{"id":5821,"date":"2026-07-30T07:36:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T07:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821"},"modified":"2026-07-30T07:36:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T07:36:31","slug":"sharks-make-macklin-celebrini-nhls-top-paid-player-with-massive-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821","title":{"rendered":"Sharks make Macklin Celebrini NHL’s top-paid player with massive extension"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

The San Jose Sharks knew from the moment they drafted Macklin Celebrini first overall in 2024 that they would one day need to make him the highest-paid player in franchise history.<\/p>\n

Read more ACLU: Immigration agents used racial slurs to target Latinos during California raids<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, after a spectacular and record-setting start to his NHL career, Celebrini will soon become the league\u2019s highest-paid player.<\/p>\n

The Sharks announced Wednesday that they\u2019ve signed Celebrini to a five-year, $94 million contract, a deal that, once it begins next year, will carry a league-high average annual value of $18.8 million.<\/p>\n

Celebrini, who turned 20 in June, has one year remaining on his entry-level contract and was eligible to sign an extension as of July 1.<\/p>\n

As the Sharks\u2019 top line center, Celebrini was the NHL\u2019s fourth-leading scorer this past year with 115 points in 82 games, breaking the team\u2019s previous single-season record of 114 points set in 2006-07 by Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Joe Thornton. In his first 152 games over his first two seasons, Celebrini had 178 points, fifth-most in NHL history for a teenager.<\/p>\n

Celebrini\u2019s new deal also buys one year of unrestricted free agency and, for the 2027-28 season, makes up roughly 16.6% of the NHL\u2019s projected salary cap of $113.5 million. The cap is projected to rise to at least $123 million in 2028-29.<\/p>\n

Celebrini, per PuckPedia, will be paid a staggering $89.1 million in signing bonuses over the life of the contract, and just $4.9 million in base salary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe faith and support\u202fthat (owner Hasso) Plattner, (general manager) Mike Grier and the entire staff have shown me\u202fthroughout\u202fthe past two seasons is proof that we are building something special here,\u201d Celebrini said in a statement. \u201cMy teammates and I are ready to take another step toward the ultimate goal of bringing a Stanley Cup to this city and its incredible fans.\u202fI can\u2019t wait to get going.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Celebrini indicated in April that he was open to getting a deal done this summer and wasn\u2019t looking for every dollar available to make it happen.<\/p>\n

From Grier\u2019s perspective, it was just a matter of finding a contractual sweet spot \u2014 one that would compensate Celebrini fairly while also leaving enough flexibility to build a competitive team around the budding superstar.<\/p>\n

Per the terms of the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players\u2019 union, Celebrini could have asked for up to 20% of the 2027-28 salary cap of $113.5 million, or $22.7 million per season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would have every right to ask for the full max,\u201d Grier said Wednesday.\u00a0 \u201cBut for him to come out right away and kind of tell us that he wanted to make sure we had some flexibility down the road, and he wasn\u2019t looking to take the max amount of money he could, meant a lot to me. He showed his faith and his commitment to the organization, and his wanting to be here and be successful here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Celebrini\u2019s new contract, which runs through the 2031-32 season and was hammered out in recent weeks, eclipses the deal center Leo Carlsson received earlier this month after the Anaheim Ducks matched a five-year, $90 million offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers.<\/p>\n

Read more Mother, boyfriend sentenced to prison for killing 1-year-old California boy<\/a><\/p>\n

Following a season in which he spearheaded the Sharks\u2019 34-point improvement from a last-place finish the year before and nearly led the team to its first playoff appearance since 2019, Celebrini said in April that he was open to signing a contract extension this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just whenever it makes sense for both sides,\u201d Celebrini told ESPN earlier this month regarding a new deal. \u201cI still have a year left. There\u2019s no reason to rush. We\u2019ll kind of see how it goes.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, guys want to get paid \u2014 as they should, because you\u2019ve got to make a living. There are guys that deserve those numbers that are getting them, but of course, you want to put your team in the best spot possible, where you give a team the ability to make moves necessary to win. I think all that goes into the decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the new contract can hardly be described as a hometown discount, it does give Grier some wiggle room to lock up other players.<\/p>\n

The Sharks, as of now, still have roughly $34 million in cap space available for the 2027-28 season. Grier still needs to get a deal done this summer with restricted free agent forward Collin Graf, who had 46 points in 81 games this season, and could also look to sign Will Smith, who is also eligible for an extension and was the Sharks\u2019 second-leading scorer this past season with 59 points.<\/p>\n

Forwards Michael Misa, Igor Chernyshov, and Ivar Stenberg, defenseman Sam Dickinson, and goalie Yaroslav Askarov are also part of the Sharks\u2019 promising 24-and-under core.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we wanted to make sure Mack felt valued here, that he was compensated fairly,\u201d Grier said. \u201cNo disrespect to anyone, but in our eyes, he\u2019s the best young player in the league. So we felt like we wanted to pay him an amount commensurate with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expectations for any No. 1 overall pick are high, but Celebrini has surpassed what optimistic Sharks fans could have hoped for coming out of Boston University, as he was a finalist this season for the Ted Lindsay Award, the MVP award as voted by the NHL Players Association.<\/p>\n

In addition to his contributions for the Sharks, Celebrini made a mark on the international stage at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February, winning a silver medal and leading the tournament with five goals as Team Canada\u2019s youngest player, finishing second in points to Canadian teammate and three-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner Connor McDavid.<\/p>\n

The extension is just the latest indication of Celebrini\u2019s stardom: Just last month, he was named the cover athlete on EA Sports\u2019 NHL 27 and voted the IIHF\u2019s male player of the year.<\/p>\n

The next step for Celebrini and the Sharks is to make the playoffs. To that end, Grier made several changes to his roster, recently acquiring defensemen Darnell Nurse and Michael Kesselring via trade and signing defenseman Jacob Trouba and winger Mason Marchment as free agents.<\/p>\n

The Sharks\u2019 regular season begins on Oct. 1 at home against the Florida Panthers.<\/p>\n

Read more Valkyries blow second-half lead, lose in Phoenix without All-Star Williams<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sharks’ No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft made a huge leap in his second season<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nSharks make Macklin Celebrini NHL’s top-paid player with massive extension - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sharks make Macklin Celebrini NHL’s top-paid player with massive extension - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Sharks' No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft made a huge leap in his second season\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-30T07:36:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5821#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5821\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Sharks make Macklin Celebrini NHL’s top-paid player with massive extension\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-30T07:36:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5821\"},\"wordCount\":1070,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5821#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8a29d9343ff9c8f12f855f78324755b4-scaled.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"NHL\",\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5821#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5821\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5821\",\"name\":\"Sharks make Macklin Celebrini NHL’s top-paid player with massive extension - Next City Digest\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5821#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5821#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8a29d9343ff9c8f12f855f78324755b4-scaled.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-30T07:36:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5821#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5821\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5821#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8a29d9343ff9c8f12f855f78324755b4-scaled.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8a29d9343ff9c8f12f855f78324755b4-scaled.webp\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5821#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sharks make Macklin Celebrini NHL’s top-paid player with massive extension\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Next City Digest\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sharks make Macklin Celebrini NHL’s top-paid player with massive extension - Next City Digest","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sharks make Macklin Celebrini NHL’s top-paid player with massive extension - Next City Digest","og_description":"The Sharks' No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft made a huge leap in his second season","og_url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821","og_site_name":"Next City Digest","article_published_time":"2026-07-30T07:36:31+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b"},"headline":"Sharks make Macklin Celebrini NHL’s top-paid player with massive extension","datePublished":"2026-07-30T07:36:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821"},"wordCount":1070,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/8a29d9343ff9c8f12f855f78324755b4-scaled.webp","articleSection":["NHL","Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821","url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821","name":"Sharks make Macklin Celebrini NHL’s top-paid player with massive extension - Next City Digest","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/8a29d9343ff9c8f12f855f78324755b4-scaled.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-30T07:36:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/8a29d9343ff9c8f12f855f78324755b4-scaled.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/8a29d9343ff9c8f12f855f78324755b4-scaled.webp","width":2560,"height":1706},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5821#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sharks make Macklin Celebrini NHL’s top-paid player with massive extension"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/","name":"Next City Digest","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/nextcitydigest.com"],"url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}