{"id":472139,"date":"2026-02-26T01:27:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T01:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/472139\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T01:27:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T01:27:31","slug":"san-jose-sharks-macklin-celebrini-shifts-focus-to-nhl-playoff-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/472139\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini shifts focus to NHL playoff race"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2013 Macklin Celebrini<\/a> had just finished his first practice back with the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday \u2013 after an unforgettable Olympic experience<\/a> \u2014 when he entered a room filled with cameras and reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost media we\u2019ve had. Ever,\u201d Celebrini said. \u201cStarting to feel like a Canadian market.\u201d<\/p>\n

And a reflection of his growing popularity, as Celebrini\u2019s record-setting performance <\/a>at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics \u2013 capped by a gold medal game watched by tens of millions of fans<\/a> \u2014 raised his profile here at home and across the NHL.<\/p>\n

Roughly a dozen news outlets, several more than usual, attended the Sharks\u2019 practice on Wednesday as Celebrini skated with his teammates<\/a> for the first time since he returned from Italy late Monday night.<\/p>\n

Some of those local media outlets were at a Sharks practice for the first time this season, underscoring the team\u2019s growing relevance and Celebrini\u2019s reach as one of the Bay Area\u2019s most recognizable sports figures.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI know Mack is certainly proud to be Canadian, and he should be,\u201d but we were also proud to represent, you know, San Jose Sharks, the Bay Area, the community around here, the fans, obviously, he\u2019s become, you know, the face of the franchise, in a sense,<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s game against the Calgary Flames, which begins a six-game homestand, is trending toward a sellout crowd<\/a> of 17,435.<\/p>\n

Tickets are also scarce and pricey<\/a> for San Jose\u2019s weekend games against McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday and goalie Connor Hellebuyck \u2013 who made 41 saves for Team USA in the gold medal game \u2014 and the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The Sharks have already sold out 12 of 26 home games this season, after having capacity crowds in 15 of 41 games<\/a> at SAP Center last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the goal,\u201d Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. \u201cNot to talk to this many media people, but the goal was to get the energy back in the building and get people talking about the Sharks again, and I think the players did a great job of doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Jose Sharks\u2019 Macklin Celebrini speaks about his experience representing Canada at the Olympics during a press conference at Tech CU Arena in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Shae Hammond\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis homestead is going to be pretty much sold out,\u201d Warsofsky added. \u201cCrowds and people are going to be excited to see our team play again.\u201d<\/p>\n

As excited as Celebrini was to be back in San Jose, there was still some bitterness as to how the Olympic tournament ended.<\/p>\n

Playing alongside the game\u2019s greatest player in Connor McDavid, Celebrini had a tournament-leading five goals in six games,<\/a> and his 10 points made him the highest-scoring teenager in an Olympics involving NHL players.<\/p>\n

While Celebrini on Wednesday expressed gratitude for the opportunity to represent his native country of Canada on hockey\u2019s biggest international stage, where he played with several of the game\u2019s greatest stars, there remained \u2013 reasonable or otherwise \u2014 a feeling of failure.<\/p>\n

Celebrini and the Canadians did enough to beat the United States in Sunday\u2019s gold medal game at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Italy. But the heart-stopping final came down to 3-on-3 overtime, where New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes scored the winning goal, handing the Americans a 2-1 win<\/a> and their first Olympic gold medal in men\u2019s hockey since 1980.<\/p>\n

For anyone who thought Celebrini would now be past the disappointment of losing the men\u2019s hockey gold medal game, think again.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of those guys I looked up to my whole childhood, and it was an honor play with them and be around them every single day,\u201d Celebrini said at Sharks Ice. \u201cBut it sucks. It\u2019s a little sour that you look back at it and just didn\u2019t get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n

How long does he think that sour feeling will last?<\/p>\n

\u201cForever,\u201d Celebrini said.<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Jose Sharks\u2019 Macklin Celebrini (71) and San Jose Sharks\u2019 Vincent Desharnais (5) talk during the first practice after the Olympics at Tech CU Arena in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Shae Hammond\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now the Sharks are hoping other Olympians, Sweden\u2019s Alex Wennberg, Switzerland\u2019s Philipp Kurashev, and Slovakia\u2019s Pavol Regenda, can use the pressure of an Olympic tournament \u2013 and the disappointment that came with it \u2014 to their benefit as their playoff chase resumes.<\/p>\n

Celebrini said playing with McDavid, the NHL\u2019s leading scorer before Wednesday and a three-time Hart Trophy winner, and Colorado\u2019s Nathan MacKinnon, the league\u2019s second-leading scorer, showed him \u201cwhere the bar is at.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThose guys play with such pace, and they think the game so fast, and the level that they play at, the practice that they play at, probably the fastest practices I\u2019ve ever been a part of.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being around them, practicing with them, playing with them, it\u2019s a different level.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sharks\u2019 homestand is going to be vitally important to any postseason hopes, as they entered Wednesday five points out of a playoff spot with 27 games left to play.<\/p>\n

Celebrini\u2019s performance so far this season, with 81 points in 55 games, is clearly a big reason why the Sharks are in the mix for their first playoff appearance since 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to take those next steps, and all this comes along with it,\u201d Celebrini said. \u201cThe fans, the attention. We want those expectations. We want that pressure, because that means we\u2019re doing a good thing and we\u2019re trending the right way.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think just at the end of the day, all this comes into it, and hopefully you guys come back more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2013 Macklin Celebrini had just finished his first practice back with the San Jose Sharks on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5127],"tags":[2616,2617,5,2614,1180,4,2602,519,168,5306,5305,2618,1780,2615,2619,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-472139","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-olympics","15":"tag-san-jose","16":"tag-san-jose-sharks","17":"tag-sanjose","18":"tag-sanjosesharks","19":"tag-santa-clara-county","20":"tag-sharks","21":"tag-sharks-alert","22":"tag-south-bay","23":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116134337221068603","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472139","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=472139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}