Celebrini Says He’s Playing on Tuesday

Return of the Mack?

All signs are pointing to the return of Macklin Celebrini to the San Jose Sharks’ line-up on Tuesday.

Celebrini has been practicing since Halloween, and on Monday, he took contact and was on a regular line too, both firsts in his recovery. The 2024 first-overall pick has been out since opening night, when he re-aggravated a hip injury that he’s nursed since training camp.

“We won’t put him in a game without contact. So that’s kind of where it’s at,” San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said on Saturday.

We’ll see if there are any more hurdles to cross for Celebrini. The Sharks take on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Nov. 5.

For his part, Celebrini, when asked if he was in tomorrow, said, “Yeah.” He also said there was nothing preventing him from playing tomorrow.

Warsofsky wouldn’t commit to Celebrini’s return, however.

“We’ll focus on tomorrow’s lineup, tomorrow,” Warsofsky said. “Obviously, some decisions to make in the morning.”

For the San Jose Sharks, assuming Celebrini wakes up on Tuesday morning in good health, they will have to make some roster decisions if they activate him off IR.

There were 16 forwards and seven defensemen and two goalies at practice this morning.

D-pairings:

Walman-Ceci
Ferraro-Rutta
Thrun-Liljegren
Carlsson-Thompson

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 4, 2024

That’s actually eight blueliners, but Lucas Carlsson is on IR and earmarked for the Barracuda.

The easiest decision would be the send down two of Gushchin, Thompson, or Cardwell, all waiver-exempt, to the Cuda. That will give the Sharks a compliant 23-man roster.

Waiving Klim Kostin or Givani Smith doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility either.