Save our Soulebrini

With yet another loss, the San Jose Sharks’ tough-to-watch skid continues. The fifth consecutive defeat came in the form of a 4-3 loss on the road against the Dallas Stars. While, shockingly, last night was somehow an improvement from the previous game against the Minnesota Wild (100% thanks to players’ effort and none to coaching staff), it was still incredibly frustrating. The frustration completely boils over with certain players being mismanaged into oblivion. 

It’s not a secret the Sharks, particularly Head Coach, Ryan Warsofsky, rely extremely heavily on generational talent Macklin Celebrini. This is a theme that has carried over from last season, where Celebrini was the only player on the roster to break 60 total points (he had 115), 30 goals (he had 45) and 40 assists (he had 70). He even had more total points than Will Smith (59) and William Eklund (55), who were second and third on the team in points respectively, combined. Celebrini obviously has immense value to the team, which he currently leads with 21 points (7G, 14A) in 17 games played. This is made even more obvious when you look at the second highest scorer on the roster, Will Smith, who has only 13 points (7G, 6A) in 19 games. 

Celebrini is a once in a lifetime talent, so naturally he’s going to have a lot of workload. However, what we’re currently seeing is severely crossing a line. Warsofsky has become a Celebrini merchant, and has totally mismanaged and disserviced the other young talent on the team. Considering the spectacular pool of talented young stars on the team, so much emphasis shouldn’t have to be placed on Celebrini. Of course he’s always going to outpace the team, that’s what a generational talent does. But he doesn’t need to do it all alone, he has support. 

That being said, it’s a matter of actually giving him the proper support. Last night the reliance on the 20-year-old captain went too far, with him recording over 28 minutes of time on ice…that’s almost half the game. At one point he even took a 60 second shift, rested for less than ten seconds, and hopped back on the ice for more than 60 seconds. This is not sustainable. The double shifting is not sustainable. Averaging 23+ minutes of time on ice a night is not sustainable. This is all a recipe for burnout. 

The burnout of Macklin Celebrini is a very real concern, especially with how the coaching staff is carrying on. To an extent Celebrini has certainly been coaching himself, repeatedly choosing to double shift himself, but a line needs to be drawn. Warsofsky needs to step in when he wants to double shift himself and stop overworking him. The concern doesn’t just regard his physical well-being, although overworking is a big factor for injuries especially for young athletes and is definitely a cause for alarm, but also his mental well-being. The sustainability of this exceeds far past the physical being and into his mental health. This amount of constant pressure cannot be maintained by anyone, but especially not by a 20-year-old who already held the weight of the world on his shoulders. 

Something needs to be done, this can’t keep going the way it has. There is a fearsome amount of depth within the San Jose Sharks system. Use it. Save Macklin Celebrini from completely preventable burnout, and potential injury. Save this team from Warsofsky.