Overview
- Recent columns split on the frontrunner, with Sportsnaut and Yahoo backing Celebrini’s MVP case and The Hockey News placing Nikita Kucherov at No. 1 ahead of Nathan MacKinnon.
- Celebrini has a point on 45.7% of San Jose’s goals and leads the next-highest Shark, Will Smith, by 52 points, highlighting an unmatched team dependence.
- San Jose’s results swing with his scoring, as the Sharks are 2-15-3 when he fails to record a point and 35-17-4 when he does, including 24-3-1 in multi-point games.
- The 19-year-old joined an elite group as only the sixth teenager to hit 100 points and is tracking toward one of the highest teenage totals in NHL history.
- Rivals still have marquee cases, with MacKinnon leading the league in goals on a top Colorado team and Kucherov tied for the points lead with a league-best scoring rate for Tampa Bay.