Kurtenbach: Sharks add No. 1 pick, hope with Bay Area-tied Celebrini likely on the way
Can the Sharks parlay a lottery win into wins on the ice?
Sometimes losing pays.
On Tuesday, it paid out in a big way for the San Jose Sharks.
Yes, after years of misery on ice, the Sharks have hope.
It comes in the form of a six-foot, 190-pound center — the no-analysis-necessary No. 1 overall pick in June’s NHL draft.
The Sharks won the top pick in the draft lottery Tuesday night. Their league-worst record this past season gave them the best odds to win, and their combination hit.
And in a few weeks, the team will use that pick to select Macklin Celebrini.
Yes, Tuesday was a Celebrini celebration for suffering Sharks fans.
Celebrini is the kind of player that can fundamentally change a franchise. And anyone who has followed the Sharks knows this is an operation in desperate need of fundamental change.
San Jose used to be synonymous with success. Sure, the Sharks have never lifted the Stanley Cup, but during the team’s first 25 years playing in the South Bay, they missed the playoffs four times.
They always found ways to win. They were always in the mix.
For the last five years, though, they’ve found seemingly every way to lose.
The Sharks have missed the postseason for five straight campaigns. Things became so bad so fast that the last two of those postseason misses were planned.
And even with Celebrini soon to enter the fold, more losing is to come. One player — much less an 18-year-old — cannot end a total teardown rebuild like this.
Under general manager Mike Grier’s rebuild, the Sharks said goodbye to greats. The issue is that they’re yet to bring in the next generation of great players.
But the Sharks finally have a stud. They can build off Celebrini, the son of the Warriors’ head trainer and a one-time member of the Sharks’ under-14 squad.
At 17 years old, Celebrini was the best player in college hockey for Boston University last season — a feat that would seem more incredible if he didn’t make it all look so easy.
And while he might not be a generational talent like last year’s No. 1 overall pick — Connor Bedard, now a Chicago Blackhawk — he isn’t far off that level. It was a great year for the Sharks to land the first No. 1 overall pick in the franchise’s history.
Think of Celebrini as the second coming of Jonathan Toews, or, if you’re so inclined to go back a bit further in hockey history, Doug Gilmour or Dale Hawerchuk — two-way centers with elite tactical and leadership skills. These are guys who can win the game without shooting the puck. Players who always seem to make the right decision.
Of course, those three players are Hall of Famers.
And Celebrini isn’t yet 18 years old.
Pressure? You bet.
But when you’re the No. 1 overall pick — tasked with bringing a franchise back from the dead, you have to carry a pretty heavy burden.
Celebrini should start carrying that burden in the NHL this upcoming season.
And that means there’s pressure on the Sharks, too.
The moment the Sharks landed the No. 1 pick, the clock started ticking on Grier and the Sharks’ front office. After years of trades, San Jose has amassed one of the better prospect pools in all of hockey, but now they need to graduate players to the NHL level to play alongside the team’s foundational piece.
First, they’ll need to hire the right head coach to make Celebrini and his soon-to-be teammates the best versions of themselves.
If you thought tearing it down was hard work, building it up will be even harder.
But after years of losing, the Sharks have a big win to their name — even if it was just with ping-pong balls.
And if they don’t find a way to mess this up, more wins should be on the horizon.