Macklin Celebrini Proves Effective During Sharks’ Victory

Macklin Celebrini has already been one of the bright spots on a San Jose team that came into the season with little to no expectations–and he shows no signs of stopping any time soon. The 19-year-old has seen immense success so far throughout the 2025-26 NHL campaign, with six goals in nine games, but none were perhaps more impactful than his overtime winner against the Wild on Sunday. 

Macklin Celebrini Contributes On Power Play

Most people will be talking about his late-game heroics, but Celebrini got involved early in Sunday’s contest by recording an assist on the opening goal of the game scored by William Eklund, contributing to the Sharks’ power play that has been amongst one of the best in the league throughout the first few weeks of the season. The second-year forward has been a huge part of that success, seeing as his six power play points lead the Sharks through nine games this season; he got involved again on the man advantage during the third period, assisting on Tyler Toffoil’s third game of the season, which at the time served as a much needed insurance goal as the period came to a close. Last night’s performance was the fourth multi-point performance of the season for Celebrini, which puts him among the likes of Cole Caufield, Jack Eichel and Sidney Crosby with at least that many multi-point performances so far this season.

Overtime Winner Gives Sharks Much-Needed Victory

Macklin Celebrini came into the season with high individual expectations after missing out on winning the Calder Trophy as a rookie in 2024-25, and boy has he lived up to those through the first few games of the 2025-26 campaign. His overtime winner against the Wild came after Minnesota controlled the puck for over a minute to start the 3×3 five-minute frame before a misstep allowed for the Vancouver native to score on a breakaway, giving San Jose their second win of the season. The Sharks haven’t been talked about much in the media given their poor start to the season, but the two bright spots in their lineup, Celebrini and fellow forward Will Smith, have given them hope that maybe they can produce a winning lineup sometime soon. 

End Of My Sharks Rant

Look, I didn’t have high hopes for the Sharks coming into this season, and honestly, I still don’t. They lack the scoring depth needed to get anywhere near the playoffs while playing in a stacked division in which they play teams like the Stars and Oilers multiple times a year, but what they’ve been building behind Celebrini and Smith could lead to them being relevant in a few years. However, I do have to acknowledge that they’ve already started adding to the depth with their recent draft pick in Michael Misa, so who knows, this victory could be the start of something good for San Jose if they can muster enough momentum to turn this into a winning streak.