Welcome to the Olympics, Macklin Celebrini. The 19-year-old San Jose Sharks phenom -- he has 81 points in 55 games, 42 points more than his closest teammate -- played his way onto Team Canada but also had earned praise from players like captain Sidney Crosby, who played with him at the 2025 IIHF world championships. In his Olympic debut, he scored one of the game's most critical goals to give Canada a lead after the first period.
The women's tournament is already underway, and the buzz in the Olympic village is the norovirus that appears to be making its way through the teams. Finland had to postpone the start of its games, as several of its players went into isolation to start the tournament. The Finns opened the games against the U.S. women on Feb. 7 and promptly lost 5-0, potentially feeling some of the after effects of the illness.
Entering the Sharks' game against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, Celebrini, 19, is third in the NHL in scoring with 57 points in 38 games. He's either scored or assisted on roughly half of the Sharks' goals this season and has arguably been the biggest reason why the team began the day in a playoff spot. Celebrini had 55 points before Christmas, tying an NHL record set by Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby in 2006-07
He is currently on a seven-game scoring bender-five goals and nine assists in those games-and at the I'll-need-to-see-your-ID-son age of 19, his consistent persistence and occasional genius puts him on a list of teenagers who averaged more than a point per game, a list with wall-to-wall Hall of Famers.
He's put in a lot of work, Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. When he first came in, in the NHL, the pace is extremely high. So he went in after the summer, put a lot of work in last year to get the pace up. And now his details, his hockey sense is really what sticks out the most. He's a smart individual. And now he's added another layer to his game with the checking component.
Upper Deck, the NHL's exclusive trading card partner, is putting out their most expensive, premium card box of the year, "2024-25 The Cup," on Wednesday. In this year's product, several of hockey's most legendary players will have one-of-one Exquisite patch autographs scattered throughout the thousands of boxes produced, and Ovechkin's, in particular, is super special.
