Multiple NHL coaches have recently praised San Jose Sharks rookie Macklin Celebrini, and Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning was no different on Thursday.
Cooper, the longest-tenured coach in the NHL, has been more than impressed with the way Celebrini, now five months removed from his 18th birthday, has been able to impact the Sharks and the NHL at such a young age.
Going into Thursday’s game between the Sharks (10-13-5) and the Lightning (12-9-2) at Amalie Arena, Celebrini is carrying a five-game point streak in which he has four goals and four assists. Since his return to San Jose’s lineup on Nov. 5 after he missed 12 games with a hip injury, Celebrini has 13 points in 15 games, with the Sharks owning a 7-5-3 record in that time.
“Celebrini has really added a dimension they haven’t had in some time,” Cooper said Thursday morning. “I think the (12) games he missed probably hurt their team a little bit. But with him back, and for that young of age to be doing what he’s doing, it really bodes well for that organization.
“It’s impressive to watch him. To be honest, I’m really looking forward to seeing him play tonight and the team.”
On Tuesday, the Sharks earned their third straight win with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Washington Capitals, the NHL’s highest-scoring team.
Celebrini assisted on William Eklund’s game-winning power-play goal, driving into the Capitals zone with the puck and backing off defenders before he found Mikael Granlund with a behind-the-back pass. Granlund then slid the puck over to Eklund for a one-timer that got past Capitals goalie Logan Thompson.
Celebrini also drew the four-minute high-sticking penalty to Capitals forward Tom Wilson, giving the Sharks a crucial late power play.
“He’s a young player, and so he’s still learning this league, and there’s a skill to learning the league,” said Cooper, who is now in his 13th season with the Lightning. “Until you start playing all the teams, you start getting a feel for the pace of the game and what you can and can’t do. But to me, he seems like somebody that’s got it way before most players in this league have been able to grasp that.”
Cooper’s sentiments have echoed what other opposing coaches have said about Celebrini over the past week.
Before the Sharks played the Seattle Kraken last Friday at SAP Center, Dan Bylsma said, “It’s scary watching him on tape, I’ll just say. Up until the last two days, over the last day and a half, it’s been highlights, is what I’ve seen, and those are scary to see.”
Celebrini would have two points, including the game-winning goal, in the Sharks’ first game against the Kraken on Friday and an assist in the next day’s game in Seattle.
“It’s amazing to see a young player stepping into the league right off the hop,” Bylsma said. “He’s got a lot of skill, a lot of passion, a lot of dirtiness.”
Celebrini also impressed Capitals coach Spencer Carbery.
“The shot — it’s hard to evaluate because we don’t watch enough pre-draft stuff in college – but that’s been impressive,” Carbery said on Monday. “His release and how hard it comes off, he’s an elite shooter, and then obviously, he has a ton of other tools.
“But that has been maybe the one that I was like, ‘I didn’t know he has that type of release or that pace on the shot.’”
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Goalie Vitek Vanecek will start for the Sharks, who have not won four straight games since they went 4-0-0 to begin the 2021-2022 season. San Jose entered Thursday in 14th place in the Western Conference in terms of point percentage (.446) but also just three points out of a playoff spot.
“There’s been some teams that are in a complete rebuild (with) probably a discrepancy in talent at times in past years. This year, I don’t see any of that,” Cooper said. “I don’t see any team, any game you can walk into and say, ‘Hey, this should be one we have.’ And I think people probably looked at San Jose thinking they’re maybe a non-playoff team, and what I’ve seen so far is quite the contrary.
“They have some wonderful young talent coming up.”