Smith and Celebrini will give Sharks the long-term star power they need

Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sport

San Jose Sharks fans: breathe.

The club officially announced the signing of top prospect Will Smith to his NHL entry-level contract on Monday, allowing him to turn pro in 2024-25. It was originally believed he’d return to the NCAA’s Boston College and push to win a national title and another gold medal at the World Junior Championship, but nobody doubted he was NHL-ready.

The news comes after GM Mike Grier said earlier this month that he intends on drafting Macklin Celebrini with the first overall pick in Vegas on June 28.

Suddenly, the league’s bottom feeder looks a lot more dangerous next season.

Smith was selected fourth overall in 2024, giving the team a much-needed high-end center with top-line potential. He slapped the NCAA with 71 points in 41 games, winning a handful of awards between Hockey East and the NCAA as a whole. Surprisingly, he wasn’t a Hobey Baker hat-trick finalist – instead, Celebrini became the first 17-year-old to win it.

Smith’s production wasn’t surprising. Last year, he posted one of the most productive seasons in USA Hockey National Team Development Program history with 51 goals and 127 points, capping things off with MVP honors and a gold medal at the U-18 World Championship. Add in gold at the World Juniors and a five-game stretch at the recent men’s World Championship, and it’s been a wild few years for the Lexington, Massachusetts native.

So much of Smith’s career to date has seen him linked to linemates and good buddies Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault. They’ve been attached at the hip since joining the USNTDP in 2021, carrying that all the way to BC this year. They made up one of the best lines in all of college hockey this past season, with Smith serving as the glue down the middle.

Is there a reason to be concerned he won’t be as productive without them by his side? Don’t be. Smith isn’t a perfect player by any means, with his skating being average and his lack of physicality dragging him down. Defensively, he doesn’t get too involved, either.

But with the puck? Oh boy. He’s a tactician out there. Think: J.T. Miller. He has some of the best hands of anyone outside the NHL right now, and he sees the ice like a hawk. Smith was one of the top puckhandlers last year at the draft, consistently pulling highlight-reel moves out of his rear end. That was especially true at the U-18s last year when he put up one of the most dynamic and dominant performances we’d seen at the time.

Smith recently represented his country at the World Championship, but it was underwhelming. He failed to register a point and played more than eight minutes just twice against Kazakhstan and Germany. Fans were confused – why bring him if he wasn’t going to play? From the get-go, it was clear Smith would get limited minutes as one of two 19-year-old forwards on the team with no pro experience. He’s an outstanding player, but coach John Hynes was always going to rely on the veterans.

The biggest question, though: why didn’t Hynes at least try Smith and Leonard together? That’s what made no sense to me.

At the very least, we saw that Smith could handle playing against stronger competition. There were some hiccups, for sure – he didn’t do anything to force Hynes to play him more. But I did think we saw the same heads-up puckhandling that made him so good against college kids this year.

I have no reason to believe Smith’s skillsets won’t translate to the NHL. Especially if he ends up being a second-line center behind Celebrini.

And that’s what makes this such an interesting time for Sharks fans. Not only is one of the NHL’s top prospects ready to turn pro, but the Sharks are weeks away from selecting one of the most well-rounded centermen we’ve seen in quite some time with the first pick. Celebrini is the real deal.

Macklin Celebrini. Will Smith. Get ready for 15 years of maximum destruction.

But there’s still work to be done. The Sharks have taken big steps to bolster their pipeline recently, including adding Quentin Musty, Kasper Halttunen, and Filip Bystedt through the draft and David Edstrom, Shakir Mukhamadullin, and Henry Thrun via trade. Add in William Eklund and Thomas Bordeleau, and it’s a good group. But beyond Mukhamadullin and Thrun, the team lacks defensive depth. I like Luca Cagnoni, but there are size concerns at 5-foot-9.

The team also lacks a legitimate long-term answer in net; for now, they’re riding with Mackenzie Blackwood and Vitek Vanecek, which is hardly an inspiring combination.

So, the Sharks are still far away from being a serious Stanley Cup threat, but the building blocks are there. Smith and Celebrini are two teenage superstars with big-game potential, giving the team its first real star duo since the days of Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. Over 12 months, the Sharks found their top two centers, a combination most GMs would die to have at their disposal.

Better days are ahead, Sharks fans. It’s still a work in progress, and you have to trust the process. The team isn’t close, but they’re getting there, and having two of the best young players in the sport in the same lineup has to give you chills.

Hey, hockey heads! Get ready for The Daily Faceoff Playoff Parlay Challenge! Each game day, answer four playoff prediction questions like who will win the first game, will points be over or under or what will be the highest-scoring period? Daily winners snag gift cards, while each round’s champs pocket cash! Play now at games.dailyfaceoff.com and prove your puck prowess! It’s fast, it’s fun, and it’s all about hockey! Let’s go!

Smith and Celebrini will give Sharks the long-term star power they need

Recently by Steven Ellis