Macklin Celebrini is the truth.
There’s really no other way to look at it. The San Jose Sharks’ teenager is quickly rising toward superstardom, and the elevator to the top isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
He took the ice at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night to take on the New York Rangers, and he left as an absolute superhero.
The Sharks won 6-5 in overtime, and of course Celebrini assisted on Will Smith’s winner.
Before then, he had already racked up a hat trick and another assist.
Yep, that’s right, a five-point night: three goals and two assists for Celebrini.
And here’s the crazy stat: Celebrini is the fourth teenager in NHL history with multiple five-point games in his career.
One of the other names on that list, provided by Eric Stephens: Wayne Gretzky.
The Great One and Celebrini also are joined by Dale Hawerchuk and Bryan Trottier.
Can we just appreciate for a second that Celebrini is now keeping Gretzky company on an impressive list?
Anytime you can be aligned with Gretzky, you’re doing something right.
Celebrini already has plenty of hype around him, but to play the way he did on the stage that he just did on Thursday night is incredible.
The Sharks have had a rough go of it. It’s how they ended up with Celebrini, and then Michael Misa this year.
But the future is bright, and it starts with Celebrini, one of the best young hockey players on the talent, one so great on Thursday that he evoked a statistic from The Great One.
