The San Jose Sharks have been considered one of the surprise teams of the 2025-26 NHL campaign, thanks largely to the contributions of former first overall pick Macklin Celebrini, in addition to fellow young players Will Smith and William Eklund.
At once, the Sharks are one indicate of the second Wild Card postseason spot within the tightly-packed Western Conference, and head coach Ryan Warsofsky has helped to get plenty out of the group that has a lot upside and potential yet untapped.
Warsofsky recently stated that he’s leaned on the recommendation of current Latest York Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan, who guided the Pittsburgh Penguins to consecutive Stanley Cup wins in 2016 and 2017, for each advice and guidance.
“We chat, and we talk so much through the season and summer, Sully has been awesome for me and my profession, such a giant mentor,” Warsofsky said via The Frankly Hockey podcast. “Golf with him and check with him about, numerous times he was attempting to talk me out of coaching, and climbing the ladder due to what he’s passed through. But numerous it has been talking in regards to the challenges now we have everyday and getting your teams to play the precise way, perhaps it’s conversations – I’ve talked to him so much about when he’s coached Sid (Sidney Crosby) and when he coached Phil Kessel and (Kris) Letang and the entire crew in Pittsburgh, the challenges that they had.
“And now he’s got a really distinguished job in attempting to turn the Latest York Rangers around. I’m very thankful to have that relationship with Sully, he’s been so necessary for me and my profession.”
Sharks sophomore forward Macklin Celebrini is the actual deal
The Sharks can count themselves fortunate that their lean years yielded multiple high draft selections, including the one they used to pick Celebrini first overall in 2024.
Celebrini has been nothing in need of spectacular to date in his young NHL profession and is currently ranked fourth overall in total scoring behind only Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, and Nikita Kucherov.
To this point this campaign, Celebrini has tallied 24 goals with 48 assists in 49 games, a pace of 120 points over 82 games.