The National Hockey League announced today that San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini has been named a finalist for the 2024-25 Calder Memorial Trophy, annually awarded to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition, determined by a vote of members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
The other finalists include defenseman Lane Hutson (Montreal Canadiens) and goaltender Dustin Wolf (Calgary Flames)
Celebrini is the fourth-ever Calder finalist for San Jose, joining Logan Couture (2010-11), Evgeni Nabokov (2000-01) and Brad Stuart (1999-00). Nabokov is the only Shark to win the award.
Celebrini finished the regular season leading NHL rookies in points-per-game (0.90; min 3 GP), second in goals (25) and assists (38), tied for second in points (63), and fourth in game-winning goals (4). He appeared in 70 regular-season games and paced the Sharks in points, even-strength points (41), power-play goals (8) and multi-point games (16), and was second on the team in goals (25) and assists (38). Celebrini was the only NHL rookie to lead his team in scoring this season and the second ever to pace the Sharks in scoring over a season, the first to do so since Pat Falloon in the team’s inaugural season, 1991-92. Celebrini set club records for points and assists by a Sharks first-year skater. Throughout the season, including setting Sharks rookie records for the fastest player to reach the 30, 40, 50, and 60-point mark.
Celebrini logged his first NHL goal and first multi-point game in his league debut on October 10 vs. St. Louis, becoming the youngest player in franchise history to score a goal. His first goal came on his first shot, the fastest first-overall pick to light the lamp (7:01) since Mario Lemieux (2:59 on Oct. 11, 1984). He missed the next 12 games with a lower-body injury, but after returning to the lineup on November 5, he led league newcomers in goals (24) and points (61), and was second in assists (37) through the rest of the season. He recorded his first career NHL hat trick and totaled a franchise rookie record five points (three goals, two assists) on April 9 at Minnesota, joining Tomáš Hertl, Ryane Clowe, Alexei Yegorov, and Rob Gaudreau as the fifth rookie in franchise history to post a hat trick and the first 18-year-old in Sharks history to record a three-goal game. It was the only hat trick by a league rookie this season and the first by a first-overall pick in his first campaign since Auston Matthews’ debut on October 12, 2016.
He earned NHL First Star of the Week (Nov. 25 - Dec. 1) after logging seven points (4g, 3a) in four games and was named NHL Rookie of the Month in November, becoming the first Sharks rookie since Tomáš Hertl (October 2013) to receive the acknowledgment. He led rookies in goals (7), points (12), and shots on goal (45) in the month.
The six-foot, 190-pound native of North Vancouver, British Columbia was drafted first overall, the Sharks’ first-ever first-overall selection in team history, in the 2024 NHL Draft, and signed his entry-level contract on July 6, 2024.
