The first overall picks of the past two NHL drafts will finally oppose each other when Connor Bedard’s Chicago Blackhawks visit Macklin Celebrini’s San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
The teams split their first two meetings in October, but Celebrini didn’t play in either matchup due to a lower-body injury sustained in the season opener that cost him 12 games. Since returning to the ice, the 18-year-old center has already been delivering on the promise that made him the top pick last June.
Celebrini has 48 points (20 goals, 28 assists) over 54 games, tying him with William Eklund for the team lead. Celebrini’s average of 0.89 points per game is just a hair behind the 0.90 points-per-game pace Bedard posted in the 2023-24 season en route to winning the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.
Bedard, a 19-year-old center, has followed up his stellar debut with a solid sophomore campaign. Through 65 games, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft leads all Chicago players with 52 points (17 goals, 35 assists). Two of those assists came in the Blackhawks’ 4-2 home win over the Sharks on Oct. 17.
The Blackhawks and Sharks hope these young stars can be the cornerstones of future success, even as both teams are mired in rebuilding phases. Chicago (49 points) and San Jose (43 points) are the bottom two teams in the NHL standings.
San Jose is on a three-game losing streak, while Chicago had a five-game points streak (3-0-2) going before taking a 3-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday in Denver. While the Blackhawks were shut out for the first time this season, they limited the Avalanche to 21 shots.
“It’s like you feel like you probably played one of your better games in a while, even though we’ve gotten points in the past few,” captain Nick Foligno said. “We were dialed in. We were dominating some aspects of the game. … We’ve got to be proud of the way we’re playing, especially in the past six.”
The Sharks also limited the opposition by outshooting the Nashville Predators by a 27-19 margin on Tuesday. Unfortunately for San Jose, the Predators overcame the shots deficit to claim a 3-2 victory, aided by a 2-for-5 performance on the power play.
“Obviously the penalties, it just takes momentum away from our group. … Our four lines we thought were going pretty good, and when you take penalties, it just slows the flow down,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said.
San Jose’s penalty killers are only 13-for-24 over the team’s last six games. Those struggles provide an opening for the Blackhawks’ power-play unit, which has a strong 25 percent conversion rate (seventh in the league) for the season.
Blackhawks defenseman Alec Martinez is day-to-day after leaving the Monday game with an undisclosed injury.
Since goalie Spencer Knight faced Colorado, Arvid Soderblom is likely to get the nod against the Sharks as the goalies have alternated starts over Chicago’s past six games.
Sharks forward Will Smith has five points (two goals, three assists) over a four-game points streak.
Alexandar Georgiev started San Jose’s past five games, assuming starting goaltending duties with Yaroslav Askarov injured and Vitek Vanecek traded away. The Sharks might take a look at backup Georgi Romanov, whose NHL resume consists of two games last season.
