{"id":276642,"date":"2026-04-20T10:46:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T10:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/276642\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T10:46:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T10:46:01","slug":"sharks-macklin-celebrini-open-to-long-term-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/276642\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini Open To Long-Term Extension"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite being drafted with the first-overall selection two years ago, phenom Macklin Celebrini<\/a> of the San Jose Sharks is already eligible for an extension off of his entry-level contract. According to Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now<\/a>, that\u2019s something Celebrini is more than interested in. In Peng\u2019s report, he quoted Celebrini saying, \u201cI want to commit to this team and being here. I love it here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celebrini\u2019s upcoming contract didn\u2019t get any cheaper for the Sharks, that\u2019s for sure. He had a solid rookie campaign, scoring 25 goals and 63 points in 70 games with a -31 rating, averaging 19:47 of ice time. Unfortunately, he only finished third in Calder Trophy voting behind Lane Hutson<\/a> of the Montreal Canadiens and Dustin Wolf<\/a> of the Calgary Flames.<\/p>\n

There were some question marks surrounding his game on the defensive side of the puck, though much of that was credited to the Sharks team at large, rather than isolated to Celebrini alone. According to HockeyReference, Celebrini finished his rookie campaign with a 0.0 Expected +\/-, meaning all of his -31 rating was due to the poor play of his supporting cast.<\/p>\n

This season, Celebrini took his game to a completely different level. Not only did he take a step forward in his production, but he also has a real chance of being a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league\u2019s MVP. The 19-year-old finished with 45 goals and 115 points in 82 games with a +8 rating, averaging 21:19 of ice time per game.<\/p>\n

Although hockey is a team sport, San Jose\u2019s return to competitiveness this season can be solely attributed to Celebrini. The gap between him and the team\u2019s next leading scorer, Will Smith<\/a> (59 points), would have been third on the team in scoring (56 points).<\/p>\n

He continued his successful season against the world\u2019s best. Suiting up for Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Celebrini scored five goals and 10 points in six games, helping Canada to a silver medal. If he takes another step forward during the 2026-27 season, it would be prudent for the Sharks to extend him as soon as they can.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>While Celebrini\u2019s extension won\u2019t cause a domino effect in the upcoming free agent market, it surely will in the restricted free agent market. Since being drafted, Celebrini has often been compared to Chicago Blackhawk Connor Bedard<\/a>. Bedard\u2019s entry-level contract expires on July 1st, and there\u2019s a decent chance that each side will wait for the other to sign, ultimately using the other as a comparable in their own negotiations.<\/p>\n

Given his age and performance, it\u2019s difficult to speculate on Celebrini\u2019s next contract, especially given that the upper limit of the salary cap continues to rise. Recently, James Mirtle, Chris Johnston, and Michael Russo of The Athletic ran a poll<\/a> of a few NHL agents about this very topic.<\/p>\n

In the report, the trio quoted one agent, saying, \u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t Celebrini make like 20 million bucks a year? I mean, it\u2019s a lot, but look at that kid. I guess my point with Celebrini is I know it\u2019s not apples to apples because Kaprizov could have become UFA, but if you\u2019re him, why wouldn\u2019t I say, Kaprizov\u2019s getting this, why shouldn\u2019t I make more than Kaprizov?\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, another agent said, \u201cIt\u2019s going to be in the $10 to $17 (million) range, depending on the number of years he\u2019s willing to forgo. If he\u2019s going to go very short-term, it\u2019ll be $10 to $12 (million). If he\u2019s going to give up term, it\u2019ll be in the $12 to $15 (million). If he really wants to push, it could be $17 (million).\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the Sharks will only have a few months left to sign Celebrini to an eight-year contract, it would make sense for them to push for that if Celebrini remains open to it. However, using the above framework, Celebrini could sign an identical eight-year, $136MM as Kirill Kaprizov<\/a> with the Minnesota Wild. If he looks to beat Kaprizov, Celebrini would immediately become the NHL\u2019s first $140MM man, if not more.<\/p>\n

Regardless, outside of the change in September that will drop the maximum contract length from eight years to seven years, there\u2019s no real rush for either side. Celebrini is signed through next year thanks to his entry-level deal, and won\u2019t become eligible for unrestricted free agency until after the 2030-31 NHL season.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto-Imagn Images.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite being drafted with the first-overall selection two years ago, phenom Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1035,88,90,89,98],"class_list":{"0":"post-276642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-macklin-celebrini","9":"tag-san-jose","10":"tag-san-jose-headlines","11":"tag-san-jose-news","12":"tag-san-jose-sharks"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276642","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=276642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}