Two Years After the Draft, Macklin Celebrini Is Wearing the 'C' in San Jose

Mike Grier admitted it himself: nobody drafts an 18-year-old and expects him to be captain two years later. Macklin Celebrini got there anyway. On Friday, before practice, Joe Thornton gave him the Sharks' captain's jersey.

Celebrini is 20. That makes him the youngest captain in team history by four years, since Patrick Marleau was 24 when he got the job in 2004, and the youngest in the NHL right now, just younger than Chicago's Connor Bedard. He is the 11th full-time captain the Sharks have had.

It's a huge honor. It's just something that I can't really take lightly.

He also said he isn't going to change how he plays or acts because of the letter.

Why it was an easy call

His second season was one of the best ever by a teenager. He scored 45 goals and 115 points, breaking Thornton's franchise record by one. Only Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby have had more points in a season before turning 20. He had a hand in 46.2% of San Jose's goals, a rate only Connor McDavid topped. Then he led the Olympics in goals as Canada won silver and captained his country at the World Cup.

The Sharks paid him accordingly: $94 million over five years, signed this summer and running through 2031-32. Coach Ryan Warsofsky said the players have gravitated to him from day one, and Tyler Toffoli said that when Celebrini talks, the room listens, even if he's usually the one cracking jokes.

The captaincy had been empty

Logan Couture held the title from 2019-20 through 2024-25, including a final season he couldn't play because of the groin and pelvic injury that ended his career. Last year Celebrini was one of five rotating alternates.

The job now is getting San Jose back to the playoffs. The Sharks improved by 34 points last year and still missed by four, their seventh straight year out. They've added veterans Darnell Nurse, Jacob Trouba and Mason Marchment to a young core that includes Michael Misa, Will Smith and No. 2 pick Ivar Stenberg.