Editor's note: Sheng Peng is a regular contributor to NBC Sports California’s Sharks coverage. You can read more of his coverage on San Jose Hockey Now, listen to him on the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast, and follow him on Twitter at @Sheng_Peng.
ST. LOUIS — Teams are figuring out Sharks rookie center Macklin Celebrini … and he’s figuring them out.
“Now, there's no secret, when we get pre-scouted, what he can do with the puck,” San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said after tough losses to the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers last week.
Winning NHL First Star of the Week — the 18-year-old rookie beat out Vancouver Canucks defensemen Quinn Hughes and Washington Capitals defensemen Jakob Chychrun for the honor after four goals and three assists in the last week of November — will put you in the crosshairs.
So how are teams trying to stop Celebrini? Celebrini, Warsofsky, and the Florida Panthers’ Paul Maurice and Nate Schmidt shared their thoughts.
And what’s Celebrini going to do about it? Celebrini and Warsofsky had different ideas.
71 vs. 71
San Jose Sharks
The Lightning hard-matched their top defensive center Anthony Cirelli on Celebrini on Dec. 5.
That’s Tampa Bay saying that they saw Celebrini and his line as San Jose’s most dangerous threat.
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Remember, the Lightning were at Amalie Arena, so they had last line change, the choice of which Sharks center that they wanted to use their Selke Trophy candidate on. Head coach Jon Cooper has tended, when he’s had the choice, to use Cirelli as much as he can on the opposition’s No. 1 center, to shadow the likes of Jack Eichel, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, and now, Celebrini, this year.
When I say shadow, I mean shadow.
Watch Cirelli (71) follow Celebrini (71) around the rink — all clips courtesy of SportContract.
“I did notice he was on me,” Celebrini said of the other No. 71.
Among Cirelli’s duties were to keep Celebrini from building up speed and to be physical on him.
As the Sharks are trying to break out, Cirelli can see the other San Jose’s forwards are covered. He knows the Sharks’ Plan A is always to get the puck in Celebrini’s hands, in space, so their top puck carrier can gain the offensive zone with possession. Like an, um, shark, Cirelli tracks his prey.
Per Natural Stat Trick, this was just the second time this year that Celebrini has seen more than 10 minutes at 5-on-5 against one center in a game, and the rookie didn’t even finish the game, sitting out the last 7:24.
That’s respect.
“University of New Hampshire doesn’t have Aleksander Barkov”
It didn’t get any easier two nights later when the Sharks took on the defending champion at Amerant Bank Arena. In fact, it got about two inches and 20 pounds more difficult, as Celebrini took on reigning Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov.
“He hasn’t seen anything like this so far,” Panthers play-by-play announcer Steve Goldstein said on the broadcast, joking, “The University of New Hampshire doesn’t have Aleksander Barkov, I can tell you that.”
Florida’s gameplan against Celebrini also was focused on stunting the rookie’s speed, his ability to carry the puck from blueline to blueline, perhaps his greatest asset.
Per Stathletes, Celebrini is second among NHL players with 6.35 Zone Entries Per Game, just behind Connor McDavid, and just ahead of MacKinnon, Leon Draisaitl, and Eichel.
“You recognize a young player that's got a lot of talent. You just understand where he creates his talent from, it comes from his skating,” Panthers defenseman Nate Schmidt told San Jose Hockey Now. “It's almost like, in order to make McDavid human, you have to make sure he's not skating full speed.”
Florida didn’t hard-match Barkov on Celebrini, but the kid saw plenty of the 6-foot-3, 215-pound master.
Barkov (16) stays on top of Celebrini, until Jake Walman (96) tries the pass to Plan A. Barkov intercepts the stretch to Celebrini.
“There isn't much you can do against a guy like that,” Celebrini admitted. “The way he plays, how hard he is, big, strong, fast, how smart he is. It's hard to really trick him.”
The Panthers were watching Celebrini’s speed closely all night.
Look at Jesper Boqvist (70) basically stand in front of Celebrini, then jump on the rookie as the pass arrives. Matthew Tkachuk (19) was also there to apply pressure.
Even when the Sharks were able to exit the defensive zone on the rush, all eyes were on Celebrini.
As Celebrini attacks up the middle, Carter Verhaeghe (23) steers him toward Aaron Ekblad (5), who’s got a tight gap at the blueline.
“You definitely can't get a lot through the neutral zone against those guys,” Celebrini said. “Florida is the reigning Stanley Cup champion. They're probably gonna be back there this year.”
“He's [going to] eventually see everybody's best,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said, before correcting himself. “And he did so. He saw an awful lot of Sasha Barkov, who's quite a bit older, and both Ekblad and [Gustav] Forsling, two of the best defenders in the world.”
Revenge of the Mack?
All this is familiar to Celebrini, just at lower rungs of the sport. Of course, the gameplan has always been to take his speed away with your best defenders.
And not every NHL team has a Cirelli or Barkov to throw at Celebrini.
But the 18-year-old would admit that he’s got a lot to learn.
Warsofsky suggested patience with the puck
“Sometimes, he's in a race to get out of the zone. Sometimes, he's in a race to get vertical really quick,” Warsofsky said. “He's going to find pockets to slow the game down and play with a little bit more pace without the puck and with the puck. Sometimes there's times to be creative, and sometimes there's times to be more direct and drive a puck wide and delay it. Those are all things that he's going to develop.”
Celebrini talked about having the puck less and using his linemates more.
“That's why we have some great players,” he said. “It's hard for defenses when you're always moving and you're not always holding the puck.”
He added: “Getting their whole defense moving. Maybe some switches. That’s how you break any defense down.”
But like I said, most teams don’t have Cirelli or Barkov.
Celebrini’s speed and deception, even at 18, is deadly against most of the league.
Look how Celebrini uses the Carolina Hurricanes’ aggressiveness against them on Dec. 10.
Luke Kunin ties it up after Celebrini stole a few souls.
— JD Young (@MyFryHole) December 11, 2024
1-1 #TheFutureIsTeal pic.twitter.com/liqNm97vrO
William Carrier (28) and Jesper Kotkaniemi (82) both attack Celebrini, and he breaks their ankles, on the way to finding Luke Kunin (11) on the rush.
Both Tampa Bay and Florida tended to stay back on Celebrini unless he was vulnerable (like the Boqvist foreheck), but not Carolina.
“It's the systems that they play, like Carolina, their PK, their system is very aggressive, they get after you a little bit,” Celebrini said. “It's gonna be different for every team.”
Celebrini got better throughout the road trip.
After a tough swing through Florida, the Sharks played the Hurricanes hard, losing 3-2.
“These last three games are a really good test of that, he got challenged in different areas, and he's gonna, going forward,” Warsofsky said.
Celebrini saved the best for last during the finale of the Sharks’ six-game road trip, playing arguably the best game of his young career, dropping two goals and an assist on the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, a 4-3 Sharks’ win.
Shades of his Carolina dash, Celebrini put Brayden Schenn (10) and Jake Neighbours (63) in the rearview mirror, and with five Blues surrounding him on entry, found the open man, Mikael Granlund (64).
Most of the league isn’t stopping Celebrini, and we’re talking about the difference between great and elite … already. Great vs. elite is an important distinction though, it’s how you beat the best teams in the league, it’s how you become one of the best teams in the league.
“If you watch Sidney Crosby early in his career, it was very similar to what Mack has gone through. He gets frustrated early. The body language comes out,” Warsofsky said. “But there's a pace to the game. There's momentum shifts in games, and when to use that pace and slow the game down, he's gonna have to learn.”
This, by the way, is how good that Celebrini has been as an 18-year-old. His own coach isn’t shying away from comparisons to Crosby. We’ve already mentioned McDavid, MacKinnon, Matthews, and Eichel.
Puck don’t lie.
Celebrini has been so good, you have to remind yourself he’s still just a kid.
“I would tell you the bigger part is, too, is that he's still young, right? He was playing against a team of fully-formed men, older team that's physically mature. You're skating through big bodies, and he's learning that,” Schmidt said.
It might as simple as that: These might the years that the NHL can slow Celebrini down. It’s just going to get harder from here on out.
So how do you make McDavid human?
“Make him 18. Stand in front of him. Before he starts to lift weights and all that stuff,” Schmidt joked. “No, [Celebrini’s] got a great future.”
