Youth Movement in San Jose

Scoring one hundred points in a season in the NHL isn’t an easy thing to do. In fact, there are a grand total of 127 different players that have hit that mark in a single season. Collectively, those 127 players have done that 318 times. Six times in league history, players have hit that magic number in their teenage years. The latest member of that list is Macklin Celebrini who passed the mark last night in the Sharks 5-4 win over the Blues.

Celebrini now stands at 101 points (and counting), and he joins some pretty elite company in both league and San Jose Sharks history. He joins Sidney Crosby (2006 and 2007), Wayne Gretzky (1980), Jimmy Carson (1988), Mario Lemieux (1985) and Dale Hawerchuk (1982) as the only teenagers to hit the century mark in a single season. Celebrini also Joins Erik Karlsson (101 points in 2022-23) and Joe Thornton (114 points in 2006-07) as the only players to record 100 or more points in a season as member of the Sharks. The numbers that Celebrini has put up this year are eye popping for a couple reasons. One, he’s still a teenager. As of this writing, Celebrini is 19 years and 219 days old. He’s got a LOT of good years ahead of him to go. He put up solid numbers as an 18 year old, scoring 25 goals and 38 assists for 63 points in 70 games his first year. This year in two more games, he’s got as many assists as he did total points last year. At time of writing, he’s played 72 games, scoring 38 goals and 63 assists for those 101 points.

The kid can pretty much do it all for the Sharks, at least offensively. Great skater, excellent vision and quick hands. He sees the ice so well and can get to the open space better than most. He is quickly becoming the face of the franchise out in San Jose. The Sharks have had some pretty good players wearing their sweaters in team history. Owen Nolan, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski all come to mind when people think of Sharks greats. By the time all is said and done with this kids career, Celebrini will not only be up there but he could even pass them.

Now if San Jose can get the right pieces around this kid in the coming years, San Jose could be really, really good