{"id":366008,"date":"2025-12-20T13:56:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T13:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/366008\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T13:56:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T13:56:14","slug":"sharks-collin-graf-makes-macklin-celebrini-ryan-warsofsky-nhl-believers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/366008\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks’ Collin Graf makes Macklin Celebrini, Ryan Warsofsky NHL believers"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2014 Collin Graf<\/a> may have been born to play hockey. He certainly didn\u2019t know it at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But these days, Graf is making headlines<\/a> on the ice. Most recently, the second-year Sharks forward scored two goals Thursday night in a 5-3 loss to the Dallas Stars, notching the first multi-goal game of his career.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Playing on San Jose\u2019s top line<\/a> with Macklin Celebrini and rookie Igor Chernyshov, Graf finished off a pass from Celebrini in the crease and potted another net-front pass from Chernyshov.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This season has been Graf\u2019s NHL breakout. He stuck on the Sharks\u2019 roster out of training camp and has played in 34 of 35 games, accumulating 18 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Jose Sharks’ Collin Graf (51) celebrates his goal against the Dallas Stars in the second period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s put in a lot of work,\u201d Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. \u201cWhen he first came in, in the NHL, the pace is extremely high. So he went in after the summer, put a lot of work in last year to get the pace up. And now his details, his hockey sense is really what sticks out the most. He\u2019s a smart individual. And now he\u2019s added another layer to his game with the checking component.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graf, 23, grew up as the son of engineers Robert and Theresa in Lincoln, Massachusetts, and his initial foray onto the ice came for a different reason.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom just wanted me to learn how to skate,\u201d Graf said. \u201cAnd then when I was skating, there were hockey players on the other side of the ice, and I guess I told my mom that I wanted to do that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo then it took me like two years to get good enough at skating to become a hockey player. And ever since, I\u2019ve been a hockey player.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Jose Sharks’ Igor Chernyshov (92) chats with San Jose Sharks’ Collin Graf (51) during their game against the Calgary Flames in the third period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

A hockey player, but not one who was ticketed to be a professional from the beginning. Graf was undersized and undrafted coming out of juniors at 5-foot-8 and 145 pounds. He didn\u2019t play for a Canadian major junior team or in the American junior leagues, instead staying within the Boston Bruins\u2019 junior development program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He signed with Union College in 2021, scoring 11 goals and 22 points in his freshman season. Then he transferred to Quinnipiac, where he led the Bobcats with 58 points as they won the national championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He thought then about turning pro then but opted to return for one more year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met with teams, and I definitely considered it,\u201d Graf said. \u201cMy linemates, we all ended up signing the next year. We talked about it, and we wanted to come back. We had a good group of guys. They\u2019re my buddies. My best friends are still from college to this day. It was a great decision on my part, just in terms of getting bigger, stronger, becoming more mature as a human.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Jose Sharks forward Collin Graf (51) shoots the puck while being defended by Utah Mammoth\u2019s Mikhail Sergachev (98) during the first period of their game on Monday, Dec.1, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Graf continued to develop his all-around game and signed with San Jose after Quinnipiac\u2019s season ended in April 2024. He played immediately, recording a point in his second career game and finishing with two in seven games played as the Sharks wrapped up the last-place season that landed them Celebrini with the No. 1 overall pick.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The next season wasn\u2019t always glamorous for Graf. Though he joined Celebrini for 33 games with the Sharks and compiled 11 points, he spent most of the year in the AHL with the Barracuda, putting up 35 points in 40 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s uncertain how long he\u2019ll stay on the Sharks\u2019 top line this year. Will Smith is due back before long from an upper-body injury, and Warsofsky said he may shuffle San Jose\u2019s lines before Saturday\u2019s game against Seattle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But after adjusting to the pace of the game, Graf has made enough headway that he is quickly becoming a part of the Sharks\u2019 long-term plans.<\/p>\n

\"TorontoToronto Maple Leafs goaltender Dennis Hildeby (35) makes a save as San Jose Sharks’ Collin Graf (51) looks for the rebound during second period NHL hockey action in Toronto on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Frank Gunn\/The Canadian Press via AP)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s transformed his game from what he was in college,\u201d Warsofsky said. \u201cHe\u2019s getting to the point where he\u2019s accepting that more and more. There\u2019s another level we continue to push and get to, but he\u2019s done a really good job. He\u2019s here late in the facility. You can tell he really wants it, and that\u2019s an important piece of the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Celebrini, who jumped into the NHL minted as a franchise star from the get-go, Graf\u2019s intelligence is a separator that has emerged as he\u2019s grinded his way to the highest level.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of the smarter players on the ice, and he\u2019s always in the right spot with a great stick,\u201d Celebrini said. \u201cThat\u2019s why he\u2019s been so great on our PK as well, his ability to disrupt plays and read plays before they happen. It helps when you\u2019re playing with him and trying to create offense. He\u2019s seeing the same things as I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Jose Sharks’ Collin Graf (51) celebrates his goal with San Jose Sharks’ William Eklund (72) and San Jose Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini (71) against the Boston Bruins in the third period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a dream journey for Graf to reach this point. He\u2019s already blown his own expectations out of the water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first went into college, I wasn\u2019t thinking about the NHL or pro hockey,\u201d Graf said.<\/p>\n

Now he has the best in the game singing his praises.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve built a good relationship,\u201d Celebrini said. \u201cThe play speaks for itself. He\u2019s just so smart and it\u2019s easy to play off him because he\u2019s always thinking two steps ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Jose Sharks right wing Collin Graf (51) shoots and scores the game-winning goal past Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson (32) during overtime of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo\/Abbie Parr)\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2014 Collin Graf may have been born to play hockey. He certainly didn\u2019t know it at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5127],"tags":[2616,2617,5,2614,1180,4,519,168,5306,5305,2618,1780,2615,2619,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-366008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose-sharks","8":"tag-bay-area","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-inside-sports","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-san-jose","15":"tag-san-jose-sharks","16":"tag-sanjose","17":"tag-sanjosesharks","18":"tag-santa-clara-county","19":"tag-sharks","20":"tag-sharks-alert","21":"tag-south-bay","22":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115752244769663930","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}