Should Macklin Celebrini Win the Hart Trophy?
In the NHL, the Hart Trophy is awarded to the most valuable player voted by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association. There is a similar award, the Ted Lindsay Award, formerly known as the Lester B. Pearson Award, that represents the most outstanding player voted by the players themselves. Although there is overlap between these two awards, and it’s common to see players winning both awards in the same season, by definition the Hart Trophy should focus on which player is the most vital to their team. While Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Nikita Kucherov are still mostly agreed upon as some of the best forwards in the league, making them frontrunners for the Ted Lindsay Award, I believe there is a strong case for Macklin Celebrini to win the Hart Trophy, especially if the San Jose Sharks make it to the 2026 Stanley cup Playoffs.
Before analyzing any current season stats, it’s important to note that the Sharks have been the worst team in the league when combining records from 2019-2020 to the present day, with a points percentage of .398. However, in just the previous two seasons from 2023-2024 to 2024-2025, the Sharks had a combined points percentage of .302, with the 2023-2024 team specifically having the second worst points percentage in the salary cap era with a .287 points percentage. With this context, it is not difficult to imagine why expectations for the Sharks coming into the 2025-2026 season were not high, and that the season would be a success as long as the team improved from its 20 wins in 2024-2025, and their future core of players continued to develop. Although the Sharks have accumulated high-end prospects through the course of this rebuild, namely Macklin Celebrini himself, Will Smith, William Eklund, Sam Dickinson, and Yaroslav Askarov, many still viewed the Sharks as a bottom or near bottom team again for the 2025-2026 season. However, now over halfway through the season, the Sharks have shattered all expectations.
As of January 18, 2026, the Sharks have a points percentage of .543 and sit 8th in the Western Conference Standings. What is especially notable is the fact that the Sharks’ winning percentage of 51.1% makes them one of only two Pacific Division team with a winning percentage above 50% along with the Vegas Golden Knights; and prior to a recent seven game winning streak for the Golden Knights, there was a stretch where the Sharks were the only team in the Pacific Division with a winning percentage greater than or equal to 50%. Aside from some streaky, but overall solid goaltending from Yaroslav Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic, and some improvement on defence despite it remaining as the Sharks’ largest weakness, Macklin Celebrini has without a doubt been the culprit for the Sharks’ league leading .226 points percentage increase in the standings from last season.
In 47 games played, Celebrini has 24 goals and 48 assists for 72 points, good enough for third most in the league. These 72 points are more than double that of Tyler Toffoli’s 32 points, who is currently ranked second on the team. This 40 points difference is by far the largest difference of points between the first and second ranked players on a team this season, with Nathan MacKinnon’s 24 point lead over teammate Martin Necas being the second largest difference.
Additionally, the Sharks have scored 146 goals this season after excluding goals for awarded by a shootout win, which means Macklin has been involved in 48.6% of the Sharks’ goals this season (72/148). While this is actually behind Connor McDavid’s 50.3% of involvement in the Edmonton Oilers’ goals, McDavid has three teammates (Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) who all have more points than the Sharks’ second highest point producer, not to mention Zach Hyman who missed some games due to injury, but is nearly at a point per game.
Granted, on a point per game basis, Will Smith is a quality linemate with a points per game of 0.88, but Celebrini’s production actually improved in the 13 games played (plus part of the third period and an overtime) with Will Smith out due to injury, as Celebrini had a points per game of 1.93 in that span, far above his full-season points per game pace of 1.53. This is not an insult to Smith, but rather a complement to Celebrini who has proven that he can not only continue to thrive, but even excel during times of uncertainty and shortages of players on the roster. What’s more is that Celebrini is a +14 on a team with a -21 goal differential (taking away shootout awarded goalf for and goals against). He leads the team in plus/minus, with forward Colin Graf being second at +6, and only six players on the team have a positive plus/minus.
When it comes down to what an MVP means, by definition Macklin Celebrini should be the current Hart Trophy favourite. While players with a history of success may gain additional votes for reputation, I would argue that no team in the league would see a steeper drop off without its best player than if the San Jose Sharks were without Macklin Celebrini. The 33-5-8 Colorado Avalanche are still very likely a playoff team without Nathan MacKinnon, as important as he is to the team. While the Oilers would likely drop far out of the playoffs without Connor McDavid, we have seen instances before of Leon Draisaitl taking charge, like in the 2019-2020 season when he won the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award despite McDavid’s injury. However, the Sharks without Macklin Celebrini would not only guarantee they drop out of their current playoff spot, but may very likely also result in the Sharks repeating the results of the previous two seasons and finishing dead last in the league standings. The cherry on top of this entire discussion is that Macklin Celebrini is only 19 years old. If the San Jose Sharks make it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2026, Macklin Celebrini should almost certainly win the 2026 Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player.