- Sharks named Macklin Celebrini the 11th captain in franchise history Friday
- Joe Thornton delivered the jersey himself after practice
- Read below for how his numbers stack up around the league
San Jose has its captain, and he’s only 20 years old.
The Sharks named Macklin Celebrini the 11th captain in franchise history on Friday, filling the void left by Logan Couture’s retirement.
Watch the moment San Jose shared from the locker room:
Joe Thornton delivered the news himself after practice, handing Celebrini a jersey with the “C” stitched on while the team gathered around him.
Thornton addressed the room before making it official.
“I know how much this guy means to everyone in this room and in the whole Bay Area,” Thornton said. “So Macklin, get up here, my friend.”
General manager Mike Grier followed with his own message for the new captain.
“Your hard work, the way you lead our group,” Grier said. “Just watching you in training camp going double shifts there. But you’re pushing the group, so this is, well, a well-deserved honor. So congratulations.”
Couture held the job from the start of the 2019-20 season until a hip injury forced him into retirement in April 2025.
There’s a full-circle piece to Thornton being the one who handed over the jersey. Celebrini lived with Thornton for his first two NHL seasons, and it’s Thornton’s single-season scoring record he broke last year on his way to this promotion.
Celebrini takes over off the best season by a Sharks player in franchise history. He scored 45 goals and racked up 115 points in 82 games last year, breaking the single-season scoring record Thornton once held, and finished fourth in the NHL in points.
Only two teenagers have ever topped that point total. Wayne Gretzky had 137 in 1979-80 and Sidney Crosby had 120 in 2005-06, which leaves Celebrini’s 115 third all-time. That’s the resume behind the “youngest captain in Sharks history” tag our own graphic slapped on him:
He’s also the youngest active captain in the entire league at 20 years and 104 days old. Connor McDavid still owns the all-time record, taking over the Oilers at 19 years and 266 days.
The Sharks had already put real money behind the decision. They signed Celebrini to a five-year, $94 million extension in July, an $18.8 million cap hit that kicks in for 2027-28 and briefly stood as the richest deal in NHL history before the Avalanche topped it with Cale Makar’s eight-year, $163.2 million extension in August.
This isn’t Celebrini’s first time wearing a letter. He captained Canada at the IIHF World Championship in Zurich and Fribourg in May, putting up 14 points in 10 games as Canada finished fourth. He also played for Canada at the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, scoring 10 points in six games.
San Jose had this coming since last month, and now it’s locked in. The Sharks have their franchise player wearing the “C” for years to come.
