Sheng Peng
COLUMBUS — Ryan Warsofsky thinks Macklin Celebrini is still playing excellent hockey.
That’s not just coach-speak, despite Celebrini’s recent mini-slump, two assists in his last six games. No coincidence, Celebrini’s San Jose Sharks have also slipped: They’re on a six-game losing streak that’s pretty much finished their playoff hopes.
It seems strange to call out what’s basically just a two-week cold spell, but such is Celebrini’s importance to San Jose: The Sharks are 1-16-2 when Celebrini doesn’t notch a point.
Celebrini, however, is still impacting the game on multiple levels, even when he’s not scoring.
Thursday’s 2-1 OT loss at the St. Louis Blues will be remembered for what Macklin Celebrini called his misjudgment of the time left on the clock, which caused him to slow down on his backcheck of Dylan Holloway, the last-second game-winner. Thought is, the 19-year-old is wearing down, as his sophomore season winds to a close.
But the scoreboard won’t show his B-game, the many puck battles and defensive plays that Celebrini made to get the San Jose Sharks into OT.
Personally, I’d be more concerned about Celebrini and fatigue if he was losing more puck battles than usual. But he didn’t look tired bullying Blue after Blue for the puck yesterday. He might not be as fresh as he was in October, that’s any player who averages over 20 minutes a night, but he’s still San Jose’s best player by a mile. While the Sharks still have a ghost of a chance to make the playoffs, he’s San Jose’s best shot for a miracle run.
“At the end of day, he is playing some really good hockey,” Warsofsky insisted.
Celebrini’s B-game, and the fact that he is still getting plenty of chances, suggests that he’ll start scoring soon.
Warsofsky certainly believes it.
The San Jose Sharks’ bench boss spoke today about whether Celebrini is tired, if his teen sensation is trying to do too much by himself, why Celebrini isn’t scoring as much recently, how they’re trying to manage his minutes, and why this mini-slump will be just a small speed bump in his superstar center’s career.
Celebrini didn’t practice with the San Jose Sharks today, getting a maintenance day, which has been a fairly regular occurrence since the Olympics.
Sheng Peng: Why a maintenance day, is Celebrini hurt?
Ryan Warsofsky: He’s not hurt. We’ve been doing this since the Olympic break. That’s really what it is, it’s maintenance.
SP: Is Celebrini tired?
RW: No, he’s not tired. It’s part of the process that we’re going through with him. Played in the Olympics, played some big minutes over there. He’s played a lot of minutes for us. We’re just trying to manage it.
SP: You don’t see in his game any kind of unusual physical fatigue showing?
RW: No.
SP: Can you share if you’re doing anything else to compensate, give Celebrini some more time off?
RW: He’s not skating today. As many times as we can get him a day here or there, we’ll do it. It’s what we’ve been doing since the Olympic break.
SP: Another way to look at it, is all this something that Celebrini has to learn and grind through?
RW: I mean, yeah, he has to go through it all, like he’s done, and he’s done a really good job of it. He’s learning, just like any young player, in a lot of different situations, whether that’s on the ice, whether that’s how to prepare off the ice, to deal with the schedule. Obviously went through it last year. I think he’s handled it really well this year.
SP: There are a couple things that jump out about Celebrini statistically during this losing streak, besides the points. He’s also not getting his shot on goal at 5-on-5 quite as much and there have more giveaways than normal. I’m not necessarily attributing it to fatigue, could Macklin just be trying to make the difference too much by himself?
RW: No, I think it’s this time of year. The game is really tight. It’s checked really hard. He’s one of our best players, as we know, and he’s getting checked really hard. He’s getting doubled up quickly. Again, another moment of growth for him is to learn through it and get through it. But he’s going to be better for it, and I think he’s done a really good job of handling it.
You saw a little bit last year on the Southeast trip we went on, when we played Tampa and Florida, against Barkov and Cirelli. He’s been checked really hard. And that’s what’s going to happen when you’re one of the best players in the league, and he’s done a really good job of that.
So at the end of the day, it’s not just one player, it’s our whole team having an understanding of how you need to play this time of year.
After the deadline, after the Olympic break, the games get a little bit more intense. The ice gets a little bit tighter, and you got to fight for every inch. Not just Macklin, but for our whole group.
SP: So for your whole group, when the defense is on you quicker, you’ve got make quicker decisions, give up the puck quicker, and still make sure they’re good decisions?
RW: Yeah, for everyone, for our whole group.
SP: For what it’s worth, besides the OT mistake, I thought yesterday was one of Celebrini’s stronger games during this losing streak. He was better managing the puck and was strong defensively and won lots of puck battles.
RW: Yeah, I mean, that’s what he’s been all year.
You guys are going to look at it because he doesn’t have any goals, he doesn’t have an assist, and we’re gonna sit there, we’re gonna all of a sudden panic, like the kid can’t play the game anymore. He’s gonna go through this when he has a 20-year NHL career, there’s gonna be moments where he doesn’t get a point in four or five games. That’s how the game works. You can see it with the best of them.
So we can dissect it. We can pick it apart. You can do what you want to do, but at the end of day, he is playing some really good hockey. He’s done a lot of great things for us. He’s developed in a lot of different ways, more ways than one, and he’s going to continue to learn and get better, and he’s going to go through this again in this career.
So it is what it is. We got to help them as coaches. And at the end of the day, it’s a team game, it’s up to the rest of our team to continue to work and get better and play in this type of hockey this time of year.