celebrini and Smith soon have the same effect on the Sharks and their future success.
