Celebrini’s Looming Extension With the Sharks Could Shape the Pacific Division

Macklin Celebrini established himself as the brightest young star in the NHL after a fantastic 2025-26 season, in which he broke the San Jose Sharks’ single-season point record previously held by Hall of Famer Joe Thornton, led the entire Olympic tournament in goals while playing on Team Canada’s top line and is the cover athlete for EA Sports NHL 27. He is the youngest player to grace the cover in the game’s history.

Celebrini’s substantial play driving and leadership in the locker room have him primed to become the next captain of the Sharks at 20 years old. With all the accolades and his undeniable play on the ice, there isn’t any doubt that he deserves to be paid at the very top of the market. That’s why it’s shocking that he recently told ESPN he would take a discount to help the Sharks be more competitive.

“There are guys that deserve those numbers that are getting them, but of course you want to put your team in the best spot possible where you give a team the ability to make the moves necessary to win,” Celebrini told ESPN while promoting NHL 27. “I mean, that’s why all of us play. We want to win.”

The Leo Carlsson Effect

Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson turned the NHL on its head by accepting an offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers that Anaheim ultimately matched, giving him the NHL’s highest-ever average annual value (AAV) contract at $18 million for the next five years. No knock on Carlsson’s game; he is a tremendous young player in his own right that projects to be a superstar in the very near future, but he just inked the NHL’s largest contract ever after recording 67 points in 70 games. Comparatively, Celebrini recorded 115 in 82 games with the aforementioned accomplishments. 

The offer sheet is the exclamation point on a nightmare offseason for Pat Verbeek and the Ducks who lost half of their starting defensemen, including Jacob Trouba who left for their rival in San Jose, and now only have a little more than $9 million to re-sign restricted free agent Cutter Gauthier and patch up their blue line. Keith Yandle of the Spittin’ Chicklets podcast claims he heard from his own sources that the restricted free agent (RFA) winger Gauthier “Will not be taking one dollar less than what Leo Carlsson took.” 

It won’t come as a surprise that the future of the Pacific Division is in California. Both the Ducks and Sharks have executed excellent rebuilds that other struggling organizations would love to emulate by filling their roster with a plethora of young talent. However, the Ducks’ stellar rebuild up until the offer sheet has now hit a screeching halt, and the Sharks may be able to capitalize on Anaheim’s tight salary cap.

Celebrini’s Contract

If Celebrini does in fact take less than Carlsson, that is an immediate win for San Jose who is absolutely worth more than the Ducks center. Celebrini’s Olympic teammate and mentor, Sidney Crosby, famously has taken less than he’s worth to have a Stanley Cup-caliber roster around him. But Crosby’s first big contract at $8.7 million took up 15.3% of the cap in Pittsburgh when it was only $56.7 million in 2006-07. 15.3% of the current $104 million cap would be $15.912 million, so giving Celebrini an even $16 million may not seem like a significant discount at first. It’s only $2 million less, after all. 

The culture in the NHL is actively evolving into a players-first league. If Celebrini’s agent demanded the Sharks exceed Carlsson’s contract, San Jose would absolutely pay it. Letting generational talent like Celebrini walk with his prime still to come is unforgivable. That would mean, instead of paying $16 million, for example, they would have to pay at least $2 million more, but probably $4 million more to hit a $20 million AAV, and if the Sharks are willing to pay $20 million, why not make it $20.8 so it hits the maximum 20% cap a single player is allowed to command? The difference between his hypothetical Crosby discount and the max is $4.8 million.

The Sharks have an opportunity to give Celebrini one of the last eight-year extensions before the NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) comes into effect Sept. 16, which limits the longest contract length to only seven years. Eight years by $16 million would then feel like a bargain when the salary cap is expected to be raised from $104 million to $113.5 million in 2027-28. 

$16 million AAV over the course of eight years under a $113.5 million cap would mean his deal is actually 14.1% of the cap, less than that initial Crosby deal, giving San Jose enough room to extend all of their other talented pieces like Will Smith, Michael Misa, Sam Dickinson and Yaroslav Askarov. If any of their young players don’t take the expected leap, they have the flexibility to bring in big-time players via trade or free agency. 

Compare the current potential max NHL contract to Carlsson’s yearly earnings. That $20.8 million AAV would account for 18.3% of the cap. That becomes a major hurdle for Stanley Cup-contending teams that need every inch possible to squeeze in the best possible roster. 

Implications for the Next 5 Years

A discounted Celebrini contract would provide the Sharks with a pivotal advantage towards taking the power of the Pacific for years to come. Connor McDavid is still in Edmonton for now, and he can never be counted out, but that roster has had issues on the blue line and in net for years that don’t seem to be fixed. San Jose is looking like they can potentially have a more balanced roster in the meantime, with their young players on the rise, that is comparable to Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins or even the Chicago Blackhawks with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. 

Of course, the Blackhawks dynasty of the 2010s is a lot to live up to, and this is all speculation until ink dries on the page, but the Sharks are still in a position to fit all their young skilled cornerstones and take the next step, making deep runs into the postseason. It is all made easier by the Sharks’ future captain taking less, making general manager Mike Grier’s job of putting the best team on the ice far easier. The Ducks no longer have that luxury and are likely going to have to trade pieces to keep Gauthier. 

The Sharks will be in a position where they can have their cake and eat it, too. No one on the Sharks is going to make more than No. 71, so others will be inclined to take less also. This kind of leadership has helped Crosby’s Penguins, the Boston Bruins teams with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, and the Edmonton Oilers are trying to do that with McDavid taking just $12.5 million. 

Looking to the future, Edmonton feels like they are in a last-dance sort of operation with McDavid’s short-term deal, the Vegas Golden Knights are getting older, and the Ducks are in cap hell, especially if the Gauthier rumors become reality. Everything is falling into place for the Sharks to seize the division, and it all comes down to Celebrini’s contract. 

If Celebrini has a higher AAV than Carlsson, the Sharks inevitably are going to feel the financial pinch that makes it harder to fill roster holes, but if he accepts a discount, the division could go through San Jose for the foreseeable future.