There are a lot of San Jose Sharks fans who are looking forward to seeing Macklin Celebrini returning to the ice for the team on Thursday night against the Calgary Flames. Celebrini was a stud for Team Canada in the Olympics. He recorded 10 points for them and is only 19 years old.

He has a bright future ahead of him in the NHL. Celebrini was the number one overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. During the 2025-26 season, he has the Sharks in the playoff race in the Western Conference. San Jose may not make the playoffs this season, but it appears as if they maybe close to getting there in the future.

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However, if he can somehow lead this team to the playoffs this season, many people will want to see him in the Hart Trophy conversation. What are the odds that Celebrini will win the Hart Trophy in just his second NHL season?

NHL Analyst Debates Whether or Not San Jose Sharks Macklin Celebrini Can Win Hart Trophy

There are 10 burning questions that nhl.com writer Tom Gulitti wrote about entering the second half of the season. One of the questions he asked was whether or not Celebrini can lead the Sharks to the playoffs this season and also win the Hart Trophy. Gulitti said, “Macklin Celebrini is fourth in the Art Ross race with 81 points (28 goals, 53 assists) in 55 games for the San Jose Sharks and coming off a standout performance at the Olympics, where he was second among all players with 10 points (five goals, five assists) in six games for Canada.

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The forward is the main reason San Jose (27-24-4) is one of the surprise teams in the NHL this season and is five points behind Anaheim for the second wild card in the West. If Celebrini can lead the Sharks into the playoffs for the first time since 2019, he’d have a strong case to be the first 19-year-old to win the Hart Trophy as the League’s most valuable player since Crosby in 2007.”

The Sharks were supposed to be in rebuild mode still this season and not be in playoff contention in the month of February. March is next week and San Jose will still have a chance to make the playoffs. Celebrini is going to have to carry the Sharks on his back if they want to reach it.

If he does go over 100 points this season, that would be a major deal in just his second season. The question after that will be did San Jose qualify for the playoffs or not? If Celebrini leads this team to the playoffs somehow, he should win the Hart Trophy over Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers. Even if they don’t make the playoffs, the Sharks superstar should still be considered a finalist for the award anyways.

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Celebrini is no doubt going to win a Hart Trophy or two at some point in his NHL career. San Jose may not make the playoffs this season, but they will be playoff contenders next season.

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Feb 25, 2026, where it first appeared in the NHL section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.