Everybody wants to know one thing. Is the Celebrini contract bad for the Sharks? We have seen Leo Carlsson get a monster contract. We watched Bedard take less then he could have. Jason Robertson also signed for less than his market value, and he desired value. Celebrini, unlike the other players listed, was not an RFA but rather a year out from needing a new contract. The Sharks were never going to let him get to a summer without being locked up, hence the contract announcement yesterday. For the Sharks under no circumstance could let they Macklin leave the organization and that gave Celebrini a ton of leverage. Celebrini made sure to use that leverage by becoming the highest paid player in the league as he inked a 5-year 18.8-million AAV contract.
Celebrini also structured the contract to absolutely maximize his earnings by the way of signing bonuses. What an incredible contract for an incredible player. However, could this contract be troublesome for San Jose?
Is the Celebrini Contract Bad for the Sharks, or Is It Everything Around Him?
I would suggest no because Macklin is certainly good enough to be paid like the best player in the world. As a matter of fact, as soon as Crosby retires Celebrini will be the best player in the league. So, on the surface, no Macklin is not the issue. Yet, there are issues under the surface for the Sharks. They made many bad bets this summer and they handed out the largest contract in the league. Yes, the salary cap is climbing but a lot of money is going to be tied up with players not worth it. You must also factor in the fact that Will Smith and Michael Misa will also command big deals. Macklin might not be the issue, he’s too good to be a problem, it’s the other contracts they gave out to supplement him.
The Sharks traded for Darnell Nurse, signed Trouba to term and money, and did the same with Mason Marchment. Those contracts are going to hamper their ability to properly fill out the roster around a player who’s now making 18.8 million dollars.
As a matter of fact, the athletic ranked San Jose 32/32 in terms of contract values. Some of those contracts were leftovers from attempting to reach the cap floor, but for the most part they are relatively new deals. This is not how you want to build out a potential Stanley Cup Roster, you want to find value pieces, not overpay free agents. Just look at how Carolina is built.
Could Macklin have helped out their situation? Yes, absolutely and he chose not to. Macklin has signed for a higher percentage of the cap than both of the superstars before him coming out of their entry level deals.
Also, Sid signed for 12 years which is what truly made his contract a bargain. Celebrini is only giving San Jose 5 seasons before he once again re-ups for presumably close to the league max. Sure, at some point throughout the next five years Celebrini will be unpaid as long as the cap rise, but the term doesn’t allow San Jose much time to maximize team potential.
It’s a difficult situation because Macklin absolutely deserves every dollar and could have asked for the max. San Jose can’t do shit without him happy and locked up. I still feel like this contract is bad for San Jose though. Sure, GM Mike Greer probably didn’t really negotiate because everyone knew Celebrini was going to get however much money he wanted. He could have asked Macklin to think about the team though. Granted the team is in a worse spot because of Greer himself.
Maybe I am being too hard on this contract. Honestly, I love seeing NHL players getting big tickets I think it’s good for the players and for the league (because it means the league is growing). I just feel like it’s so impossible to win a Stanley Cup with a guy making that much money. With all of these huge, over 10-million-dollar deals, being handed out it’s important to note that no team has won a Stanley Cup with a player making over 10 million. Macklin’s contract is likely to drive up the prices on the Sharks other young studs, and that compounding issue will only make it more difficult to win a Cup. Every team is about to have a player, or two, over 10 million so that stat I previously listed will be null-in-void within the next few years, but the Sharks could be in line to have 3-4 players making over that dollar amount.
Again, I hate to harp on Macklin taking this contract because he totally deserves it, but I feel like if his goal is to win the Stanley Cup this contract hurts his chances at completing this task. As much as I do like Celebrini, he is similar to McDavid in the fact he has never won anything. He has now continued to follow in number 97s footsteps by taking a big deal that could hurt roster construction for his team.
