{"id":338739,"date":"2026-05-30T06:08:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/338739\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T06:08:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:08:19","slug":"kaplan-celebrini-all-but-guaranteed-to-get-sharks-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/338739\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaplan: Celebrini ‘All But Guaranteed’ to Get Sharks ‘C’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MacklinPhoto by Matthew Huang\/Icon Sportswire<\/p>\n

Highlights<\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s Emily Kaplan reports Celebrini\u2019s 2026-27 captaincy is \u2018all but guaranteed\u2019He\u2019d be San Jose\u2019s first full-time captain since Logan CoutureRead below for the $166.4M extension math that hits July 1<\/p>\n

San Jose\u2019s next captain isn\u2019t much of a mystery anymore.<\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s Emily Kaplan<\/a> wrote this week that Macklin Celebrini wearing a \u201cC\u201d for the Sharks in 2026-27 is \u201call but guaranteed,\u201d tucked into her postseason buzz column on McDavid, Matthews and Hughes. That would make the 19-year-old San Jose\u2019s first full-time captain since Logan Couture stepped away with a career-ending injury after six games in 2023-24.<\/p>\n

Celebrini has spent the last 12 months collecting captaincies he isn\u2019t supposed to have yet. Team Canada gave him the \u201cC\u201d at the 2026 IIHF World Championship, then re-confirmed it after Sidney Crosby joined the roster. Crosby, Ryan O\u2019Reilly and John Tavares are all wearing an \u201cA\u201d while the teenager runs the room. Here\u2019s the Hockey Canada announcement:<\/p>\n

That decision wasn\u2019t a courtesy nod. The players voted on it.<\/p>\n

His on-ice case is settled. Celebrini torched the league for 45 goals, 70 assists and 115 points at age 19, breaking Joe Thornton\u2019s franchise single-season record<\/a> on April 17 in Winnipeg. He finished fourth in NHL scoring, earned a Ted Lindsay Award nomination and was voted the Sharks\u2019 Player of the Year. The Hart Trophy snub stung, but no one inside the building is debating who the cornerstone is.<\/p>\n

The bigger Kaplan headline is the money. Celebrini is eligible to sign an extension on July 1, and Kaplan reported the Sharks \u201cwon\u2019t drag this out if both sides are aligned.\u201d This is the last summer before CBA rules cap max extensions at seven years, so San Jose can offer eight at $20.8 million ($166.4 million total) before September 15. That would top Kirill Kaprizov\u2019s $17M AAV deal from last summer as the richest contract in NHL history.<\/p>\n

The \u201cC\u201d has been sitting in a drawer since Couture\u2019s last game in March 2024. Looks like a 20-year-old gets it by training camp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo by Matthew Huang\/Icon Sportswire Highlights ESPN\u2019s Emily Kaplan reports Celebrini\u2019s 2026-27 captaincy is \u2018all but guaranteed\u2019He\u2019d be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[52838,4388,750,1035,404,88,90,89,98],"class_list":["post-338739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-captain","tag-contract-extension","tag-espn","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-nhl","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338739","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=338739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}