Sharks-Blackhawks superstar matchup on hold, but could be special for years to come

SAN JOSE – NHL fans will be denied the opportunity to see one likely generational player face another on Thursday night when the San Jose Sharks play the host Chicago Blackhawks.

While Connor Bedard, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, is humming along in his second year in Chicago after being voted as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year last season, Macklin Celebrini, a potentially franchise-altering centerman taken first overall by the Sharks in June, is on injured reserve with a lower-body ailment.

With his elite shooting and puck-handling ability, the 19-year-old Bedard projects to be a point-producing machine and a Hart Trophy (most valuable player) candidate throughout the prime of his NHL career. Celebrini, 18, has the same kind of potential with a dynamic skill set and relentless motor.

There’s a good chance they would have taken the opening faceoff against each other at the United Center — and maybe even matched up for 60 minutes — in what would have been a tantalizing contest of wills.

But that’ll have to wait.

“It’s too bad that Mack (won’t) play in that game,” Sharks defenseman Cody Ceci said earlier this week. “That’d be a cool matchup to see.”

It’ll happen soon enough, possibly even on Oct. 31, when the Sharks host the Blackhawks at SAP Center. Celebrini, though, is considered week-to-week with his injury, and there is no specific timeline for his return. If not Halloween night, then possibly March 13, when Chicago returns to San Jose.

With both the rebuilding Sharks and Blackhawks stockpiling prospects and draft picks, Celebrini and Bedard – who each hail from the Vancouver area — figure to play dozens of meaningful games against each other throughout their careers.

The Sharks’ pool of young talent, led by Celebrini and fellow center Will Smith, has been rated among the best in the NHL by The Athletic, Elite Prospects, and ESPN. Recent additions like goalie Yaroslav Askarov and defenseman Sam Dickinson bolstered a prospect pool already with first-rounders Quentin Musty, Filip Bystedt, and Shakir Mukhamadullin.

The Blackhawks, meanwhile, are building a solid foundation of their own. Five players on their active roster are 23 or younger, including Bedard and defenseman Alex Vlasic, the 23-year-old cousin of Sharks veteran defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who signed a six-year, $27.6 million contract extension in April.

Other top prospects include Artyom Levshunov, selected second overall behind Celebrini in June, fellow defenseman Kevin Korchinski, and forwards Oliver Moore and Frank Nazar. The Blackhawks also have four picks in the first two rounds of next year’s draft.

The Blackhawks, like the Sharks, have missed the playoffs for five straight years. But with offseason additions such as Tyler Bertuzzi, Teuvo Teravainen, and Ilya Mikheyev, they are expected to take a step forward this season.

The Sharks might be behind the Blackhawks in their rebuild, but it appears they’ll have tens of millions of dollars available to spend next year to improve their roster. General manager Mike Grier said he doesn’t want to skip steps in the rebuild but also wants to have a competitive team sooner rather than later.

“Even though things are not looking the best, maybe right now, (the Sharks) are going somewhere that’s going to be for the better and going somewhere with a purpose,” Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson said last year of his former team. “It’s just going to need some patience and some time.”

The Sharks and Blackhawks hope they can recapture their former glory of a decade or so ago.

From 2007-08 to 2016-17, both teams were among the NHL’s best, with the Blackhawks third in points percentage (.636) and the Sharks fourth (.632). Chicago reached the Western Conference final five times during that span and won three Stanley Cups. The Sharks made it to three conference finals and one Cup final, which they lost to the Penguins in 2016.

The Sharks and Blackhawks met in the playoffs once during that span, in 2010, when Chicago swept the best-of-seven series, with the four games decided by a combined six goals.

Both franchises have a way to go before returning to that point. But with Bedard and Celebrini as cornerstones, if each team’s rebuild goes according to plan, meetings between the Sharks and Blackhawks — like the ones between Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin have been — will be memorable for years to come.

This year, Bedard has five points in four games, and Celebrini had a goal and an assist in his NHL debut last Thursday before he went on IR two days later.

“Those types of guys are so competitive that they want to be the best, and they’re getting compared against one another,” said Sharks defenseman Matt Benning, a teammate of Connor McDavid for four seasons with the Edmonton Oilers.  “It’s just a recipe for them to go off in a game and show the world what they got.

“Mack will have a lot of those games coming up. Obviously just a teenager, and there’s so many good players in the league nowadays. There’s stars everywhere.”

Ceci has been teammates with a generational centerman each of the last five years: Auston Matthews in Toronto, Crosby in Pittsburgh, and most recently, McDavid in Edmonton.

When those teams played an opponent that featured a star of the same magnitude, Ceci said, there was a little extra buzz in the air.

“Always makes it that much more exciting,” Ceci said earlier this week. “They kind of build the hype around it, and then it just adds to the excitement. You want to help out your superstar versus their superstar.”

NOTE: Sharks forward William Eklund has an upper-body injury, and his availability for Thursday will be decided closer to game time, coach Ryan Warsofsky told reporters Wednesday. Eklund, who had four shots on net against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday and was officially hit once in 21:45 of ice time, did not practice. Per San Jose Hockey Now, Danil Gushchin took Eklund’s spot on the Sharks’ top line with Mikael Granlund and Tyler Toffoli.