Sharks’ Celebrini says what he thinks of McDavid, MacKinnon, and his own Hart Trophy buzz

SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini doesn’t really care if others feel he should be in the mix for the Hart Memorial Trophy this season. He still believes Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon are the best players in the NHL.

Celebrini entered Monday third in NHL scoring with 70 points in 45 games, with both McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers and MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche tied for the league lead with 78 points each.

But while both McDavid and MacKinnon have award-winning supporting casts, namely center Leon Draisaitl with the Oilers and defenseman Cale Makar with the Avalanche, Celebrini has more than twice as many points as the Sharks’ second-highest scorer, Tyler Toffoli, who has 13 goals and 19 assists.

Still, Celebrini puts McDavid and MacKinnon, his future Canadian Olympic teammates, in a class by themselves. McDavid is a three-time Hart Trophy winner and led the NHL with 48 assists before Monday’s games, and MacKinnon, with a league-high 36 goals this year, won the award after the 2023-24 season. The Avalanche has also been the NHL’s best team by a wide margin in 2025-26.

“You have two guys that are kind of duking it out and obviously having great years,” Celebrini said Monday. “Colorado with their team, MacKinnon with his goal scoring and what he’s done, and McDavid’s McDavid.

“So it doesn’t really matter if I’m in the conversation or whatever people are talking about. I think those two are the best in the world.”

During his 13-game point streak that ended in Sunday’s 7-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, Celebrini led the Sharks with nine goals and 18 assists. In that time, McDavid had a league-leading 34 points in 15 games, and MacKinnon had 27 points in 14 games.

The reason why Celebrini is in the Hart Trophy conversation is that the award, per the NHL, is presented annually “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team.”

Entering this week, Celebrini has scored or assisted on 49.3% of the Sharks’ goals this season and is the biggest reason why the team was in a playoff spot before Monday’s games. San Jose, at 23-19-3 this season, had the league’s worst record last season at 20-50-12.

“If you have that many people talking about it, it’s for a reason, so I think it’s definitely well deserved,” Sharks winger Jeff Skinner said of Hart Trophy chatter that surrounds Celebrini.

“(McDavid and MacKinnon) are dominant every night throughout a long season, and that’s what Mack has been. He should be in the conversation. I don’t know if there’s anything else to say about it, really. He’s had an unbelievable season so far, we’re lucky to have him, and it’s been fun to watch.”

Right now, Celebrini’s more focused on what’s directly ahead of him and the Sharks, and that’s a daunting three-week stretch with nine of their next 10 games away from home.

The Sharks begin a four-game road trip on Thursday against the Washington Capitals, who flattened San Jose 7-1 on Dec. 3 at SAP Center.

Friday, the Sharks face the Detroit Red Wings, followed by games against the Florida Panthers next Monday and the Tampa Bay Lightning the following night. Detroit and Tampa Bay were the top two teams in the Atlantic Division before Monday’s games, while Florida has a 14-9-3 record on home ice. Detroit and Tampa also both beat the Sharks earlier this season, with the Lightning walking away with a 7-3 win in San Jose on Jan. 3

After a Jan. 23 home game against the New York Rangers, the Sharks finish their pre-Olympic schedule with a five-game road trip that includes dates against McDavid and the Oilers, Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks, and MacKinnon and the Avalanche.

In other words, the next 10 games could go a long way in determining whether the Sharks can make the playoffs for the first time since 2019.

“This last part before break, we knew this stretch from December 27 to now is going to be a big part of our season,” Celebrini said. “We have a great record. We got pumped against Tampa and then (Sunday) night, but other than that, we’ve been playing some really good hockey, and we beat some really good teams.

“It’s going to be tough on the road, but we beat some pretty good teams on the road, like Carolina (on Dec. 7), so I think it is going to be really important to see kind of how our group stacks up.”

Celebrini is excited to see forwards Will Smith and Philipp Kurashev near a return to the active roster after spending the last four weeks on injured reserve. Smith practiced without restrictions on Monday, will fly with the team to Washington on Tuesday, and could return to the lineup later this week. Kurashev will not fly on Tuesday, but could join the Sharks on the second half of the trip, coach Ryan Warsofsky said.

Before his upper body injury on Dec. 13, Smith had been on Celebrini’s line for the majority of the season and was second on the team with 29 points in 33 games.

“I think he’s just happy he’s almost back,” Celebrini said of Smith. “I think he’s feeling pretty good and is obviously strong, so I think he’s just excited to be on the ice again, skating with the guys, practicing with us. He’ll be back soon.”

OTHER UPDATES

Warsofsky said defensemen Vincent Desharnais and Shakir Mukhamadullin, both out with upper-body injuries, will most likely travel with the Sharks to Washington. Both practiced on Monday morning. The Sharks could soon face a roster crunch if Smith, Desharnais, and Mukhamadullin are healthy enough to come off IR, as they are already at 23 players. They could put center Ty Dellandrea on IR, but would have to create two other openings if they want to activate all three.