San Jose Sharks, Macklin Celebrini, begin training camp

SAN JOSE — San Jose Sharks prospect Will Smith had lunch this week with veteran forwards Logan Couture and Barclay Goodrow, two centermen from the team’s last playoff run in 2019.

Smith, naturally, wanted to know what it was like inside SAP Center more than five years ago, the night Goodrow scored the game-winning overtime goal in Game 7 against the Vegas Golden Knights, capping off arguably the craziest game in team history.

“I actually watch it on YouTube a lot, and to see Shark Tank like that, it’s pretty crazy,” Smith said. “They were telling me it was so loud, it was ringing all the time.”

“Our goal is to get back to that level.”

With plenty of renewed enthusiasm after a rather transformative summer, the on-ice portion of that long process for the Sharks began Thursday with the team’s first day of training camp.

New head coach Ryan Warsofsky led several new players, including top prospects Smith and Macklin Celebrini, through hour-long practices that included several fast-paced drills.

The revamped Sharks hope to be a much different team than the one that finished last season with an NHL-worst 19-54-9 record, giving them the best chance of drafting a potential future franchise cornerstone in Celebrini.

Now that a few more pieces are in place, the Sharks feel ready to take a step forward. Their record certainly couldn’t be worse.

“I think last year was a little bit more challenging for our organization, and now it’s time to start moving forward and getting things done,” Sharks general manager Mike Grier said. “I think it’s not just me, but the players and everybody are excited to get going, turn the page and see what this year has in store for us.”

Celebrini, who became the first player to be drafted first overall by the Sharks in June, already looked comfortable during practice and Thursday’s intrasquad game, where he scored a couple of nice goals and was all over the ice.

In one sequence, Celebrini circled the offensive zone before finding space in front of the opposing net. A split second after receiving a pass from defenseman Gannon Laroque, Celebrini sent the puck past goaltender Georgi Romanov’s glove.

“It’s pretty simple. Just get him the puck,” forward Tyler Toffoli said of Celebrini. “Yeah, he’s been pretty good on the field.”

“The more you enjoy something, the more comfortable you feel,” Celebrini said. “So enjoy it.”

Celebrini could start the season as the Sharks’ No. 1 center, as captain Logan Couture will likely be on injured reserve to start the year.

Couture, who is entering his sixth season as Sharks captain, continues to suffer from osteitis pubis, an inflammation of the joint between the left and right pubic bones.

After missing all of training camp and the Sharks’ first 45 games, Couture returned last season and played six straight games from Jan. 20-31 before being sidelined again. But he hasn’t skated since that Jan. 31 game in Anaheim and still doesn’t have a return date.

The Sharks will open the season Oct. 10 at home against the St. Louis Blues.

“I’ve been playing hockey for over 30 years and when it suddenly stops, it’s tough, especially when you don’t really have a choice. Your body breaks down,” Couture said Thursday. “But that’s how professional sports normally work, or sports in general, not always because of injuries, sometimes for other reasons. But that’s the situation I’m in.”

Couture was one of four injured Sharks players who were unable to skate Thursday.

Potential goaltender Yaroslav Askarov and defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin are both out with lower-body injuries, and veteran defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic is dealing with an upper-body injury that Warsofsky said occurred during captains’ practice earlier this month. Warsofsky said all three players are considered day-to-day injuries.

The Sharks appear better positioned to absorb Couture’s absence than they were last season.

Celebrini and Smith played center during their excellent freshman years at Boston University and Boston College, respectively. The Sharks also added Goodrow and Alexander Wennberg this summer and have Mikael Granlund and Nico Sturm back from last season.

The Sharks’ forward corps could feature as many as seven or eight new players this season, and the defense added some needed experience with the additions of Jake Walman and Cody Ceci. Sharks prospect Askarov will be the goaltender of the future.

It all adds up to what the Sharks hope will be the most competitive camp in years, a message Grier delivered to the players Wednesday.

“It’s about competing and earning your opportunities, because in the past there were guys in the lineup or on the roster that maybe shouldn’t have been there,” Grier said. “Now there’s real competition everywhere, and there’s no one where we don’t feel like we have to force someone into the lineup.”

“That was kind of the message to guys, young and old. If you want a spot and you want to win something, you’ve got to go out there and grab it. Nobody’s going to give it to you anymore.”

The Sharks had been in a downward spiral for three years before Grier arrived in the summer of 2022, but management at the time was still unwilling to publicly declare that they needed to rebuild after a decade and a half of success.

Then Grier came in, ripped off the Band-Aid, stripped the roster down to its bare essentials and endured two of the most painful seasons in franchise history.

But now, thanks to a restocked breeding system run by Celebrini, that’s when all that heartache starts to pay off. Or so the hope goes.

“I think we’re all trying to look forward,” Grier said. “We appreciate what’s been done here. I think Doug (Wilson, former Sharks GM) did a great job, and it was special to be that competitive for that long. But now I think it’s our turn and the group’s turn to start writing their own story.”