Celebrini's Case for the Calder

The Sharks ended their season Wednesday night getting shut out by the Edmonton Oilers after honoring former Captain Logan Couture’s retirement from hockey. San Jose’s season was filled with losses again, recapturing the highest odds for the No. 1 overall pick in the NHL Draft, but the season was a massive step in the right direction with young players like Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and William Eklund showing tremendous promise for the future. 

Celebrini’s stellar rookie campaign propelling him into Calder conversations was a main point of rooting interest for Sharks fans this season, and while 71 in teal led the odds early, Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson has taken over as frontrunner for the NHL’s rookie of the year.

Alongside Hutson for Celebrini’s main competition for the accolade is Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf, whose impressive 29-16-8 record, .910 SV% and 2.64 GAA helped Calgary flirt with a Wild Card spot up until the waning days of the regular season. 

Despite many East coast pundits giving favoritism to the Canadiens defenseman, like NHL.com ranking Hutson as the leader above a second place Celebrini, the Sharks center proved he was the most impressive and complete player in the 2024-25 season, not knocking either Hutson or Wolf who each put up incredible rookie seasons in their own right.

The case against Wolf is simply he didn’t play enough games and his team failed to make the playoffs. As a goalie, the main objective is to obviously keep pucks out of the net, but mostly to do so at a rate that punches a ticket for the playoffs. The Flames came up just short, and he was only 18th in games played for a goalie, so Wolf just didn’t quite have enough on the resume. 

Hutson certainly deserves to be discussed as the Calder winner. In his final game of the season, in which he impressively played all 82 games, Hutson’s tied Larry Murphy of the Los Angeles Kings in 1980-81 for most assists by a rookie defenseman at 60. Breaking records is a massive resume booster for awards, along with being a large reason your team makes the playoffs, especially for the Calder. 

Hutson’s stellar offensive performance is also backed by solid defensive play that earns him the right to say he isn’t a liability in his own zone, which is all the more impressive due to his smaller frame at 5’9” and only 158 lbs. 

Even with all Hutson has done to dazzle the league and its voters, what Celebrini has done is more impressive. 

Hutson joined a Canadiens team with 76 points in the standings last season, so not a great team, but one that was at least in the middle of NHL performance. Celebrini was selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the draft in June, at just 18-years-old joining the San Jose Sharks team that finished dead last with a pathetic 47 points at the very bottom of the standings. Hutson turned 21 in February on a much more complete team with far more help, while Celebrini joined one of the worst teams in recent memory. 

Celebrini also led all rookies in goals scored, 25, and was second to Hutson with three less points, all while doing so in 12 less games. Celebrini’s goal scoring had more weight on his team’s impact because they lack so severely in offensive talent, so his four game winning goals is notable, along with the hat trick he scored against the Minnesota Wild where he ended with five points for the game, becoming the sixth 18-year-old to record a five point game in NHL history. He joined names like Dale Hawerchuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and last year’s Calder winner, Connor Bedard. If Celebrini didn’t miss 12 games to injury, he would likely have the most points among rookies and it could be argued that he could have as many game winning goals as Hutson has goals period (6). 

Celebrini also turned heads this season with his complete package as a hockey player, already establishing himself as a solid 200 foot player who can be trusted on both ends of the ice. The forward who should be in his freshman year of college has shown a knack to win puck battles against grown men routinely, is proficient in entering the offensive zone with the puck on his stick, and has demonstrated incredible IQ in his playmaking and defensive positioning that made him stand out instantly as one of the Sharks best players, if not the best overall player. 

If Hutson does win the Calder, it shouldn’t come with outrage as he is a well deserving candidate, although I do wonder if Celebrini was drafted by an original six team like the Canadiens, or the Blackhawks, would he have the Calder all but locked up?

The main argument for Celebrini is that he showed more flashes of dominance all while playing on the worst team in the game, leading rookies in goals despite less games played, and becoming one of his teams best players at only age 18.

Regardless of if he gets the award or not, Sharks fans should be elated that 71 is the next face of their franchise and they should know that he is the best overall player right now in the rookie class, and will blossom into one of the faces of the entire league in the coming years.