{"id":475801,"date":"2026-09-25T22:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T22:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475801\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T22:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T22:46:10","slug":"instant-reaction-sharks-teammates-speak-on-celebrini-becoming-captain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475801\/","title":{"rendered":"Instant Reaction: Sharks Teammates Speak On Celebrini Becoming Captain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday was a monumental day for the San Jose Sharks franchise, as they<\/a> named Macklin Celebrini<\/a> the 11th full-time captain in team history.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old becomes the youngest captain in Sharks history at just 20 years old and 104 days. While Celebrini prepared for an official press conference, members of the media spoke with his teammates about the news.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s huge. I think we\u2019re all expecting it, and he\u2019s obviously a leader of this team,\u201d Will Smith<\/a> said. \u201cHe\u2019s gonna have that letter for a while. It\u2019s gonna be big for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith and Celebrini entered the NHL at the same time and are now living together. The Sharks duo have been nearly inseparable since 2024, and Smith has seen his friend grow into the leader he is today.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came into the league as an 18-year-old. Everyone knows that, and I just think, him being a young guy and staying out after practice, getting out there early, stuff like that,\u201d Smith said. \u201cLittle things that\u00a0show\u00a0the group how much work you\u2019re putting in, and you know, when he does that, everyone else gets out there too.\u201d<\/p>\n

But veterans like Alexander Wennberg<\/a> and Tyler Toffoli<\/a> know Celebrini won\u2019t change who he is just because he has the \u2018C\u2019 now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely starts with his work ethic, and it\u2019s not always the things he says,\u201d Toffoli said. \u201cHe\u2019s very vocal in the sense that he\u2019s still a young kid, and enjoys coming to the rink, cracking jokes, and having fun. But at the same time, when it comes to work and in the middle of a period in a game, he can be serious. It\u2019s one of those things: whenever he talks, you listen, and I think that kind of just goes to show why he\u2019s going to be the captain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always been ready for it, but obviously this is a different task, taking more ownership. Always on the ice, you never see a guy who competes harder than he does,\u201d Wennberg said. \u201cHe contributes with points, but I feel like off the ice as well. I mean, he\u00a0just shows up every day. He does the work. He is the voice of the room as well. Like how\u00a0he acts and how he moves. So it\u2019s just amazing to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toffoli has been around some incredible leaders like Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings<\/a>. Despite that experience, Toffoli understands that Celebrini has his own identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith everybody I play with, it\u2019s different,\u201d Toffoli said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to compare Kopi to Mack or whoever to Mack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toffoli, who has worn an \u2018A\u2019 on his jersey since signing with the Sharks, understands the honor Celebrini is taking on as the main guy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can just feel his energy coming into the rink. His work ethic and everything, and I think you\u2019re going to hear the same answers from everybody you talk to today. It\u2019s a huge honor. I think we\u2019re all very proud of him,\u201d Toffoli said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely an exciting time for him, his family, and\u00a0the organization. So very happy for him, and going to enjoy my team dinner when he pays for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky<\/a> has seen firsthand what Celebrini does on the bench to bring his team together. The bench boss spoke about that during Friday\u2019s presser.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a great feel for what\u2019s happening in the game. Whether we\u2019re struggling to find our game, or we\u2019ve got to raise our intensity, he knows the right things to say to his players,\u201d Warsofsky said. \u201cBut he also goes out and does it. It\u2019s one thing to say it and be a leader, but he goes out and does it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celebrini will likely debut his new jersey with the \u2018C\u2019 when the San Jose Sharks visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday for their last preseason game. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s fair to say,\u201d Warsofsky said when asked whether Celebrini will play on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Friday was a monumental day for the San Jose Sharks franchise, as they named Macklin Celebrini the 11th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[2094,1035,1036,88,90,89,98,139880,755,3809,3578],"class_list":["post-475801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-alexander-wennberg","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-ryan-warsofsky","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sharks-captain","tag-sj-sharks","tag-tyler-toffoli","tag-will-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475801","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=475801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}