The San Jose Sharks are set up to go as far as Macklin Celebrini will take them this season.
But if he has an injury, their entire season changes.
Celebrini is the best young player in the NHL and on his way to being the best player in the world, period.
On Monday night, though, he wasn’t even on the ice for a second of game action as the Sharks lost to the Dallas Stars.
That wasn’t the plan, though, and it has left everyone a little confused and quite concerned.
What Happened to Macklin Celebrini?
Celebrini was out on the ice for warmups for the Sharks less than an hour before they took on the Stars on Monday.
Only a couple minutes before the game, though, the Sharks’ official social media account posted that Celebrini would be out for the game with a lower-body injury.
Fans had hardly noticed that before the puck was dropped, and it quickly became clear that Celebrini wasn’t anywhere to be found on the ice.
It left a lot of mystery, and while some clips circulated of warmups, there didn’t appear to be some obvious, terrible injury that occurred.
After the Sharks’ loss, there was hope for some clarity from head coach Ryan Warsofsky.
Coach Update on Macklin Celebrini
This is what Warsofsky told media about Celebrini:
“Didn’t play today. We will evaluate tonight and tomorrow and see where he’s at. He’s still being evaluated. He’s in the building, so he’s with the team.”
It’s hard to know what to make of that.
The Sharks do have practice midday on Tuesday, which will provide media members in attendance to see whether Celebrini is on the ice, and also potentially to ask more questions to coaching staff or players.
Celebrini’s long-term health is obviously the most important thing for the Sharks. A missed game or two in October for precautionary reasons don’t amount to the end of the world.
It’s just not quite clear whether this is caution or whether Celebrini really did hurt himself in a way that will have a larger impact on this season.
Celebrini participated in most of warm-ups and in line rushes.
But I did notice, he left warm-ups a little earlier than usual, didn’t give out pucks like he usually would at the end.
Didn’t think anything of it until just now
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 6, 2026
Celebrini spent the game in the press box, where scratches usually reside, in a follow-up post from the above reporter Sheng Peng. It’s likely a good sign that Celebrini didn’t leave the building.
It does raise concern, though, that something seemingly hard to notice also kept Celebrini out, and that the Sharks looked quite lifeless without him.
What comes next for Celebrini could define at least the short-term future of what San Jose can accomplish this season.
Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini Injury Update Leaves Concern With Coach Comments