Sharks Locker Room: Celebrini Shows His Maturity…After the Game

Typically, after an embarrassing loss, you wouldn’t ask an 18-year-old to answer for the team post-game.

Those responsibilities are usually left for leadership or veteran players, which is why you see, after the San Jose Sharks’ many, many humiliating defeats over the last handful of seasons, basically a rotation of captains come out after stinkers.

Whose turn is it tonight? We got Mario Ferraro on Tuesday. Let’s get Luke Kunin today.

It’s sort of an unspoken agreement between local media, who select which Sharks speak post-game, and team PR, that you let the vets speak for the team in the worst of times.

It makes sense.

After the San Jose Sharks’ 8-3 loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday though, I was curious how Macklin Celebrini saw such a defeat.

He’s not just any 18-year-old, of course: He’s also your first-line center and someone who has shown uncommon maturity in his rookie year.

There was also no intention to grill him. As wonderfully gifted as Celebrini is, we all know there’s only so much that he can do by himself to change the course of an 8-3 rout. This wasn’t a game lost by one play or anything.

Keep in mind too, it’s just a request.

The Sharks have denied our post-game requests before, usually because of an injury to the player. But there have also been cases where they’ve protected young players too emotionally distraught to speak post-game, or a veteran has taken it upon himself to talk to us in place of a youngster.

That’s a good thing: The Sharks as an organization and a locker room need to protect their own, first and foremost.

But…

There have also been too many of these kind of losses over the last few years, so I was curious how a different voice, who also happens to be so integral to the current team and the future of the franchise, was internalizing, honestly, getting his butt kicked.

Celebrini showed that he doesn’t need to be coddled.

You can see for yourself, he answered all questions, all fair ones I think, like a polished vet.

“That’s something that I got to learn to be better with,” Celebrini said about the team’s dismal puck management. “I think we continue to try to make plays, but we got to know when that’s not there.”

If this is what captain Macklin Celebrini looks like one day, the San Jose Sharks are in good hands.

I’m not saying, by the way, give him a letter next year. He’s still a teenager next season.

I do think you should protect an 18-year-old and let him be a kid more times than not.

But I was still impressed with his performance post-game, how he spoke for the team, while taking his fair share of the blame.

“That starts with me. I wasn’t good enough.”

That’s leadership.

Macklin Celebrini

Celebrini, on the one thing that he’d improve about this game:

Our coaches preach on it. I take full responsibility. I’m giving up too many pucks.

I’m trying to make a play, but sometimes, it’s not there. Team like that, quick transition, and coaches have told us that can’t give away pucks against teams like that. I did.

That’s something that I got to learn to be better with. All in all, we need to kind of clean that up. But that starts with me. I wasn’t good enough.

Celebrini, on if the Sharks fell too much in love with rush hockey after getting off to a quick start:

I don’t think so. There has been a time or two this year that we have. I don’t think tonight was that.

We scored two in the first couple shifts. Once that happens, I mean, we have the rest of the game to play.

Like I’ve said before, they’re a great hockey team that pushed back. I think we continue to try to make plays, but we got to know when that’s not there.

Luke Kunin

Kunin, on the Stars:

They’re a structured team. They play the same way throughout the whole game. We gotta know that. We gotta be better, not give them chances, and looks like we did. Left V out to dry most of the night.

Everyone just does their job. Whatever their routes are, they’re predictable. We got to do that every night, everyone do their job and trust that the other guys will do theirs.

William Eklund

Eklund, on seeing Mikael Granlund on the other side:

It was weird. It’s part of the game. We know how it works, but it was weird, for sure.

Eklund, on the San Jose Sharks’ compete:

I know we are a competing group. Every guy here wants to win, trying every day to get better, trust me. That’s not the biggest problem, I feel like our puck play and stuff like that might be an even bigger problem right now. Obviously, we weren’t at the best complete level today. But I think we have other stuff we got to think about too.

Eklund, on any advice that he might have for Celebrini and Will Smith, in terms of handling a loss like this:

Yeah, it sucks. I can say you never want to be there. Don’t let it be the habit, and we’re just going to find a way now to turn this around and do a better job and not getting into situations [like this].

I am going to go [to] myself and see what I can do better for this team and for this group. I know all my team is going to go the same, and we got to come back here and be better.

Ryan Warsofsky

Warsofsky on the Stars: "They're professional. They're a lot like the Florida Panthers. They just keep coming and they keep coming and they play the right way. They play winning hockey. There's no cuteness to their game. They play winning hockey. That was what I would say."

— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) February 9, 2025

Warsofsky on benching Henry Thrun for the final 8 minutes of the first period.

"Just got to be ready (from) puck drop. Could have benched 14 guys, but you obviously, we can't. I think it's a young defenseman that's understanding how to play with urgency in certain situations."

— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) February 9, 2025

Warsofsky, on not getting lured into a rush game with a transition team like the Stars:

You got to be alert. Within our meetings, we pre-scout. Some of the things that we show, it goes [on] out there, and exactly the stuff we talked about happens. The Jamie Benn goal, breakaway goal, we showed three clips of that. So it comes down to being mentally focused and understanding what’s going on in the hockey game.

Matt Duchene on what advice he’d give Celebrini and Smith:
“It's tough, you want to develop your your offensive game and produce despite your team maybe not being in the mix, but at the same time, I think,
if I could go back and give myself some advice, I would definitely have…

— William Espy (@William_Espy) February 9, 2025