Capitals coach explains why he’d give Hart Trophy vote to Macklin Celebrini
If Washington Capitals coach Spencer Carbery had a vote for the Hart Memorial Trophy, he’d give it, right now, to San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini.
Carbery has noticed how much Celebrini has grown in his brief NHL career, as the 19-year-old enters Thursday’s game between the Sharks and Capitals as the league’s third leading scorer with 70 points in 45 games. Celebrini had 63 points in 70 games as a rookie last season.
Before Thursday’s games, Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid led the NHL with 82 points, and Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon was second with 81 points. Celebrini recently said he believed McDavid and MacKinnon to be the two best players in the world.
The Hart Memorial Trophy, presented annually “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team,” is voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
“The improvement that he’s made from year one to year two has been incredible,” Carbery said of Celebrini on Thursday.
What’s impressive to Carbery is Celebrini’s production at even strength, especially in relation to the rest of the Sharks’ roster.
Celebrini has 20 even-strength goals, with winger Collin Graf next on the list with 11. Celebrini also has 29 even-strength assists, 11 more than center Alexander Wennberg.
“If I were a voter, or if I had a vote — I’d have to do some more research, because I don’t watch San Jose all the time. I don’t watch Edmonton all the time, I don’t watch Colorado all the time — but from afar … he’d be my Hart Trophy pick for two reasons.
“One, I feel like the San Jose Sharks are overachieving with expectations and are in a playoff spot (four) games above .500. If you look at the reasons why: organized, structured, play a good team game. But offensively, what he’s doing for that team is remarkable.
“The easiest thing to point to is when you look at even strength, especially, go even strength points for the San Jose Sharks. Look at what he has, and then the next closest person. That just shows how much he’s driving goals, offense, (and how) impactful he is.”
It was widely believed that the Sharks (23-19-3) would be an improved team this season, after they finished 2024-25 with the NHL’s worst record (20-50-12). But Celebrini’s play is a big reason the Sharks entered Thursday in the Western Conference’s second and final wild-card spot, which is a surprise to most.
“When you’ve got someone that’s got (49) even strength points and the next closest player on this team (is Wennberg’s 23), and that’s not a sight against the rest of his group,” Carbery said, “that’s just a compliment of how incredible a season he is having and how impactful he is for the San Jose Sharks.”
The Capitals held Celebrini without a point on Dec. 3 when they beat the Sharks 7-1 at SAP Center. It was one of only 10 games so far this season in which Celebrini has been held without a goal or assist, and the Sharks have lost all 10.
The Sharks had a decent start to that game, but the Capitals scored three times in a span of 5:10 to help take a 4-0 lead after the first period. Celebrini had two shots on net and was listed as having two giveaways in just under 16 minutes of ice time.
The Capitals will try to replicate what they did six weeks ago again on Thursday.
“I think we had a pretty good game plan of (identifying) specific areas that we can pay attention to, where he can really hurt you,” Carbery said of Celebrini. “Whether it’s in the offensive zone or off the rush in the neutral zone, we’re gonna have to do a lot of those same things tonight.
“They’re playing well. They’re 6-2 in their last eight games, in a wild-card spot. So we’re going to need to do a lot of the same things.”