Sharks Locker Room: The Celebrini Effect

We’re learning more about Macklin Celebrini…and it’s good.

Last week at the Pittsburgh Penguins, the superstar center lost his regular right winger Will Smith to an upper-body injury.

Celebrini, however, hasn’t skipped a beat since Smith’s injury, scoring three goals and nine points since his best friend went down early in the third period at Pittsburgh.

He’s also doing all this with rookie Igor Chernyshov and sophomore Collin Graf on his line. Full respect to the very talented Chernyshov and surprising Graf, but this is not the top line that the Sharks envisioned over the summer.

But what Celebrini is demonstrating, more so than in his rookie campaign, is an ability to slow down the game and make his teammates better.

Last year, a trademark of Celebrini’s game was go-go-go, a breakneck pace that pressured opponents with shot volume, slot passes, and hound-like forechecking. While Celebrini is still doing all that, he’s also controlling the pace of the game like a chessmaster, at times.

Tic-tac-toe 🚨#TheFutureIsTeal pic.twitter.com/3n63EAuDPl

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) December 19, 2025

Celebrini uses all the attention that he commands against the Stars.

Moving at, for Celebrini (71), a crawl when Igor Chernyshov (92) drops the puck off to him on entry, three Stars, at different times, Esa Lindell (23), Radek Faksa (12), and Colin Blackwell (15), are mesmerized by the Sharks’ superstar.

This allows Collin Graf (51) to skate to the front of the net unmarked, where Chernyshov finds him wide-open, even though it’s even up 3-on-3 defensively.

A deliberate Celebrini, essentially, manipulates a down-low 2-on-1 for Chernyshov and Graf.

That’s making your teammates better.

Celebrini’s ability to carry a line makes the whole team better too, because then, the San Jose Sharks can load up, relative to their below-average talent depth team-wide, the second line with their best healthy wingers, William Eklund and Tyler Toffoli, and their second-best center, Alex Wennberg.

While this didn’t help on the scoresheet against Dallas, as the Wennberg line was held without a point, it certainly helped on their recent three-game winning streak. Wennberg, for example, notched one goal and seven points in that streak.

And the Wennberg line did generate lots of offense tonight: Per Natural Stat Trick, Wennberg had 12 5-on-5 shots when he was on the ice, as opposed to just six against. Eklund, on his own, had six shots on goal, second only to Celebrini’s eight.

Anyway, that’s what superstars do, your Connor McDavids and Jaromir Jagrs and company. They carry lines and make everybody better, up and down the line-up.

Alex Wennberg

Wennberg, on difference between San Jose Sharks and the Cup-contending Stars:

I feel like we had a chance, we played a lot of good minutes, but we just got to keep consistently and do it 60 minutes.

Wennberg, on Nedeljkovic missed pass to him that led to Hryckowian goal:

It happens in a game. Obviously, Ned is really good puck-playing goalie. Obviously it is what it is, but I don’t really have a comment. I feel like he’s really good goalie. I should read that a little bit better.

Alex Nedeljkovic

Nedeljkovic, on his giveaway on the Justin Hryckowian goal: "They took the wall away. I think they were coming hard. I made the play earlier in the game. I thought we had an opportunity there to maybe hit the middle. I just didn't execute on the play."

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 19, 2025

Collin Graf

Graf, on the Stars’ second-ranked power play:

They move the puck fast. We were both right there within a foot of the puck. Not a lot of teams can snap the puck around that quickly, right on the tape. It’s frustrating, because obviously they got that power play goal

Graf said his first goal was a set play: "It was a set play for him to go forward there. I was just trying to go to the back post. I just sort of stayed there because he still had the puck…he made an unreal pass to me." https://t.co/o6hhhhT0co

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 19, 2025

Ryan Warsofsky

Warsofsky, on more swagger with San Jose Sharks’ game since the last time they played Stars:

I’d say that’s fair to say. We’re starting to figure it out, how hard we have to play, the identity we need to play with, the structure we need to play with. You can feel it, when we get some momentum that we’re playing with it a little bit longer, we’re getting some good looks. We’re playing quicker. So there’s definitely been a step in our game here.

Warsofsky, on Igor Chernyshov’s second game:

Just his play away from the puck, his wall play, getting into defenseman. It’s the finer details of playing at this level, which is to be expected. It’s not on the kid, we have to work with him on some details of his game, but he’s going to be a good player.

Warsofsky says Sharks saw a definitive view of the Ostapchuk no-goal, proving that the touch was high and Toronto made the right call

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 19, 2025

Warsofsky, on message between second and third periods:

Message was it was 5-1 against Pittsburgh. It’s only 4-2 against Dallas. So we’ve done it. This is a smaller hill to climb. We know we got it in here to do it. Nothing needed to be said other than that.

Warsofsky, on Celebrini elevating his game recently:

You feel like every game, he takes his game to another level, really. He’s on a mission. He’s been on a mission since training camp. It just seems like when you’re as competitive as he is, he wants to just get better and better and better. And that’s what great players do.

He’ll come out Saturday and he’ll be wanting to get right after it again, and he’ll be flying and making things happen and being competitive and dragging guys into the fight.