The Sharks' Ties to Macklin Celebrini Make This a Banner Year to Bottom Out
The San Jose Sharks have had a rough go to say the least in the 2023-24 season, but luckily for them, that also puts them in the perfect position to land a potential franchise-altering talent with ties to the Bay Area.
In their first 31 seasons of existence, the San Jose Sharks have not won a Stanley Cup.
They’ve also never won a draft lottery. And the silver lining from this year’s lost season might be a golden opportunity to change that, with the prize being a foundational player who would be a perfect fit.
Macklin Celebrini is the consensus top prospect for the 2024 draft. Like Connor Bedard, he hails from the Vancouver area and got his start in hockey at the North Shore Winter Club. And as our own Ryan Kennedy reported a few weeks back, there’s a feeling that Celebrini’s skillset is being underestimated because he’s following in the wake of such a big-time prospect.
“I think there's a Bedard hangover, because (Celebrini) is incredible," an unnamed scout told Kennedy. "The hockey sense, the skill, the puck protection and second-effort; what I hear about his work habits - he's outperforming guys in college already. For me, he's a clear-cut, no-one's-even-close-to-challenging- him No. 1.
"He's got a little Sidney Crosby in him with the second effort on the puck. And you can't get the puck off him. People are punch-drunk on Bedard but the shot is there, the playmaking is there, the play-driving is there - what else is he supposed to do?"
Celebrini also has pre-existing ties to the Bay Area. In 2018, when Macklin was 12, his father Rick took a new job as the director of sports medicine and performance for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. Today, Rick is the Warriors' vice president of player health and performance.
After the family relocated, Macklin suited up for the San Jose Jr. Sharks’ U-14 squad in the 2019-20 season.
Playing one year up, he led his team with 49 goals and 94 points in 54 games.
From there, Macklin moved on to the prestigious Shattuck-St. Mary’s hockey program in Minnesota.
At 15, he put up 50 goals and 117 points in 52 games for Shattuck’s U-18 team. At 16, he was named player of the year in the USHL, with the Chicago Steel. He also completed his academic requirements in time to play his 17-year-old season at Boston University.
And despite being the youngest player in the entire NCAA, this year he's the leading scorer on one of the top-ranked programs in the nation, and is a Hobey Baker nominee.
Celebrini has the kind of skill and star power that would make him a perfect centerpiece for a rebuild. And while GM Mike Grier made moves last summer to try to get the Sharks back to being competitive, things didn’t turn out that way.
By the time the trade deadline rolled around, San Jose was among the NHL’s bottom-dwellers. Grier signalled that he was ready to turn the page and look toward a new era when he traded 30-year-old Tomas Hertl to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Now, with a 1-10-2 record in their last 13 games, the Sharks have a grip on last place in the league. With 39 points in 66 games, their .295 points percentage is their lowest since their fifth season of existence, in 1995-96. They came into the league under stifling expansion rules that were far different from what Vegas and Seattle have experienced over the last few years but punched above their weight by reaching the playoffs in their third season of existence — and won a round in both 1994 and 1995.
Historically, the Sharks have resisted a rebuild out of fear that their attendance would drop if they don't ice a winning team. Combined, perhaps, with a change in foot traffic around downtown San Jose as peoples' work habits changed following the pandemic, that concern has been borne out.
The Sharks didn't win much last year, either, but boasted a star attraction in a Norris Trophy campaign from Erik Karlsson, whose 101-point year tied him for 13th all-time among defensemen.
This year, there hasn't been much to get excited about. The team's top point-producer, Mikael Granlund, has nine goals and their top goal-scorer, Fabian Zetterlund, has just 32 points.
The Sharks are last in the league in goals against per game (3.91) and goal differential (-117), and their average attendance has dropped to 13,630 fans per game, the lowest level since the Shark Tank opened its doors in 1993 (excepting the attendance-restricted 2021-22 season).
As Bedard has shown in Chicago this year, a young stud can bring fans back to the building even before the team demonstrates meaningful improvement.
Average attendance at the United Center is up by more than 1,600 fans over last season, and the excitement around Bedard and the Blackhawks helped attract the NHL's tentpole Winter Classic game to Wrigley Field for Jan. 1, 2025.
Of course, nothing is guaranteed. The draft lottery has a mind of its own — as we saw last year when the 30th-place Blackhawks swept in and snatched Bedard.
Since the lottery was introduced in 1995, the last-place team has retained the first-overall pick just 13 times in 28 lotteries — a little less than half.
Over the years, the rules and odds have changed a few times. These days, the last-place team has a 25.5 percent chance of hanging onto that first pick — a little better than 1-in-4 and nearly twice as good as the second-last team, at 13.5 percent.
Statistically, of course, the odds each year are independent of what has happened in the past. But with no No. 1 pick in their franchise history and after enduring such a terrible season, it feels like the Sharks and their fans might be due.
Celebrini would be a franchise-changing prize for an organization that has been waiting more than three decades for a major draft win.