Sharks president encouraged by excitement surrounding team, Celebrini

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The San Jose Sharks' slogan is "the future is teal."

"The amusing thing is …" Sharks president Jonathan Becher said at the NHL Board of Governors meeting this week, his voice trailing off. "I don't want to exaggerate, but we probably get 10 to 15 requests a night to change it to, 'the future is now,' because the fans are like, 'We see it already.'"

Led by 19-year-old center Macklin Celebrini, San Jose is contending for a Stanley Cup Playoff berth and bringing excitement back to the Shark Tank.

Celebrini, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, has 43 points (15 goals, 28 assists) in 31 games, third in the NHL.

The Sharks (14-13-3) are tied in points (31) with the Utah Mammoth, who hold the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference. They visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; TSN4, NBCSCA).

"We don't expect to make the playoffs this year," Becher said. "If we do, great. That still was not the expectation coming into the year. We wanted a substantial leap forward. I think we've probably already achieved that, assuming we can keep up this level of play for the rest of the year.

"Next season was the one we were pushing for the playoff berth."

San Jose made the playoffs 19 times in 21 seasons from 1997-98 to 2018-19, appearing in the Western Conference Final five times and advancing as far as the Stanley Cup Final in 2016.

The Sharks had stars like center Joe Thornton, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Nov. 8. SAP Center was one of the loudest arenas in the NHL.

Then came a decline and rebuild.

Not only have the Sharks missed the playoffs the past six seasons, but they finished last in the NHL each of the past two.

The silver lining?

Celebrini became the first No. 1 pick in Sharks history.

As an 18-year-old last season, he finished second in goals (25), second in assists (38) and tied for second in points (63) among NHL rookies. He was a finalist for the Calder Trophy given to the player voted the rookie of the year, won by Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson.

This season, he has been one of the best players in the League.

"The work ethic on this kid is almost unlike anything I've ever seen at somebody that age," Becher said. "It is not a joke when we say sometimes we have to throw him off the ice. We don't want him to over-practice, et cetera. He's often the first on and the last off."

Celebrini has connected with the community too.

"He is one of the first players to volunteer to go do kids things," Becher said. "He does a bunch of charity things. He's already talking about his long-term impact as well. I know people like to talk about 200-foot players being all-around players, but all-around players are off ice as well, and he's the real deal."

The Sharks struggle to keep Celebrini jerseys in stock.

"And it's not just the home teal," Becher said. "It's the away white that's actually selling really well as well, which is a historic thing we have not seen in a long time."

San Jose has other young players making an impact now, with more on the way.

Two examples: Center Will Smith, the No. 4 pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, is second on the Sharks with 29 points (12 goals, 17 assists) in 31 games at age 20. Forward Michael Misa, the No. 2 pick of the 2025 NHL Draft, has three points (one goal, two assists) in seven games at age 18.

The Sharks rank 30th in average attendance (15,209), according to the numbers reported to the Board of Governors, but that's a 12 percent increase compared to last season (13,592).

They have already sold out six games, more than they did in each of the past three seasons.

Becher said season-ticket renewals have been among the best in the NHL. Group ticket sales, merchandise sales and TV ratings have increased significantly. There has been an influx of younger fans.

"If you just track any of our social media feeds and look at who's chiming in, it's much younger than it was just a couple of years ago," Becher said.

The future is now? Not yet.

But it's teal, and it's coming.

"We don't want to push too hard, because the idea is to make this sustainable," Becher said, looking back to when the Sharks were perennial contenders. "Sadly, we never got the ultimate prize, but we want to be sustainably great again."

The Sharks and the City of San Jose announced Aug. 26 that they agreed to extend the Sharks lease at SAP Center through 2050-51. Together, they will invest more than $500 million into the 32-year-old arena to improve it over the next few years.

"The building will be new, and the team should be in its prime at essentially the same time," Becher said. "And if the third leg of that comes together …

"There's some hints in the media already. We're talking about expanding beyond the building and sort of doing a bigger play in San Jose itself. It could be rising tides everywhere at the same time, which would be pretty amazing for the franchise and for the city."