The San Jose Sharks have just 13 regular season games remaining in the 2025-26 campaign. Through their first 69 games, there has been a single player who has been head and shoulders above the rest, 19-year-old phenom Macklin Celebrini.
In his first season with the Sharks, Celebrini set the franchise record for most points by a rookie when he registered 63 points in 70 games, overtaking Pat Falloon's long-standing record from the team's inaugural season.
Celebrini has begun rewriting the Sharks' record books very quickly, and now he's targeting one of the organization's all-time greats, and his roommate, Joe Thornton.
When Thornton joined the Sharks during the middle of the 2005-06 season, he made an immediate impact in the Bay Area, winning the only Hart Trophy of his career. The following season, his first full campaign as a member of the Sharks, Thornton set a franchise record by contributing 114 points in 82 games. That record has stood for nearly two decades, and now it's being threatened by a teenager.
Celebrini has scored 35 goals and 61 assists in his first 69 games this season. With 13 games left, that puts him on pace for 42 goals, 72 assists, and 114 points. At that rate, he'll tie Thornton's record. The 19-year-old superstar has been the key to the Sharks' success this season. Will Smith is currently second on the team in points with just 47, meaning Celebrini has more than doubled Smith's production.
Celebrini has been cooling off lately though, recording just one point in his last four games. Unsurprisingly, that has also meant the Sharks have started falling out of the playoff picture. While mathematically they're still in the fight, it's going to take quite a run for them to turn things around.
The same remains true for Celebrini's record hunt. While he's likely not focused on overtaking Thornton's record, it'll happen sooner or later I'm sure, Celebrini finding his form would also help push the Sharks back into the playoff picture.
Celebrini has single-handedly made the 2025-26 season one of the most entertaining in recent memory for the Sharks, now the question remains whether or not he'll make it a historic one.