DALLAS \u2014 The San Jose Sharks might miss Macklin Celebrini as much on defense as they do on offense.<\/p>\n
Celebrini, a late scratch for Monday night\u2019s tilt at American Airlines Center, led the Sharks with 115 points last year, and already had five assists in just two games this season.<\/p>\n
Celebrini didn\u2019t practice on Wednesday and is considered day-to-day with a lower-body injury.<\/p>\n
Sharks tools<\/p>\n
His offensive gravity was clear on this Tyler Toffoli goal from Saturday.<\/p>\n
Walking down the middle on the power play, Celebrini (71) lures penalty killers Trevor Moore (12) and Scott Laughton (21) toward him. He dishes to Ivar Stenberg (41), who sells shot to Brandt Clarke (92), and Toffoli (73) has a tap-in. Stenberg and Toffoli have a 2-on-1 basically because of the Celebrini threat.<\/p>\n
Simply put, Celebrini makes everybody better around him.<\/p>\n
And this applicable on defense, too.<\/p>\n
At Dallas, especially in a listless first period where the San Jose Sharks were outshot 11-2, they seemed to miss Celebrini\u2019s ability to kill plays, more than anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just did not win any 50-50 puck battles,\u201d head coach Ryan Warsofsky complained. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have numbers on pucks. We just didn\u2019t win enough pucks.\u201d<\/p>\n
No. 71, at times, can be the only number you need.<\/p>\n
Last year, per Stathletes, Celebrini led all NHL forwards with 175 Turnovers Forced and 134 Puck Battles Won at 5-on-5. Celebrini is, arguably, the best forward in the NHL at turning defense into offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s really good at it,\u201d Warsofsky said. \u201cWe saw the goal the other night against Byfield one-on-one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without Celebrini leading the way, Sharks forwards struggled to force turnovers against the Stars. That\u2019s one reason why San Jose\u2019s team offense was shut out 5-0 and mustered only 13 shots: The team defense was stagnant too.<\/p>\n
Tyler Toffoli, Mason Marchment, Michael Misa, and Ty Dellandrea led Sharks forwards with two 5-on-5 Turnovers Forced apiece. Just in contrast, Celebrini paced San Jose with five Turnovers Forced in each of the first two games of the season.<\/p>\n
So who\u2019s going to step up defensively, if Celebrini misses any time?<\/p>\n
Alex Wennberg is front, and umm, center. Wennberg forced 150 5-on-5 turnovers last season, eighth among all NHL forwards.<\/p>\n
Marchment was also above-average in this category, 45th among all forwards with 123 Turnovers Forced.<\/p>\n
And who was third in Turnovers Forced behind Celebrini and Wennberg, among Sharks forwards?<\/p>\n