SAN JOSE – Rookie centerman Macklin Celebrini led the San Jose Sharks to their most lopsided win of the season on Monday.

Celebrini scored two of the Sharks' five third-period goals and had an assist in a 7-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings before an announced crowd of 10,713 on the SAP Center.

The Sharks scored three goals in the primary 3:43 of the third period. Celebrini's goals got here on the 1:03 mark, breaking a 2-2 tie, and at the three:43 mark, when his one-timer on a 5-on-3 power play gave the Sharks a 5-2 provided leadership.

Timothy Liljegren, Alexander Wennberg and Luke Kunin also scored goals within the third period for the Sharks, who set a brand new season high for goals in a single game. Nico Sturm and Fabian Zetterlund also scored because the Sharks ended a three-game losing streak and won for just the second time in eight games (2-3-3).

Rookie goaltender Yaroslav Askarov made 22 saves in his first profession start at SAP Center for his first win in a Sharks jersey.

Brandt Clarke and Anze Kopitar each scored goals for the Kings within the second period, with Kopitar's goal at 8:58 giving Los Angeles a 2-1 lead.

The Sharks later tied the sport within the second. Zetterlund picked up a pass from William Eklund within the Kings zone and circled the online. He then made a one-armed pass forward, with the puck sailing past Los Angeles defenseman Mikey Anderson and goaltender David Rittich for the ninth time this season.

The Sharks proceed their home game on Wednesday against the Ottawa Senators.

For the primary time this season, the Sharks needed to do without top scorer Mikael Granlund.

Granlund had 21:42 of ice time within the Sharks' 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabers on Saturday and received a maintenance day on Sunday. Warsofsky said Monday morning that he has “taken over” a number of players and that there can be some decisions regarding playing time.

Granlund, who plays in all situations, has scored 24 points in 23 games this season and leads all team forwards in average time on ice (21:15). It is unclear whether he can be out any longer as a consequence of the injury.

Before Monday's game, the Sharks activated center Sturm from injured reserve and sent defenseman Jack Thompson to the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL.

The transactions left the Sharks with 14 forwards, six defensemen and three goaltenders: Mackenzie Blackwood, Vitek Vanecek and Askarov, who began against the Kings because the Sharks played the second game of a four-game home stretch that ends later this week.

It was not immediately clear why the Sharks decided to maintain three goalies on their roster in the meanwhile. But it gave Askarov a probability to begin his first game in San Jose after making his Sharks debut Thursday in St. Louis. Askarov, acquired from the Nashville Predators in a serious trade in August, made 29 saves in a 3-2 loss to the Blues.

Askarov allowed Blues forward Nathan Walker a goal on the primary shot, which he hit 11 seconds into the sport. He went behind his net to play the puck but sent it straight to Radek Faksa, who found Walker open in front of the online and didn’t put Askarov in position.

Askarov nonetheless. responded with 14 straight saves to finish the quarter and made nine saves within the third period that helped send the sport to additional time.

“You can tell he’s quick and he can play the puck,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of Askarov on Monday morning. “He makes that one mistake, but the way he responds to it, the mental toughness he shows to keep moving forward and make some big saves in St. Louis. “You see the brilliant future he has , his speed.

“I think everyone is really happy with their current level of development. And we’ll see how the future develops.”

Originally published: November 25, 2024 at 10:09 pm PST

SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks never appear to make things easy for themselves.

The Sharks received a tripping penalty late within the third period and conceded a game-winning power play goal to Alex DeBrincat with 2:06 minutes left in regulation.

But that led to some time beyond regulation heroics from Macklin Celebrini, who scored just 46 seconds into time beyond regulation, leading the Sharks to a 5-4 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at SAP Center.

It was the primary time beyond regulation goal of Celebrini's short NHL profession. Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci had the assists.

The Sharks had a 4-3 lead on Luke Kunin's equalizing goal at 6:19 of the third period.

With the sport tied 3-3, Kunin won a faceoff within the Sharks' zone against Henry Thrun, who threw the puck within the neutral zone for Carl Grundstrom. Kunin raced down the ice to the Red Wings' goal, received a pass from Grundstrom and fired a shot past Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot for his third goal of the season.

William Eklund scored two goals within the second multi-goal game of his NHL profession, Tyler Toffoli scored his ninth goal of the season and goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood made 16 saves because the Sharks ended a three-game losing streak.

San Jose now begins a two-game road trip with stops in Dallas on Wednesday and St. Louis on Thursday.

The Sharks trailed 3-2 late within the second period after Alexander Wennberg made a puck-handling error that gave the Wings the lead. Wennberg had the puck within the corner to the left of the Sharks' net and skated to the slot area before attempting to send a brief pass to Thrun.

Thrun wasn't expecting it, nonetheless, and the puck flew off his skate and past Blackwood. Winger Michael Rasmussen received credit for the goal at 8:11 of the second period.

But Wennberg made up for it before the tip of the second period when he skated into the zone with the puck and fed to Toffoli, who fired a shot past Talbot for his third goal in two games.

Originally published: November 18, 2024 at 10:15 pm PST

SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks center Will Smith lost just six of 41 games with Boston College last season. Fellow freshman Macklin Celebrini went just 10 of 40 against Boston University.

Both could suffer more losses in a number of weeks this season than they did in all of last 12 months.

That's the physical and mental challenge that top draft picks like Smith and Celebrini may face this 12 months as they transition from wildly successful college programs to a Sharks team that, in turn, is anticipated to be an entire finally ends up at or near the underside of the NHL standings.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been on a bad team,” Smith said, not referring to the Sharks. “At the start of this year we’re trying to win and I’m trying to carry that winning mentality with me wherever I go.”

With the additions – and subtractions – they made this summer, the Sharks expect to enhance on their NHL-worst record of 19-54-9 last season. Still, not only are the Sharks expected to miss the playoffs for the sixth straight 12 months, but additionally they appear to have a great probability of winning the NHL Draft Lottery for the second straight 12 months.

For example, online sports betting sites project the Sharks to complete with 64 or 65 points, the bottom projected total of any NHL team.

That would mean a number of losses and greater than a number of losing streaks. Last season, the Sharks suffered 4 losses in at the least nine games.

With a strengthened roster, the Sharks will likely have the ability to avoid an identical disgrace this season. But how apprehensive should they be that each one these losses, in the event that they actually occur, may have a cumulative effect on the boldness of a newbie, especially one who has never lost a lot before?

“Winning is really hard, but how we deal with these losses could be even harder,” Sharks center Nico Sturm said. “When you have a great game, the team wins, you score, you feel good and it's very easy to get up and get on the ice the next day.

“But when you take a hit – I think we had 10 games in a row that we lost twice last year – it's hard to get up the next day, put your head down and go back to work.”

Like most rookies, Celebrini and Smith know they will face some adversity in their first professional seasons. If it happens as a team, they'll likely look to the veterans to see how they react.

“I think as older guys it’s up to us how we conduct ourselves,” Sharks defenseman Matt Benning said. “Because what do you do as a younger man who has never been here before? It's just human nature. You look at how the guys who have been there for a while deal with it.

“So I think the older guys, or the guys that have been in the league for a few years, are going to have a big responsibility on us to behave in a way that helps the younger guys get through whatever have to get through them.” .”

Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun experienced it firsthand when he moved from college to the NHL. In his final season at Harvard, 2022-23, before joining the Sharks and signing with the team, the Crimson went 24-8-2.

Remarkably, Thrun still hasn't won 24 games with the Sharks. They had a 2-5-1 record following his arrival in 2023 and were 9-36-6 with him within the lineup last season.

“It’s honestly the hardest thing to get used to, both from a team standpoint and a personal standpoint,” Thrun said. “In college, (Smith’s) team was obviously pretty good last year and from an individual standpoint he had a good year. Coming out of college I was in a similar boat where I had a good career and had a good team and you change things.

“There’s a lot of learning in the NHL. Unfortunately, you learn from your mistakes, and that's hard. You have to continue to believe in yourself and persevere. That’s how you stay optimistic: the self-belief and unwavering belief that you are there for a reason.”

The Sharks needed to present Celebrini and Smith the most effective possible probability to succeed this 12 months and brought in a handful of experienced players to supply insulation.

In Thursday's season opener against the St. Louis Blues, it looks like Celebrini will probably be on a line with Tyler Toffoli and William Eklund and Smith will play with Mikael Granlund and Fabian Zetterlund.

Smith and Celebrini got a taste of the NHL pace within the preseason, but the primary NHL regular season game will probably be an enormous eye-opener.

“The speed of the game, the tempo at which it is played, the details that it plays and its grown men,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of the most important difference between college hockey and the NHL. “In college, you might be up against a 23-year-old. Here you could compete against a 32-year-old who is 1.90 meters tall and weighs 100 kilograms in front of the net.

“But the biggest thing from my point of view is the speed of the game. When we talked about being quick against the full Vegas team (at Saturday's preseason game), it wasn't clear what was going to happen on Thursday night. And we have to be mentally prepared for that.”

That's what Smith is attempting to do.

“It’s the best league in the world and every night is going to be a fight,” Smith said. “We go in every night trying to win. There will be ups and downs, so stay tough and try to get through them.”

Originally published: October 8, 2024 at 3:56 p.m

LAS VEGAS — General manager Mike Grier and other members of the San Jose Sharks front office recently had dinner with Macklin Celebrini. Grier said the meeting was extremely nice because Celebrini showed a maturity unusual for his age.

It didn't take long for everybody to note one other element of the teenager's personality.

“His parents raised him really well,” Grier said of Rick and Robyn Celebrini. “But if you sit down with him for two minutes, I think you can really feel his drive and his competitiveness just jumping out at him.”

If the Sharks select Celebrini first within the NHL Draft on Friday on the Sphere in Las Vegas, they are going to not only get their future No. 1 center, but in addition someone who will lead his team into battle.

Considering the Sharks are expected to field a young team next season, this trait should make Celebrini extremely useful to a rebuilding franchise.

“It raises everyone's standards,” Celebrini's friend and fellow hopeful Cole Eiserman said Wednesday. “In practice, when a player is really competitive and he's tearing you down … it gets annoying and you want to get back at him. It inspires other players to be competitive and it creates a really positive atmosphere on the ice and in the locker room. It makes everyone better.”

“He plays a really complete game at both ends of the ice, he's dedicated and I love his competitiveness,” Grier said of Celebrini after the Sharks won the draft lottery in May. “You watch him practice and he works on every drill and does his best in every drill. He wants to win every puck battle.”

“He is a truly unique player at this age.”

That competitive spirit is at all times there, even when it's nearly having fun.

On Wednesday, Celebrini and 4 other top talents led a clinic for girls and boys ages 5 to 10 on the City National Arena on the outskirts of Las Vegas. The talents and young children did some fun drills before a casual game began.

It didn't take long for Celebrini, Zeev Buium, Tij Iginla and Zayne Parekh to show up the intensity. Celebrini and Iginla were on one team, Buium and Parekh on the opposite.

“I know we had a lot of fun out there,” Celebrini said. “I think we were a little bit ambitious.”

Soon, just a few guys were running from coast to coast, attempting to get certainly one of the young players to get a shot on goal. There was the occasional shoving of the boards, jostling in front of the goal, and perhaps even just a little trash talk amongst the longer term NHL stars.

“Macklin was a little upset that he was over there and had to lose to me again,” said Buium, a defenseman who played a key role within the University of Denver’s victory over Celebrini’s Boston University Terriers within the NCAA Frozen Four semifinals in April.

Wednesday's event was held along side the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition, whose members helped conduct the drills and remained kind of on the sidelines during informal games.

“These guys come out here, the pressure is off, and you can see their passion and love for the game and their competitive spirit,” said former NHL goalie Al Montoya, a member of the coalition. “Me? I've got my back against the wall so my legs don't get ripped out from under me. These guys don't care. They're having fun out here, and (Celebrini) is a damn good player, and he's going to be a damn good player for a long time.”

For Celebrini, this desire to win and – just as importantly – this hatred of losing is an element of his DNA.

Not only were his parents outstanding athletes themselves—Rick played for the Canadian national soccer team and Robyn was a standout soccer player for the University of British Columbia—but he also frequently competed against his older brother Aiden and his friends throughout his childhood in North Vancouver.

I asked Macklin Celebrini what his decision – to go pro or return to highschool – will likely be pic.twitter.com/qrHtN8FdTC

— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) 27 June 2024

“I feel like as a kid you always want to win,” Celebrini said while talking to reporters after Wednesday's event. “I always played against my brother and his older friends or my friends. You never want to lose because then someone has something against you. If it's your friends, they can get mad at you about it.”

“This competition has always existed, and I feel like where I grew up, I just grew up with it.”

Four years ago, when Eiserman and Celebrini were teammates at Shattuck-St. Mary's, they became so competitive sooner or later that they broke one another's rackets.

“I actually still have his broken cane in my room,” Eiserman said. “I took it back from Shattuck and will always keep it.”

Celebrini has not officially said whether he’ll turn pro or return to Boston University for his sophomore yr. The winner of the 2023-2024 Hobey Baker Award as the most effective college hockey player said that call will likely be made after the draft, after further discussions with the team that takes him, his parents and his advisors, although it could be a surprise to see him return to highschool.

Once he turns pro, the Sharks will get a special player, with loads of competitive spirit and all.

“Watching him play in Shattuck, skating with him, practicing with him, it's unbelievable,” Buium said. “He's got the shot, he can skate, he's got hands, IQ, he's got everything. And if he's not scoring, he's probably going to run you over.”

“So the Sharks are getting an all-rounder. One who will help them win the Stanley Cup.”