San Jose Sharks
Sharks Locker Room: Best Game of Celebrini’s Career…So Far?
ST. LOUIS — This might have been the best game of Macklin Celebrini’s career…so far.
Not only did the 18-year-old score two goals and add an assist in the San Jose Sharks’ 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues — head coach Ryan Warsofsky reported Celebrini’s second goal was “one of the best shots I’ve ever seen” — but also?
Celebrini snipe off the Granny sauce!
🎯🍝😮💨 #HatTrickWatch🧢 #TheFutureIsTeal pic.twitter.com/cpkmvQeYl2— SnipeCity420 (@SnipeCity420) December 13, 2024
“He’s not just offensively gifted,” Jake Walman, who scored the game-winner, said. “He’s defensively gifted too.”
Macklin Celebrini is on a different planet. pic.twitter.com/Hm3yeu1y2A
— JD Young (@MyFryHole) December 13, 2024
It wasn’t just the obvious defensive plays either. It’s something that’s been said about Celebrini well before the 2024 Draft: He thinks defense-first, rare for such a talented offensive player.
For whatever reason, Celebrini (71) in the corner can’t come up with the Cody Ceci (4) high-to-low pass.
Most super-skilled teenagers would try to chase that puck: Celebrini doesn’t.
There isn’t even a second of hesitation on Celebrini’s part to get back in good defensive position, above the puck, and because the centerman is set on D, Dylan Holloway (81) and the Blues can’t counterattack, eventually just dumping it back to the Sharks.
Imagine Celebrini chases the puck, even for a second, that could put two forecheckers, including Tyler Toffoli (73) on one Blue in Holloway, and with the right pass up — Robert Thomas (18) looks like he’s waiting on it — St. Louis could be off on the rush.
Big plays and little plays, this was one of the best two-way games that Warsofsky has seen Celebrini play.
“For sure,” Warsofsky said, “not even close.”
Macklin Celebrini tonight:
•2 goals
•1 primary assists
•6 shots on goal
•Shots 14-3, high danger chances 6-1 in his 5v5 minutes— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) December 13, 2024
After the game, Celebrini had tons of praise for new linemate Nikolai Kovalenko, who had three assists.
Walman talked about setting a career-high 22 points in just 27 games.
Alexandar Georgiev enjoyed his first win as a member of the San Jose Sharks.
And Warsofsky heaped praise on Celebrini, Kovalenko, and Shakir Mukhamadullin.
Macklin Celebrini
Celebrini laughed when I asked if he meant to pass it to himself on his 1st goal: "No, I was not. That was a lucky bounce."
There was no luck on the 2nd goal.
Warsofsky: "The 2nd goal is one of the best shots I've ever seen. Just the release that he has, put our whole bench in…
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 13, 2024
Celebrini, on his two-way game tonight:
I was pretty happy with how I played defensively. That’s important to me and my game, and felt like I did a good job, breaking up some plays.
Funny story, when the Blues PA were announcing 3 Stars, they said "Andrei" Kovalenko first, before correcting themselves.#SJSharks know what they've got in his son Nikolai Kovalenko.
Celebrini: "He's so strong on the puck. Wins pucks for our guys, and he's been amazing for us.…
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 13, 2024
Jake Walman
Walman, on scoring the game-winner over his old team:
Feels good. Any hockey player coming back to a place that they once were…little extra motivation, you know?
Walman, on setting a career-high with 22 points in just 27 games:
Just confidence is everything for me personally. It’s always been there, just got to go out there and do it. Getting the opportunity, like you said. It’s easy to play with the guys that I got around me. It makes it fun
Walman, on Celebrini:
There’s so much I can say about this guy. It’s unreal. It’s just such a treat to play with him. He’s not just offensively gifted. He’s defensively gifted too.
That’s something that people are taking note of now. He’s a 200-foot player. Anybody can kind of try and play offense, but he plays both, both ends, as hard as he can, and he competes.
He’s a workhorse for our team. He’s the engine. When he’s out there, just good things happen. I can’t say enough good things.
Alexandar Georgiev
Georgiev, on his performance:
I’m pretty happy with the effort. Need to check the goals on video, but felt like I was in the right places a lot, and they just managed to getsome good goals. Try to forget about them and keep going.
Ryan Warsofsky
Warsofsky, on Georgiev:
It was really solid. Obviously, some of the goals and chances, he was fighting a lot of traffic, so he’s trying to navigate his way through some bodies. And I thought he did good job.
Warsofsky, on Shakir Mukhamadullin:
I thought he was good. He was calm, he was poised with the puck, didn’t look out of place whatsoever. I think his game is just going to go up from here.
Warsofsky had no update on Kostin
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 13, 2024
Warsofsky, on how Celebrini has gotten better on this road trip:
Defending. I’ve seen him get better, one-on-one defending. Without the puck in the defensive zone, the way he closes in the defensive zone is remarkable for an 18-year-old.
And then obviously the shot, obviously the first goal, and then the second goal is one of the best shots I’ve ever seen. Just the release that he has, put our whole bench in awe.
Obviously, a special player.
But I think he’s grown a lot, not just with the puck, but without it.
Warsofsky, on if this is one of the better two-way games that he’s seen Celebrini play:
For sure, not even close.
Macklin is going to be a true star. I see Sidney Crosby sort or work ethic and leadership. The guys only 18 just blows my mind. If he can turn in performances like last night on a consistent bases he will be league mvp. Also tuned in late, what’s the status of Will Smith injury? Can’t wait for him to adapt fully to nhl game. He seems a little timid to me so more experience his confidence will grow
It’s still insane to me that there’s people out there writing off Celebrini and making the discussion purely Bedard or Michkov. Imo Celly is the best of the three all around. He’s the best defensively by a massive margin, seems to be just as talented offensively and had a work ethic that could only be matched by the other two, impossible to exceed.
He’s the best of the three overall and all the data backs it up. It’s still early, yes but I don’t see how he’ll somehow get worse.
Who exactly is writing off Cele? Are you just trying to make up a story?
Other fanbases (esp East Coast, Original 6) are very much downplaying his performance so far. Not as much national media coverage as your typical 1OA, now that he’s in a West Coast market.
Fans on hockey forums and other social media. Go take a look on other platforms before you say it’s not happening.
“Writing off” Cele?? That verbiage doesn’t add up. If that is their position, I wouldn’t be following those platforms; obviously don’t know what they are talking about or have watched him play.
I was referring to writing him off as in he’s not even comparable to the other two players mentioned. I agree they clearly haven’t watched him or know what they’re talking about. You can’t control people having opinions on hockey forums, I was merely saying it’s crazy to me that there are people out there who think this, not that they’re right or that their opinion has any specific weight.
No one is doing that. Most I’ve seen are are people wondering if they were wrong about Bedard because he’s struggling. I read an article from the athletic talking about how the Calder is Michelin’s to lose but that’s typical east cost bias. A grap ton of his points are on the PP while the overwhelming amount of Cellys are 5v5. If they both stay healthy I don’t know how Celly doesn’t win it.
Michkov, fwiw, has 1/2 of his pts on the PP. At one point early on, I think it was all PP points. He and Macklin are both essentially at 1.0 ppg. Michkov, early in the season, went as low as -9 (yikes). He’s now at +5 — that’s a huge turn. People want to say +/- is worthless. While its not the be-all, end-all, to average nearly +1 per game over 15-ish games suggests he’s no longer the scorer/liability he appeared to be early on. I’m not sure what gotten in Michkov, but the stats suggest his even strength play… Read more »
I’m still wondering what it will be like to have Michkov and Celebrini on the same line.
also, I didn’t see a big hit on Celebrini yet, that might be a factor too.
He’s been good at seeing what coming. Though to be fair, he usually not the one getting forechecked.
The reports are Mitchkov said he would not play for the Sharks and few other teams & the first team he would play for was the Flyers. With that in mind F#ck him!
Not me. When a girl says she’s not interested I take the hint and move on. It’s early, I’m not convinced Smith won’t turn out to be the more important player yet. Jumbo won a scoring title cup never a Cup. If Smith helps Celly with that by being a 2nd line scoring center or eventually his scoring winger, I’m all good. Talk to me in 3 or 4 seasons and we’ll have a better idea who is “better”.
See above comment. You clearly don’t partake in any other platform of hockey engagement if you don’t think it’s happening.
Which comment?
You mean chat boards with fans that don’t know shit? I’m talking about national media and professional hockey people. No one with real knowledge is saying what you claim. There is a never ending supply of fans of ever team blinded by love of their team and unable to be objective about their own players. It’s why everyone loses their mind when I suggest an undersized winger who lacks grit should be available in an effort to acquire an important missing piece to this rebuild. 😉
The comment where I explained how you guys misinterpreted my comment and responded to that rather than what I actually said.
No one cares what other forums and especially what social media thinks. Sharks HF boards had a hissy fit that Eklund got moved to the 4th line after playing like shit the other day. Bunch of entitled children that never had to work hard to achieve. Complaining about Wario as though they know how to coach pro hockey players better. As if Eklund wouldn’t be able to work through a rough patch. Unlike what I see on most forums and social media. The kid is resilient and driven.
Maybe the same east coast bias that lost Gerhart, Luck and McCaffrey the Heisman crown for Stanford football.
Could be? I don’t follow college football so I’m not familiar with any of that. I know Burns lost a Norris to EK65 that easily should have been his, maybe 2016? Can’t remember the year but pretty sure it was that one. Led the team in points & the Sharks were a power house.
Over time, it’ll be interesting to see how the 4 teams with the top 4 picks in each of the last 2 drafts plays out. Sharks: Celebrini, Smith Ducks: Sennecke, Carlsson Jackets: Fantilli, Lindstrom Blackhawks: Bedard, Levshunov It’ll also be interesting to see how Michkov fares relative to Smith, Fantilli and Carlsson, as each team (other than Chicago) chose to pass on him. On this list, only the 2 sharks players have made their NHL debut. Another note. Among the draft class of 2024, only 3 players have made their NHL debut. Macklin, Jett Luchenko (taken 14th overall by phily)… Read more »
Macklin now has points in 11 of his 20 career games. The Sharks have a .636 win percentage in those games (6-3-2). They’re 1-5-3 in the others. He’s a transformative talent.
On the video, not only does Celebrini go back and play defense, watch how he retreats. He’s trying to figure out where the cross-ice passing lanes are to take them away. So the play gets forced up the wall.
With no rush chance, the dump-in allows the Blues change lines and the Sharks to get the puck back.
It’s ridiculous how smart he is.