Apr 3, 2025; San Jose, California, USA; San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini (71) and center Will Smith (2) throw pucks into the crowd during warm ups before their game against the Edmonton Oilers at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

Sharks Stars Practicing with Penguins' Sidney Crosby

Originally posted on Breakaway on SI
By Tyler Major-Mcnicol | Last updated Jul 31, 2025 4:00 PM ET

The San Jose Sharks have been in the basement of the league for some time, and their pain gave them the draft picks to select Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, among some other fantastic young talent, who general manager Mike Grier is counting on to make the Sharks a team that opponents fear.

One sure-fire way to ensure that they show up prepared next season, to build on what the Sharks' faithful surely hopes was just a start would be practicing with arguably the best player in the world Sidney Crosby.

A guy who has been a captain for what seems like his whole entire career, and won three Stanley Cups sounds like a good start. But it wasn't just Crosby on the other bench, his good buddy and fellow Nova Scotian Nathan MacKinnon was on No. 87's wing.

willmack spotted with the nova scotia boys pic.twitter.com/de6NVamJxb
— bee (@technicallybee) July 31, 2025

Celebrini is coming off a fantastic debut season. After going first overall in the 2024 NHL Draft, he made an immediate jump to the NHL and finished second in the Calder Trophy race with 63 points in 70 games, behind rookie of the year Lane Hutson.

Smith's debut season was a strong one, also. The Lexington, MA native posted 45 points in 74 games, and though he didn't make as much noise in the Calder race as Celebrini, his performance gave the Sharks organization plenty to be happy about.

The Sharks just drafted Michael Misa, and if all goes well, he and William Eklund could be a nice duo on the second line, while Celebrini and Smith are at work trying to put all they learned from MacKinnon and Crosby into their game.

San Jose has struggled, but if their high picks can start paying off, Grier will have to task his staff with meticulously scouting, with a later pick than the 5-10 range they have become accustomed to.

Celebrini and Smith lead the forward core, but the pipeline has strong options on defense and between the pipes. The likes of Sam Dickinson, Shakhir Mukhamadullin and Lucas Carlsson in the mix for the blueline and all under 25, and Yaroslav Askarov, Jakub Skarek and top prospect Joshua Ravensberger.

No. 2 and No. 71 are preparing for something big, and they will lead the Sharks through the murky regular season waters, with hopes for a shocking playoff berth.

This article first appeared on Breakaway on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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