{"id":488274,"date":"2026-10-07T18:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T18:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/488274\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T18:00:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T18:00:22","slug":"celebrini-injury-not-serious-sharks-move-smith-to-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/488274\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrini Injury Not Serious; Sharks Move Smith To Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

Take a breath, San Jose Sharks fans. Macklin Celebrini\u2019s<\/a> lower-body injury doesn\u2019t appear to be serious, and he is considered day-to-day.<\/p>\n

Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky<\/a> told Sheng Peng of SJHN that the captain is considered<\/a> day-to-day. Celebrini did not participate in practice today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t happen in warm-ups. This has been something we\u2019ve been trying to manage here a little bit,\u201d Warsofsky told SJHN.<\/p>\n

#SJSharks<\/a> HC Warsofsky says it\u2019s a day-to-day thing for Celebrini. However he\u2019s still being evaluated. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t happen in warm-ups. This has been something we\u2019ve been trying to manage here a little bit.\u201d https:\/\/t.co\/IM4HKo2g09<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Max Miller (@Real_Max_Miller) October 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

While the forward might not play Thursday against the St. Louis Blues<\/a>, the Sharks appear to have dodged a bullet.<\/p>\n

SHD criticized Warsofsky\u2019s lines during the 5-0 loss to the Dallas Stars<\/a> on Monday, but the head coach made some<\/a> adjustments during Tuesday\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n

Lines per SJHN:<\/p>\n

Marchment-Smith-Chernyshov
Stenberg-Wennberg-Sherwood
Graf-Misa-Toffoli
Goodrow-Ostapchuk-Dellandrea<\/p>\n

Ty Dellandrea<\/a> was thrust into a tough spot in his first game of the season, and these lines put him in a much better position to succeed.<\/p>\n

Smith is more than ready to get back to center<\/p>\n

But the key in these lines is San Jose Sharks forward Will Smith<\/a> sliding to his natural center position. Smith, who has played center his entire life before the NHL, could get a chance to be the unquestioned No. 1 center for the first time in the NHL.<\/p>\n

While the Sharks forward has shown he\u2019s a more-than-capable winger in the NHL, the much-improved Smith has a chance to show he can still be an NHL center. One thing has been clear for Smith this year: he\u2019s quicker, stronger, and much more capable of being an effective center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill has been a center his entire life, so if they throw him at center he\u2019ll be great,\u201d Dan Holland, Smith\u2019s summer skills coach, told SHD exclusively. \u201cHe sees the ice so well, and he\u2019s solid in the D zone. Everyone sees him as an offensive player, but he makes great reads defensively as well. He has great puck support as a center.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith will win more physical battles and get the puck going north faster than he could\u2019ve during his rookie season at C.<\/p>\n

Playing down the middle won\u2019t be new for Smith, which helps. But his entire game will change. Instead of being on the boards for the breakout, Smith can now generate speed through the middle of the ice. His creativity can come out more often, since he will have the puck more.<\/p>\n

Obviously, the part Smith will need to be pinpoint is the defensive zone. He\u2019s made big improvements on the wing defensively, and those skills should help translate down the middle. Smith has gotten very good at creating turnovers, which is also why he\u2019s seen some PK time. Now, as a center, Smith will have more chances to generate high-powered transition offense at even strength.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor summertime, we spent most of our time working on wall play and passing. Will has always had the best IQ, but we really focused on tightening up his passes and getting him stronger on the wall. In game one this year, he was so strong on the wall and was not only winning 50\/50s, but making great plays directly off the wall,\u201d Holland said. \u201cAnd his overtime pass was perfect; low and tight pass. Aside from the work we did on the ice, I know Will spent a lot of time in the gym getting bigger and stronger. He definitely put on some muscle and weight. I\u2019m really excited to watch him play this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those skills will translate better to offense for Smith. Now with Igor Chernyshov<\/a> on his wing, he has a chance to send the power forward on stretch passes all the time. Chernyshov\u2019s first goal of the season was off a stretch pass from Tyler Toffoli<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The San Jose Sharks are expected to practice again on Wednesday. If Celebrini misses again, look for Smith to stay down the middle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Take a breath, San Jose Sharks fans. Macklin Celebrini\u2019s lower-body injury doesn\u2019t appear to be serious, and he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[190660,1035,1036,88,90,89,98,8683,3939,755,3578],"class_list":["post-488274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-dan-holland","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-ryan-warsofsky","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sharks-injuries","tag-sharks-line-combinations","tag-sj-sharks","tag-will-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488274","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=488274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}