{"id":393140,"date":"2026-01-06T07:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T07:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/393140\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T07:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T07:01:10","slug":"san-jose-sharks-macklin-celebrini-happy-about-alex-wennbergs-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/393140\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks, Macklin Celebrini happy about Alex Wennberg’s contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2013 Once he learned that Alexander Wennberg and the San Jose Sharks were in discussions about a contract extension,<\/a> Macklin Celebrini kept asking his fellow centerman about when the new deal would be done.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking for a bit now. I\u2019ve been hounding him when he\u2019s going to sign,\u201d Celebrini said<\/a> Monday. \u201cI\u2019m just excited that he\u2019s staying for three more years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wennberg had been one of the Sharks\u2019 most prominent pending unrestricted free agents<\/a> until the two sides came together on a three-year, $18 million extension, finalized on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s a matter of how many other pending UFAs are offered deals by the Sharks \u2014 or can reach agreements with the team \u2014 in the coming weeks before the NHL\u2019s trade deadline<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like (Wennberg\u2019s signing) is a step forward trying to keep the team together as much as possible,\u201d said Sharks winger Tyler Toffoli, who is signed through the 2027-28 season.<\/a> \u201cWho knows what happens the rest of the year, but obviously he\u2019s a huge part of our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly, general manager Mike Grier<\/a> has some decisions to make, if he hasn\u2019t made them already.<\/p>\n

The Sharks have several other players, including five defensemen, who can become an unrestricted free agent this summer. The most high-profile pending UFAs include defensemen Mario Ferraro, John Klingberg and Timothy Liljegren, forwards Ryan Reaves and Jeff Skinner and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic.<\/p>\n

Veteran defensemen Vincent Desharnais and Nick Leddy and forwards Pavol Regenda and Patrick Giles can also become free agents this summer.<\/p>\n

While change on defense is inevitable for a team that has had major problems keeping the puck out of its own net,<\/a> it stands to reason that the Sharks would prefer not to have to almost totally rebuild their blue line via trades and free agency this offseason and at least bring some defensemen back for next season and beyond.<\/p>\n

So, who stays, and who goes?<\/p>\n

The most interesting player to watch right now is Ferraro. A career Shark and a mainstay in the team\u2019s top four, Ferraro is in the final year<\/a> of a four-year, $13 million contract he signed with the team in Aug. 2022.<\/p>\n

With the Sharks in a playoff chase at the midway point of the season, does it make the most sense for Grier to sign Ferraro to an extension before the deadline, move him to another team for an asset, or just stand pat?<\/p>\n

Ferraro, who is third among all Sharks skaters in average time on ice (21:01) and is the team\u2019s leading shot-blocker and penalty killer, could fetch a decent return if several other teams show legitimate interest. But trading Ferraro could have an adverse effect on the Sharks\u2019 playoff chances if they\u2019re still in the mix before the March 6 deadline.<\/p>\n

If the Sharks do not sign Ferraro to an extension and keep him past the deadline, they run the risk of losing him for nothing this summer if the two sides are unable to reach an agreement.<\/p>\n

The Sharks determined that it was going to be tough to replace a center like Wennberg given all that he does. Do they have that same feeling about Ferraro?<\/p>\n

Asked in mid-December if his camp and the Sharks have had any extension talks, Ferraro didn\u2019t want to get into many details.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to talk about that,\u201d Ferraro told Bay Area News Group. \u201cThere hasn\u2019t been much talk. But what\u2019s important right now is what\u2019s in front of me, and I\u2019m excited about what\u2019s going on right now in this room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeping the Sharks roster together for a playoff push will depend on whether the team can stay in the mix.<\/p>\n

San Jose has 43 points and is right now competing with the Seattle Kraken, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues, Utah Mammoth and Chicago Blackhawks for a Western Conference wild card spot. The Sharks, entering Monday, were also three points back of first place in the Pacific Division, and might have an opportunity to move into the top three if they can string some wins together.<\/p>\n

That won\u2019t be easy. Following Tuesday\u2019s home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, 10 of the Sharks\u2019 next 13 games before the Olympic break in early February are on the road. Of those 13 games, eight are against teams that entered Monday in a playoff spot.<\/p>\n

The Sharks also play games on back-to-back nights four times over the next two weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could arguably say these next three weeks are the biggest three weeks of the season, to where we\u2019re going to be going into the break,\u201d Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll play some difficult teams that are going to push the envelope as far as offense and driving offense and playing a certain style, we\u2019re going to have to match that, match the intensity, the urgency to defend, and that\u2019s really what it\u2019s going to come down to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, right now, unlike the last few seasons, the Sharks aren\u2019t automatically in the seller\u2019s camp, and that Grier is open to keeping some players past season is encouraging to Celebrini.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like there\u2019s so much more excitement the way our group\u2019s winning and playing,\u201d Celebrini said. \u201cI think even with all those things we need to work on, there\u2019s still a lot of positives in our group this year, and I think that\u2019s why we have a guy like (Wennberg) coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2013 Once he learned that Alexander Wennberg and the San Jose Sharks were in discussions about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[5631,5,501,814,747,548,168],"class_list":{"0":"post-393140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-alex-wennberg","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-macklin-celebrini","11":"tag-mario-ferraro","12":"tag-mike-grier","13":"tag-nhl-trade-deadline","14":"tag-san-jose-sharks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115846872166573106","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393140","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=393140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}