Saturday Smugness is what it is, of course, and today it’s about the San Jose Sharks: the franchise that should have won a Stanley Cup by now but hasn’t may finally have the centerpiece it needs to win the NHL title. Yes, this is the team that rode Hall of Famer Joe Thornton for as long and as hard as it could, but Macklin Celebrini is something entirely different. Last night’s 3-1 win over the visiting New York Rangers doesn’t prove this, but it certainly represents something.

Celebrini added two more goals to his season point total last night, including this wicked slapshot that was amazing to behold in person. Yes, we know the Rangers were starting a depth goaltender, but Spencer Martin didn’t even know what happened on this shot. Celebrini, in his age-19 season, now has 74 points in 50 games, including a career-best 26 goals already. With a 26-21-5 record, the Sharks already have three more points than they did last year in 82 contests.

Thus, we are smug, even on NHL Saturday.

As longtime fans of our local hockey team—we even covered the team for a CBS regional affiliate from 2010 to 2015—it’s been rough to see the team struggle so much since it last made the postseason in 2019. San Jose lost in the Western Conference Finals that spring, and this has been its longest stretch of playoff-less existence in the team’s history, dating back to the 1990-1991 season. The previous “worst” stretch were two two-year absences in the 1990s. It has been hurtful.

Celebrini is changing all that, and he’s doing things few have done before him. He is becoming the Sharks’ version of Wayne Gretzky, basically, or even a Sidney Crosby of sorts for San Jose. Transcendent is the word, really, as he makes the players around him better, and as the Sharks sit in the eighth postseason slot right now in the Western Conference, confidence is rising—and rightfully so. The longer this young roster remains competitive, the more dangerous it becomes.

Last night’s game was a case in point here, too, as San Jose scored three times in the first 7:37 of the contest yet never seemed to come close to surrendering that lead. Yes, the Rangers did score a goal before the end of the period, but the Sharks really clamped down defensively for the rest of the matchup. That was a relief for those in attendance and those watching on television, for sure, as holding on to late leads has been so problematic for the Sharks in recent years.

But not last night … maybe times are changing in San Jose?

The biggest issue remains the fact Celebrini doesn’t really have a sidekick on this team. The next-best skaters on the roster—three centers and a left wing—only have point totals in the low 30s right now, meaning the Sharks superstar is outscoring all his teammates by at least 40 points. Other players need to step up: age-20 C Will Smith (33 points) and age-23 LW William Eklund (31 points) seem like the best bets, but Eklund’s minus-24 rating is something of concern.

Yet, last year’s No. 2 overall pick, forward Michael Misa, is showing promise with six points in his first 13 NHL games. Ideally, Celebrini, Smith, and Misa (in his age-18 season right now) could form a tremendous line combination for the next decade on this roster, giving the Sharks a shot at something historically special. The final pieces of the puzzle would be the improving defense and goaltending, as San Jose remains third worst in the league for surrendering goals right now.

Maybe the Sharks won’t make the Stanley Cup playoffs this April, but the pieces are falling into place, incrementally now—starting with the biggest one, of course. The fans at the SAP Center started chanting “MVP!” in Celebrini’s direction last night after his second goal, and even though a third score on the night never came for him, the crowd did have a point: it’s hard to see any other player in the league more deserving of the Hart Trophy right now. He is the superstar here.