If Washington Capitals coach Spencer Carbery had a vote for the Hart Memorial Trophy, he’d give it, right now, to San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini.

Carbery has noticed how much Celebrini has grown in his brief NHL career, as the 19-year-old enters Saturday as the league’s third leading scorer with 72 points in 47 games. Celebrini had 63 points in 70 games as a rookie last season.

Before Saturday’s games, Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid and Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon each had 82 points to lead the NHL. Celebrini recently said he believed McDavid and MacKinnon to be the two best players in the world.

The Hart Memorial Trophy, presented annually “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team,” is voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

“The improvement that he’s made from year one to year two has been incredible,” Carbery said of Celebrini on Thursday before the teenager had an assist in the Sharks’ 3-2 win over the Capitals.

What’s impressive to Carbery is Celebrini’s production at even strength, especially in relation to the rest of the Sharks’ roster.

Celebrini has 20 even-strength goals, with winger Collin Graf next on the list with 13. Celebrini also has 31 even-strength assists, 12 more than center Alexander Wennberg.

“If I were a voter, or if I had a vote — I’d have to do some more research, because I don’t watch San Jose all the time. I don’t watch Edmonton all the time, I don’t watch Colorado all the time — but from afar … he’d be my Hart Trophy pick for two reasons,” Carbery said.

“One, I feel like the San Jose Sharks are overachieving with expectations and are in a playoff spot (four) games above .500. If you look at the reasons why: organized, structured, play a good team game. But offensively, what he’s doing for that team is remarkable.

“The easiest thing to point to is … even strength points. Look at what he has, then the next-closest person. That just shows how much he’s driving goals, offense, (and how) impactful he is.”

With some offseason additions and more experience, it was widely believed that the Sharks (24-20-3) would be an improved team this season after they finished 2024-25 with the NHL’s worst record (20-50-12). But Celebrini’s play is a big reason the Sharks entered Saturday in the Western Conference’s second and final wild-card spot, which is a surprise to most.

“When you’ve got someone that’s got (51) even strength points and the next closest player on this team (is Graf’s 25), and that’s not a slight against the rest of the group,” Carbery said, “that’s just a compliment of how incredible a season he is having and how impactful he is for the San Jose Sharks.”

The Capitals held Celebrini scoreless on Dec. 3, when they beat the Sharks 7-1 at SAP Center. It was one of only 10 games so far this season in which Celebrini has been held without a goal or assist, and the Sharks have lost all 10.

The Sharks had a decent start to that game, but the Capitals scored three times in a span of 5:10 to help take a 4-0 lead after the first period. Celebrini had two shots on net and was listed as having two giveaways in just under 16 minutes of ice time.

On Friday, Celebrini assisted on Will Smith’s first-period goal and had seven shots on net — and 12 shot attempts — in the Sharks’ 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

Going into Saturday, Celebrini led the NHL with 34 primary assists. McDavid had 30, and MacKinnon had 28.

“(Celebrini) made a great play coming into the zone and got the shot,” Smith said. “I saw it pop up in the air, and I just rushed it.”

Next up for Celebrini and the Sharks are the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Monday. Celebrini scored what was his 10th goal of the season on Nov. 8 when the Sharks beat the Panthers 3-1 at SAP Center.