Macklin Celebrini is special, and San Jose Sharks fans should absolutely enjoy that. But that’s not Ryan Warsofsky’s job.

Last week, the head coach raised eyebrows for getting real about the Sharks’ playoff chances.

“Where we’re at as a team is, no offense, but reading all this stuff about playoffs and where we are,” Ryan Warsofsky said last Friday, “we got a long way to go here.”

Warsofsky struck a similar tone on Wednesday, when asked about Will Smith’s risky-but-remarkable pass on Celebrini’s first goal, part of the superstar’s hat trick in a 3-2 OT victory over the Utah Mammoth.

“There’s another level that they can both get to within their game. Not just the points and the goals and the assists, [but] for us to win consistently, and really go on and really start building this thing,” Warsofsky said. “We have to have an understanding on how we need to play the game and winning habits and what it looks like.”

Call Warsofsky a buzzkill, but he’s right.

And that’s his job as a head coach, not to celebrate Celebrini’s hat trick or being one game over .500 again, but to get his team to the next level and the next and the next, until the San Jose Sharks hoist their first-ever Stanley Cup.

His job is to get more out of his prodigiously talented but largely inexperienced young stars, to teach them how to win.

“Those will be the foundation blocks when we start winning games,” Warsofsky said. “It’ll be because our best players defend right, play the right way, understand when the momentum shifts.”

Speaking specifically about Celebrini, that’s polishing his eager but still unpolished defensive game, managing the puck better, and knowing when it’s time to attack, when it’s time to back off.

Nobody wants to hear that on a night where the 19-year-old wunderkind notched the third hat trick of his career, and became just the fourth teenager in NHL history, after Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux, to score 30 points in 20 games.

But it’s the truth.

Even Celebrini spoke to that, when asked about being in the same conversation as Gretzky and company.

“I don’t really want to hear about that,” the alternate captain said tersely. “That’s not really what’s important.”

I’m sure that Warsofsky and Celebrini and Smith would agree what’s important is winning.

“They’ll learn and they’ll get better and we’ll keep growing with them and challenging them and pushing them,” Warsofsky said. “We’ve taken steps, still got a little ways to go.”

Macklin Celebrini

Celebrini, on his OT GWG:

Credit to [Thomas Speer]. He’s our goalie coach. He’s awesome. He always gives us insight into how goals are being scored. Shooting through a screen was the topic today…You saw a lot of our chances, guys were throwing it through screens and stuff like that. That’s just a credit to him. He does his research, and he’s working behind the scenes to try to help our group.

Celebrini, on how the San Jose Sharks have grown from last year:

I think coming into this year, all of us wanted to take that next step as a team. This is a game we probably would have lost last year, so I think it’s just showing the steps we’re taking.

Vincent Desharnais

Desharnais, who’s played with Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid, on what we’re witnessing with Celebrini:

He’s special. I think everyone in here, everyone in this building, sees how special he is as a player, as a human being as well. He’s not just an asshole around and walking around and saying that he’s the best player.

He always wants to get better every day. I’m sure, next skate, he’s gonna be one of the first guys on the ice to work on something else.

It’s impressive to see. It kind of inspires everyone, [everyone] wants to follow him.

Small little details that he does in the D-zone and faceoffs, it’s awesome to see that it’s not just offense, but it’s both sides of the puck as well.

Desharnais, on a 19-year-old leading the San Jose Sharks:

When you play like that, you’re that guy, it doesn’t matter whether you’re 30, 18, he’s got that maturity.

And just from last year to this year, we see a big difference, whether it’s on the ice, off the ice, he’s still a clown. He still loves to have fun, and it’s awesome to see, because everyone wants to talk to him and joke around. But when it’s time to go to work, he’s leads by example, like I said, whether you’re 19 or 30, if you play like that, and you have that work ethic and that maturity, it doesn’t really matter.

Collin Graf

Graf, on why Celebrini’s shot is so elite:

I’d say deceptive. He’s got every trick in his bag. I assume it’s hard for a goalie, because you don’t know what he’s going to do. I think it’s just hard for them, and it’s deceptive, so it’s hard to read.

Ryan Warsofsky

Warsofsky, on Zack Ostapchuk:

I thought he was really good. He was probably our best forward. Obviously, Mack has the goals, but Chucky was really good tonight.

Warsofsky, on Sam Dickinson on the power play:

He’s got a little bit of ways to go. To be honest with you. I think he’s going to be a special player. The game speeds up for him. We got to get him to move his feet a little bit more and be a little bit deceptive. Thought he forced some things on the power play. But again, we just put him on it yesterday, so we’ll work with him and get better at it.

Warsofsky, on what he’d say to Will Smith if that Smith assist on Celebrini’s first goal doesn’t go in the net:

I would keep those comments to myself. (laughs)

But those guys have, obviously, you guys see the chemistry and they can make things happen.

I still think there’s another level that they can both get to within their game. Not just the points and the goals and the assists, [but] for us to win consistently, and really go on and really start building this thing.

We have to have an understanding on how we need to play the game and winning habits and what it looks like. I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it until I’m blue in the face.

Those will be the foundation blocks when we start winning games. It’ll be because our best players defend right, play the right way, understand when the momentum shifts.

And they’ll learn and they’ll get better and we’ll keep growing with them and challenging them and pushing them. We’ve taken steps, still got a little ways to go.