{"id":418151,"date":"2026-07-30T16:01:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T16:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/418151\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T16:01:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T16:01:49","slug":"sharks-grier-talks-celebrini-extension-details","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/418151\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks’ Grier Talks Celebrini Extension Details"},"content":{"rendered":"

Macklin Celebrini<\/a> is the NHL\u2019s highest-paid player after the San Jose Sharks signed him to a five-year contract worth $94 million.<\/p>\n

With an $18.8 million cap hit, Celebrini passes Anaheim Ducks<\/a> center Leo Carlsson<\/a> for the highest-paid player. Carlsson signed an offer sheet<\/a> with the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> to earn his $18 million AAV.<\/p>\n

For the Sharks, Celebrini is a better player and is already considered one of the best players in the world. GM Mike Grier<\/a> met with the media Wednesday afternoon to go through the details of this historic contract. Grier admitted that Carlsson\u2019s offer sheet changed the landscape of the deal, but not by a terrible amount.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was good working with Pat [Brisson], Mack, and his family to get through this. A couple of weeks of listening to each other a little bit and seeing where they were at and going over it with Hasso [Plattner]<\/a>,\u201d Grier said. \u201cIt came together at a decent pace. We\u2019re really excited to get it done and happy to have Mack here committed for the next five years.<\/p>\n

[I] just want to really thank Hasso for his continued support and generosity. All the money and resources he\u2019s put into the organization and the team to help us succeed and give us everything we need to build this team the way we would like, and hopefully build a championship-caliber team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grier\u2019s thanks to San Jose Sharks owner Hasso Plattner can\u2019t fall on deaf ears. Plattner is already footing most of the bill for upgrades to SAP Center. All while still making a heavy investment in the on-ice product.<\/p>\n

Grier has thanked #SJSharks<\/a> owner Hasso Plattner multiple times. Says he\u2019s not worried in the slightest about spending to the cap for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Max Miller (@Real_Max_Miller) July 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

When asked why both sides were comfortable with the $18.8 million AAV, Grier didn\u2019t hesitate. The GM said they were willing to pay the maximum. A player can sign for a maximum of 20% of a team\u2019s total salary cap. Celebrini took 16.6% of the cap<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you know Hasso would have hesitated to give him [the max] if that\u2019s what he asked for,\u201d Grier said. \u201cAgain, very, very appreciative and happy that Mack decided to leave us take a little bit less and give us some flexibility. Have some extra cap dollars down the road as we go on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now why five years for the San Jose Sharks\u2019 best player? Well, that seems to be the going rate for top talent these days. Connor Bedard<\/a>, Carlsson, and now Celebrini have all left themselves a chance to assess the NHL\u2019s financial landscape and get paid a second time. It also gives these young players a chance to hit the open market at the peak of their play.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it works for both sides. It shows Mack\u2019s commitment to the organization and to his teammates and to the fans here,\u201d Grier said. \u201cTo give it five more years after this year to see where we\u2019re at and see if we\u2019re evolving, growing, winning games, and competing for championships. [That\u2019s] what we all want and what Macklin especially wants. It allows a little time to keep building this thing up and to see where it can go. At the same time, it leaves Mack some flexibility to see where the team is and where the cap\u2019s going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grier, who has a family history in sports management, offered an interesting angle on why he was comfortable paying Celebrini such a high amount.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things I was taught early on from my dad and my brother is when you do extensions, if you\u2019re going to do a long-term extension with someone and going to pay him a lot of money, you\u2019ve got to bet on the person first and foremost,\u201d Grier said. \u201cIn this case, I think you couldn\u2019t bet on a better kid than Mack. I think if it does anything, it\u2019ll motivate him just to be even better than he already is. But I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll change him at all. He\u2019s a self-starter. It\u2019s July, and we\u2019re already trying to kick him off the ice because he\u2019s on the ice too much, working on his game. He\u2019s not someone I\u2019m worrying about the money and payday changing who he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celebrini\u2019s extension is the first step in securing the Sharks\u2019 future core. While not committing to him being the next captain, there is little doubt that he will wear the \u2018C\u2019 for the San Jose Sharks.<\/p>\n

Next up for the Sharks, signing Will Smith<\/a> and Collin Graf.<\/a> Grier touched on them too, but those are for a separate story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Macklin Celebrini is the NHL\u2019s highest-paid player after the San Jose Sharks signed him to a five-year contract…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[119027,3524,4388,4345,1716,1035,4401,88,90,89,98,755,3578],"class_list":["post-418151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-2026-offseason","tag-collin-graf","tag-contract-extension","tag-hasso-plattner","tag-leo-carlsson","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-mike-grier","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sj-sharks","tag-will-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418151","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=418151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}