VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The San Jose Sharks probably couldn’t have asked for much more from 18-year-old centerman Macklin Celebrini in his first two-plus months in the NHL.
Celebrini has 25 points in 25 games, averages around 20 minutes of ice time per night, and regularly has to play against the opposing team’s top one or two lines. As the Christmas break begins, he has put himself in a position to win the Calder Memorial Trophy this season as the NHL’s top rookie.
It’s not an overstatement to say he’s breathed new life into the Sharks franchise.
None of that mattered to Celebrini on Monday night, though, and for obvious reasons.
While Celebrini had two assists in his first game as an NHL player in his hometown, his giveaway at the offensive blue line — later resulting in a Vancouver Canucks goal — was top of mind in what would become a 4-3 Sharks loss at Rogers Arena.
Celebrini carried the puck into the Canucks’ zone and attempted a backhand cross-ice pass to teammate and fellow rookie Will Smith, who was just coming across the blue line. But the pass was intercepted by Conor Garland, setting up a Canucks odd-man rush that Elias Pettersson would finish off.
“I thought (Smith) was kind of coming more towards me, and I just tried to make a play,” Celebrini said. “It was a split-second decision.”
The goal put the Sharks behind by two. Pettersson added a power-play goal shortly afterward, and despite getting third-period goals from Cody Ceci and Luke Kunin, the Sharks lost their fifth straight game.
“I feel like I’m playing some good hockey, but I’ve been making mistakes that kind of cost our team against some of these good teams,” Celebrini said. “Those turnovers, I can’t keep doing them.”
It’s just part of the steep learning curve for Celebrini, who has had a lot put on his shoulders very quickly.
There have been costly mistakes, like the one Monday and another one Dec. 10 – which he noted — in Carolina, where his failed clearing attempt ended up in the Sharks’ net, and moments when Celebrini tries to do too much.
Still, Celebrini’s play has been exhilarating at times, most notably his three games against the St. Louis Blues, in which he totaled three goals and four assists. His 11 goals so far are tied with Philadelphia’s Matvei Michkov for the league lead among rookies.
Consistency, though, will ultimately make Celebrini a star in the NHL. It’s a hard league, especially for a teenager.
“You’ve got to learn from it, and you’ve got to move forward, and he will,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of Celebrini. “He understands the importance of making mistakes and learning from them, and we’ve seen that all year, so I’m not too worried about it.
“I think he gives you everything he has every time he’s on the ice, and that’s a special player that’s learning how to play. He’s 18 years old in his hometown. … That’s what being a human being is all about, too. So, we’ve got to be there to help him. He’s going to learn from it. We’ll work to get better at it.”
Celebrini’s continued development will be one of the more intriguing things to watch the rest of the season.
Certainly, there will not be any hint of a playoff chase, as the Sharks, having lost eight of their last nine games, go into Christmas 12 points out of the last postseason spot. With 28 points in 37 games, the Sharks are now in 31st place out of 32 NHL teams.
Although the playoffs were never a realistic possibility for the Sharks, this wasn’t necessarily meant to be a tank year (unlike last season’s naked ambition). They do want to take a step forward and show they know how to win games.
The Sharks have been agonizingly close at times. They now hold a 7-8-6 record in one-goal games. San Jose played in 30 one-goal games all of last season while also losing by five or more goals a staggering 11 times.
The Sharks have only lost by four or more goals three times this season and only once since late October.
Monday, the Sharks could have folded after falling behind by three goals at the end of the second period, and perhaps last season’s team would have. Instead, they controlled most of the play in the final 20 minutes before coming up with one goal short. Again.
“I think we’re constantly getting better,” Sharks forward Barclay Goodrow said. “We’re in one goal games, it seems like, for the last month. Just need to keep grinding, keep working out ways to try to turn those one-goal losses into one-goal wins, two-goal wins, and continue to grind and get better.
“I think we can use this little break as a reset and come back after Christmas with fresh legs, a fresh mind, and get ready for a strong push, and kind of maybe use this third period when we did do a lot of things well, to get us going on the 27th.”
That’s when the Sharks face another quality opponent as the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights, with Tomas Hertl, visit SAP Center. It’ll be another test for Celebrini and the Sharks.
“I think we’ve just got to learn how to win,” Celebrini said. “They’ve all been one goal games, two goal games, so we’ve got to figure out how to put these games away, and today we had to battle back.
“We all believe that we can finish some of these games. It’s just about doing it.”