Macklin Celebrini is back with the San Jose Sharks.
Celebrini had a superstar-making Olympics, leading the tournament with five goals and 28 shots, and skating stride-for-stride with linemates and consensus top-two players in the world, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon. Celebrini and his Team Canada, however, fell short in the gold medal game, losing to the US 2-1 in OT.
Celebrini spoke to local media after his first practice with the San Jose Sharks in three weeks.
Celebrini joked that the amount of media today, looks like a Canadian market pic.twitter.com/SXuSAVrDam
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) February 25, 2026
Macklin Celebrini, on how he feels after his Olympic debut:
I feel great. I’m excited to get back to the guys.
Celebrini, on the kinds of conversations he had with his teammates, especially McDavid, MacKinnon, and Sidney Crosby:
I mean, they’re just normal teammate conversations. They’re normal guys. It’s nothing different than everyone else. They’re just great people, great guys, fun to be around.
Celebrini, on what he learned from being around high-caliber teammates:
I guess just where the bar is at. I mean, those guys play with such pace and they think about the game so fast—the level that they play at, the practice that they play at—it was probably the fastest practices I’ve ever been a part of. Just being around them, practicing with them, and playing with them, it was a different level.
Celebrini, on what it felt like to play with those players at that level:
I think just being around the best of the best, my goal was just to see how they approach every day and see the things that they do to make themselves successful. It really helped.
Celebrini, on whether it feels bittersweet to lose the gold medal game and return to the United States to play with the San Jose Sharks:
I don’t think the working part has anything to do with it. I think it’s just the losing. Whatever excuses you want to make about the game for us, I think at the end of the day, we just didn’t win. It’s bitter, it’s sour that we didn’t win and we came that close, especially with everything that we fought through, but I can’t change it now.
Celebrini, on how he’s a better hockey player today than he was three weeks ago:
Just being around those guys and absorbing the habits they play with and their winning mentality. Their ability to play the right way and how the team came together to play off each other.
Celebrini, on whether he thinks the Olympics were good experience for a playoff push the rest of the season:
A lot of those guys have won the Stanley Cup and won so many other things that being around them and knowing what you have to do to get to that goal, even though we didn’t do it, you can see the habits and the preparation it takes to get there.
Celebrini, on whether he’d want to return to the Olympics in four years:
Yeah.
Celebrini, on having the Bay Area’s support during the Olympics:
I mean, it was really cool. A lot of Americans, probably, but I know that our fans and our community were cheering not only for me, but the other Sharks players over there trying to get that gold.
Celebrini, on his favorite non-hockey moment from the Olympics:
I think just being around the Village. We didn’t sleep there, but we spent a lot of time there going to lunch and stuff and being around the other athletes and experiencing that kind of different experience.
Celebrini, on what he’s bringing back to the Sharks after the Olympics:
I think just the mindset. Like I said, I learned a lot while I was over there. Those coaches were some of the best coaches in the league, and some of the best players in the world and some of the best players I’ve ever played with. Their mentality, some of the things that they preach, the message around the locker room over there, I think I can bring some of that back and just know what it takes. It was awesome. I mean, just every off-day being able to spend it with them and go to lunch or dinner with them, it made it a really cool experience.
Celebrini, on what it means to have more people showing up around San Jose with interest in the Sharks:
I mean, I don’t think it’s just this [the media]. I think we want to take those next steps, and all of this comes along with it. The fans, the attention. We want those expectations, we want that pressure, because it means we’re doing a good thing and we’re turning the right way. At the end of the day, all of this comes into it.
“do you have any empathy for the united states? hadn’t won since 1980…”
“🙄 no. no. i mean… no! no.”
macklin celebrini is so goddamn funny pic.twitter.com/SHASKb99l3
— yoyo (@poutingthrough) February 25, 2026
Celebrini, on how it was playing with Crosby and McDavid and the subsequent loss of Crosby:
I mean, I answered that question a lot while I was over there. It really, really sucked when he went down. He’s our role model, leader, and he’s been Captain Canada for so long and been the guy for Canada. When he went down, I think it made an impact on all of us, but we tried to do it for him.
Celebrini, on the upcoming six-game homestand:
I mean, I think we’re just going to take it game by game, one game at a time starting with tomorrow against Calgary. I think that’s what we’re focused on. We can’t look too far ahead. It’s going to go by fast, but it’s going to be long, and we can’t look too far ahead, so we’re just going to take it one game at a time.
Celebrini, on the journey back to San Jose from Milan and how the Florida Panthers helped:
It’s tough getting back from Italy when you’re on the west coast.
Celebrini, on whether he’s thought about some of his close plays during the Olympics, since returning:
Yeah, I have. I thought about it a lot, but I’m kind of coming to terms with it. We can’t change it now, whatever regrets you have or plays you want back, or chances you didn’t finish. I’m sure our whole team is thinking about that and the mistakes we made at the end of the day. We played a good-enough game to win, but like I said, it’s no excuse. They won it, so we can’t do anything about it.
Celebrini, on the Sharks group chat following the game:
It wasn’t much, no one really said anything. I think it was early, so a lot of guys just went back to bed.
Celebrini, on how he feels coming back, fatigue-wise:
I feel great, just excited to start playing again.
Celebrini, on what he expects coming back to the Tank after himself and his teammates’ Olympics:
Oh, it’s going to be great, and it’s going to be great to just have the team back. I know a lot of guys had a long break, and a lot of the guys are excited to start playing again, especially with our goal in mind. It’s just exciting.
Celebrini, on all the new Sharks fans now showing up
I mean, every sports franchise goes through a tough spot and fans don’t show up. When you’re losing, you can’t really expect someone to pay their money to come watch you lose, so we’re going to try and change that.
Celebrini, on his other San Jose Sharks teammates at the Olympics:
It was so fun to watch all three of them just battle at that level on that stage. I know I played Kurashev, which was a lot of fun. Just playing against him and being on that stage with him was really cool.
And then just watching the other two, Reggie and Slovakia had an amazing tournament and they obviously went a long way. Sweden got a little unlucky with who they faced in the quarters, but it was awesome to watch all three of them.
Celebrini, on whether he thinks the quick turnaround to NHL hockey will be helpful:
It’s just going to be nice to get back. This is what we’ve been working on the whole year, it’s our main goal. I think all of us are perfectly focused on this group.
Celebrini, on the mentality coming back:
It’s the mentality for every game: we want to win, especially with how important it is for us. We’re not going to try to look too far ahead, but we know how important all of these games are.
Celebrini, on whether he’s surprised to see how fast the Tank has started to fill back up, compared to his rookie season:
I don’t know. It’s a good question.
I mean, with the way we’re playing right now, I know we had a little tough stretch before the break, but with the excitement around our team, with the guys we have in that locker room, with the way we’ve been playing, I’m not really surprised.
But I think a lot of people didn’t think we’d be in this situation right now, and I think we knew that going into this year. We didn’t want to be just satisfied with getting another lottery pick.
Celebrini, on whether he’s taking the sense of determination from the Olympics back with him for the remainder of the season:
I mean, that just shows you how close it is between winning and losing. A lot of people say you learn more from losing than winning, and I definitely did, it just hurt.
It hurt when they put the silver medal around your neck. We waited around there for about 30 or 40 minutes after the game, just standing on the ice watching them celebrate.
Hopefully, I get a few more chances at winning with Hockey Canada, and I get fortunate enough to be on those teams. I’m just going to remember that especially as we get going with our group that I shouldn’t take winning for granted.
Celebrini, on what happened to Tina, the Olympic mascot doll that he received with the silver medal:
It’s at home in my suitcase.
Celebrini, on the 3-on-3 format to determine the gold medal winner:
I mean, it’s been a huge debate. A lot of people are complaining about it, but at the end of the day, it’s the same for either side. You each have three guys on the ice. We probably had the three best players in the world on the ice, so I don’t think you can really complain too much about it. Maybe there’s a reason why the Stanley Cup isn’t determined three-on-three, but you can’t complain or whine about it then.
Celebrini, on how he feels about playing Hellebuyck on Sunday and “getting another chance”:
To be honest, not really. He’s probably going to be taking a little bit of time off.
Celebrini, on taking a return trip to Italy as a tourist:
Yeah, 100%. I think my great-great grandparents were from there, so I’d love to go back.
Celebrini, on how he handles all of the pressure that comes with playing at such a high level like the Olympics:
It’s just the same approach every day no matter what situation you’re in. That’s what I found at the Olympics. It was the biggest stage I’ve ever played on and the biggest games I’ve ever been a part of. It just came back to my same routine and doing all of the same things to get prepared, and then whatever happens on the ice happens.
“Forever.”
Celebrini on how long this gold medal loss will stick with him.
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) February 25, 2026
Watch the full interview here