Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks has joined the ranks of the NHL’s superstars in just his second season. At this point in his career he may be just a touch below Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon, but he is just 19 years old.
He is very close to their level now and he could pass any of those future Hall of Famers in a year or two. Celebrini has been carrying the Sharks on his shoulders this season, and he has put some rather notable scoring numbers on the board this season. The Sharks have five games remaining on their schedule and Celebrini is the team’s leading scorer with 42 goals and 66 assists for 108 points.
He leads teammate Will Smith by 52 points in the San Jose scoring race. Smith is the second-leading scorer on the team and he is clearly one of the team’s foundation building blocks for the future. He has scored 23 goals and 33 assists.
Celebrini has either scored or assisted on 46.2 percent of the Sharks’ goals this season. If he is able to hold on to that percentage in the final games of the season, he will have the highest scoring average of any teenager who has played in the NHL.
This is a record currently held by Wayne Gretzky, who was involved in 45.5 percent of the Edmonton Oilers’ goals in the 1979-80 season. Sidney Crosby was still a teenager in the 2006-07 season. He was was involved 44.9 percent of the Penguins’ goals.
The Sharks are currently three points out of the No. 2 Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. They meet the Anaheim Ducks Thursday night.
Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks has joined the ranks of the NHL’s superstars in just his second season. At this point in his career he may be just a touch below Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon, but he is just 19 years old. He is very close to their level now and he could pass any of those future Hall of Famers in a year or two.