Story by
The IIHF’s Male Player of the Year will not surprise you
- Story by
- The IIHF’s Male Player of the Year will not surprise you
Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images
The IIHF's Male Player of the Year will not surprise you appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
San Jose Sharks star Macklin Celebrini has been named the IIHF Male Player of the Year for the 2025-26 season after an outstanding campaign in both the NHL and international competition.
Advertisement
The 20-year-old Canadian earned the honor on Thursday through voting conducted by nearly 200 media members and IIHF representatives, receiving 40.8 percent of the vote . That total was exactly double the 20.4 percent collected by runner-up Connor Hellebuyck of the United States. Finland's Sebastian Aho finished third with 14.3 percent, while Connor McDavid placed fourth. Jaccob Slavin , Quinn Hughes and Jack Hughes also received votes.
The annual award recognizes the player who best demonstrates exceptional skill, determination, team success and sporting character throughout the season. To be eligible, players must compete in at least one IIHF tournament and also play in their country's highest-level domestic league.
Watch sports LIVE with fuboTV (free trial)
Celebrini's international performances made him the clear favorite. At the 2026 Winter Olympics, he led the tournament with five goals and ranked second in scoring with 10 points in six games, trailing only McDavid's 13 points. His production helped Canada reach the gold medal game before falling 3-2 in overtime to the United States, with Celebrini earning a silver medal and a place on the Olympic All-Star Team. He also became the youngest player to make Canada's men's Olympic roster.
Advertisement
Celebrini continued his stellar play at the IIHF World Championship, where he captained Canada for the first time. He collected six goals and eight assists for 14 points in 10 games, finishing second in tournament scoring and tying for third in goals. He was the highest-scoring under-20 player at the event, received the IIHF Directorate Best Forward award and was again selected to the tournament All-Star Team, despite Canada finishing fourth.
Across the two IIHF tournaments, Celebrini racked up 11 goals and 24 points in 16 games for Canada.
His NHL season was equally impressive. The former No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft finished fourth in league scoring with 115 points, including 45 goals and 70 assists in 82 games. He set a new San Jose single-season franchise record for points, recorded at least one point in 60 games, had 18 games with three or more points and five contests with at least four points. He also contributed 33 power-play points and five game-winning goals while helping the Sharks improve to a 39-35-8 record and 86 points after the team finished with just 20 wins and 52 points the previous season.
Celebrini was also a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award, while his 115-point campaign became the third-highest scoring season by a teenager in NHL history, behind only Wayne Gretzky's 137 points in 1979-80 and Sidney Crosby 's 120 points in 2006-07.
Advertisement
Related: Oilers, Capitals headline most obvious winners after first week of 2026 NHL free agency
