My 2024-25 Sharks Awards Vote

The San Jose Sharks have announced their 2024-25 Awards.

Here’s how I voted!

Player of the Year

Winner: Macklin Celebrini

My vote (in order): Macklin Celebrini, Tyler Toffoli, William Eklund

Toffoli has a good case as the San Jose Sharks’ leading goal-scorer and veteran leader, but on a night-to-night basis, at both ends of the ice, Celebrini has been consistently good, and not just for a rookie.

I also give Celebrini the positional edge over wingers Toffoli and Eklund, and he’s had to carry more of the load as 1C since the Sharks traded their other top center Mikael Granlund. The 18-year-old hasn’t really skipped a beat, leading San Jose with 26 points in 27 games since the deal.

Media Good Guy

Winner: Mario Ferraro

My vote (in order): Ferraro, Toffoli, Alex Wennberg

The San Jose Sharks lost some great interviews this season, like Nico Sturm and Jake Walman amd Mackenzie Blackwood.

But anyway, I usually vote for the guys with the most media responsibilities, a la leadership who have to come out and answer our questions after embarrassing loss after loss.

Everybody I voted for is part of leadership, but Ferraro does the best job of not going on auto pilot post-game, which is an understandable impulse.

Rookie of the Year

Winner: Macklin Celebrini

My vote (in order): Celebrini, Will Smith

No explanation necessary. Better question, who was San Jose’s third-best rookie this year? There’s healthy competition there between Collin Graf, Yaroslav Askarov, Nikolai Kovalenko, and Shakir Mukhamadullin.

Personally, I’d go Askarov.

Prospect of the Year

Winner: Sam Dickinson

The media doesn’t vote on this, team hockey operations does. It’s not an award for best prospect, it’s a vote for which prospect had the best season in his league.

The San Jose Sharks’ 2024 No. 11 pick covers both criteria though. He’s arguably the organization’s top prospect, and he had a banner year with the London Knights, breaking the team’s season record for points by a defenseman with 91, just ahead of Evan Bouchard and Rick Corriveau’s 87.