{"id":274872,"date":"2026-04-19T00:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T00:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/274872\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T00:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T00:09:10","slug":"san-jose-sharks-macklin-celebrini-open-to-signing-new-deal-this-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/274872\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini open to signing new deal this offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2013 San Jose Sharks leading scorer Macklin Celebrini<\/a> will likely be one of the NHL\u2019s highest-paid players by the time the 2027-28 season begins.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just a question of when Celebrini and the Sharks can come to an agreement on a contract extension,<\/a> whether that\u2019s this offseason or sometime next year.<\/p>\n

After finishing as the NHL\u2019s fourth-leading scorer,<\/a> Celebrini said Saturday that while he hasn\u2019t thought too much about his next contract, he\u2019s open to signing an extension as soon as this summer.<\/p>\n

The Sharks and Celebrini can sign a new deal as early as July 1, as the 19-year-old centerman\u2019s three-year entry-level contract expires after the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just open to every possibility,\u201d Celebrini said Saturday at the Sharks\u2019 practice facility as players gathered belongings and said some goodbyes. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing really that goes into it. It goes hand in hand with me. I want to commit to this team and being here. I love it here. I\u2019m open to whatever happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celebrini finished the season with 115 points in 82 games, leading a Sharks turnaround that saw the team \u2014 after finishing as the NHL\u2019s last-place team the previous two years \u2014 remain in playoff contention until the final week of the regular season.<\/p>\n

San Jose finished the season with a record of 39-35-8 for 86 points, a 32-point improvement over last season. Still, the Sharks won just seven of their 18 final games and ended the season four points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the second and final wild card spot in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

The Sharks, with Celebrini leading the way, hope to take the next step as a team next season and break a seven-year playoff drought.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis summer\u2019s going to be really big for all of us,\u201d said Will Smith, Celebrini\u2019s linemate and the Sharks\u2019 second-leading scorer this season with 59 points in 69 games. \u201cI think we know the expectations now, it\u2019s to be in the playoffs. Everyone knows we came up short, but next year, we\u2019re definitely expected to be in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celebrini had a goal and two assists in the Sharks\u2019 6-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday as he broke Joe Thornton\u2019s franchise record of points in a single season with 114 in 2006-07.<\/p>\n

Celebrini could be a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy, given annually to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team. Celebrini, who turns 20 in June, scored or assisted on over 45% of the Sharks\u2019 251 goals this season. Celebrini heard chants of \u201cMVP, MVP\u201d this season during several games at SAP Center, although the award has historically gone to players on playoff teams.<\/p>\n

Still, in league-wide scoring, Celebrini only finished behind Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid (138 points), Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov (130), and Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (127). That trio could comprise the three finalists for the Hart.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the guys that I\u2019m looking to learn from and watch them,\u201d Celebrini said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been around for 10-plus years, so they\u2019re the guys, when I was a kid, I was watching. Even now, I\u2019m still trying to learn them and see what makes them successful. That would be pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celebrini\u2019s next deal, perhaps depending on the length,<\/a> could make him one of the three highest-paid players in the NHL.<\/p>\n

This season, Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl had the league\u2019s biggest salary cap hit at $14 million. But Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov will start an eight-year, $136 million deal<\/a> in the fall, a contract that carries a staggering salary cap hit of $17 million.<\/p>\n

Celebrini\u2019s next contract, under the collective bargaining agreement, can be no more than 20% of the cap<\/a> at the time the new deal begins. The cap for this past season was $95.5 million, is expected to rise to $104 million next year, and is projected at $113.5 million for the 2027-28 season.<\/p>\n

This is the last offseason that players re-signing with their own teams can ink eight-year contract extensions. Starting in mid-September, when the new collective bargaining agreement fully takes effect, the maximum contract length will be seven years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe season just ended,\u201d said Celebrini, who turns 20 in June. \u201cI haven\u2019t really thought about anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sharks, though, have known since they drafted Celebrini No. 1 overall two years ago that they would one day need to make him one of the NHL\u2019s highest-paid players.<\/p>\n

The Sharks\u2019 front office might be open to signing the Celebrini to whatever contract he wants, regardless of the term or dollar amount. But a big bill is coming soon with Celebrini, as it is with Smith, the Sharks\u2019 second-leading scorer, who is also eligible for a contract extension in July.<\/p>\n

Please check back for updates to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2013 San Jose Sharks leading scorer Macklin Celebrini will likely be one of the NHL\u2019s highest-paid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[118930,9900,88,90,89,98,4626,24179],"class_list":{"0":"post-274872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-macklin-celebrini-mike-grier","9":"tag-nhl-playoffs","10":"tag-san-jose","11":"tag-san-jose-headlines","12":"tag-san-jose-news","13":"tag-san-jose-sharks","14":"tag-stanley-cup-playoffs","15":"tag-world-championships"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}