{"id":465737,"date":"2026-02-21T14:17:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T14:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/465737\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T14:17:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T14:17:34","slug":"macklin-celebrinis-olympic-breakout-is-fueling-a-sharks-boom-hes-once-in-a-lifetime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/465737\/","title":{"rendered":"Macklin Celebrini\u2019s Olympic breakout is fueling a Sharks boom: \u2018He\u2019s once-in-a-lifetime\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the <\/a>Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the \u201cSection 415″ podcast <\/a>wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When Macklin Celebrini took the ice in Milan as the youngest NHL player in the Olympics and youngest-ever on a Team Canada roster, the moment didn\u2019t just belong to his home country. It belonged, in a tangible way, to the San Jose Sharks and their fans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the 19-year-old from Vancouver will face the United States in the gold medal game. The Olympics stir patriotism, but members of the Sharks organization are still eager to see the face of their franchise thrive.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The] athletic spectacle of it all is drawing people in and he\u2019s becoming a must-watch,\u201d Sharks chief marketing officer Doug Bentz said. \u201cEven if someone is rooting for the United States to win, I think they\u2019re also rooting for Macklin to continue to do these special things.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That tension \u2014 patriotism versus regional pride \u2014 is complex, and has even compelled some Sharks fans to pledge their allegiance to Team Canada.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI love America, but at the same time, Macklin Celebrini is going to change things in the Bay Area,\u201d KNBR host Derek Papa said. \u201cHe\u2019s going to be the Steph Curry of hockey. He\u2019s going to be the guy we all root for. So I\u2019m rooting for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through five Olympic appearances, Celebrini has totaled 10 points \u2014 thriving next to household names such as Connor McDavid, Nathan McKinnon, and Sidney Crosby on the hardest roster in the world to crack. In Friday\u2019s dramatic come-from-behind semifinal win, Celebrini led the Canadians in ice time, playing nearly 26 minutes. He ripped a team-high eight shots on goal and assisted on McKinnon\u2019s game-winner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the first half of this season, we all knew the game was changed,\u201d Bentz said. \u201cNow, with the Olympics, it just confirms our belief that he can be a global superstar.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Global stage, local impact<\/p>\n

Since landing in Milan two weeks ago, Celebrini\u2019s fame has exploded. His Instagram following has grown by 40% and on NHL.com (opens in new tab)<\/a>, he has the most visited player profile during the Olympic break. But it\u2019s not just buzz for the teenage phenom \u2014 it\u2019s revenue and brand growth for his crew back in San Jose.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he grows his own personal presence that clearly has a positive impact on us,\u201d Bentz said. \u201cHockey culture is very team-oriented. Star culture can be frowned upon. But it\u2019s hard to ignore what he\u2019s doing on a global stage.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

3 days ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Friday, Feb. 13<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Bentz, who has marketed the Sharks for more than two decades, explained that the franchise\u2019s strategy in the last five years has evolved to focus on growing beyond the Bay Area, which is both a saturated sports ecosystem and a non-traditional hockey market. And Celebrini \u2014 with impossible-to-ignore highlights pouring in daily \u2014 is the golden ticket.<\/p>\n

In Celebrini\u2019s rookie season, the Sharks finished at the bottom of the Western Conference, yet still set a franchise record for single-game ticket sales. This season, as Celebrini has amassed 81 points, the fourth most in the league, they\u2019re on track to surpass that mark \u2014 by nearly $3 million.<\/p>\n

In previous scheduled breaks during NHL seasons, the Sharks\u2019 social engagement has dipped between 30 to 40%. This year, with NHL players back in the Olympic Games for the first time since 2014, and Celebrini on Canada\u2019s top line, it\u2019s a different story: impressions and engagement have surged 75% year over year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Sharks\u2019 merchandise revenue during this Olympic window is up 88% compared with the same period last year. Celebrini\u2019s Team Canada jersey sold out online in under an hour. Sharks individual game tickets sales during the NHL pause are up 47% and season ticket memberships have surged more than 400% compared with this point last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time he\u2019s on the ice, it\u2019s kind of like back in the day with Barry Bonds on the Giants. Every time he was at bat, everyone stopped what they\u2019re doing and watched. It\u2019s the same thing with Macklin,\u201d long-time season-ticket holder Jeff Kwong said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Bay Area knows this phenomenon: in a market defined by stars, transcendent players reset expectations. Curry, Bonds, Jerry Rice, and Joe Montana can relate. The Sharks once relied on franchise icons Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, and Joe Pavelski to generate interest, but they haven\u2019t necessarily seen the kind of singular gravitational force that can tilt a team\u2019s trajectory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Celebrini is different.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kwong remembers watching the Sharks in their inaugural season in 1991 played at the Cow Palace. He has seen the eras come and go, but he\u2019s never seen anyone quite like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we drafted [Celebrini], I thought maybe in five or 10 years he\u2019d be pretty good,\u201d Kwong said. \u201cBut he\u2019s a once-in-a-lifetime, generational type of talent \u2026 when you have one of the best players in the world on your team, it is just so exciting to be a fan.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Sunday\u2019s game may divide hockey fans in the Bay, there is one thing they can agree on \u2014 watching Celebrini bring a Stanley Cup back to San Jose would be sweeter than seeing him wear a gold medal around his neck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5127],"tags":[5,501,4,519,168,5306,5305,1780,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-465737","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose-sharks","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-macklin-celebrini","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-san-jose","12":"tag-san-jose-sharks","13":"tag-sanjose","14":"tag-sanjosesharks","15":"tag-sharks","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116109053690969037","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465737","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=465737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}