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Macklin Celebrini Should Send Daniel Briere Thank-You Basket
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- Macklin Celebrini Should Send Daniel Briere Thank-You Basket
Macklin Celebrini #71 of the San Jose Sharks Getty
The news breaking out of San Jose regarding Macklin Celebrini and his five-year extension worth $18.8 million AAV hasn't really surprised anyone.
Everyone in the NHL knew that Celebrini was going to cash in. The only question was by how much.
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Well, now the entire league knows. And the only reason the Sharks star center got what he did was because of Philadelphia Flyers GM Daniel Briere. Of course, that's a reference to the Leo Carlsson offer sheet.
Because Briere went overboard and initially signed Carlsson to an $18 million AAV deal, Macklin Celebrini was able to go back to the Sharks and ask for similar money. Meanwhile, what was San Jose GM Mike Grier going to do?
Grier could have played hardball and tried to talk Celebrini's camp down to a number similar to Connor Bedard 's. But it was Briere who pretty much trashed the market completely by going overboard in his pursuit of Carlsson.
Had the Flyers GM made a push for Carlsson at, say, $15 million, that's what Celebrini would have signed for. Bedard, for his part, would have gotten less.
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That's why Macklin Celebrini owes his massive payday to Daniel Briere. If not for the ridiculous contract that the Flyers extended to Carlsson, the eye-watering number that Celebrini signed for would have never happened.
Tough to Argue that Macklin Celebrini Not Worth Less Than Carlsson
Celebrini could have gone the route that Bedard did. He could have given his team a break by taking a bit less than the $18 million that he did.
But let's face it. Pro athletes really only have one chance to cash in in their careers. Only the truly elite have more than one opportunity to land a massive contract.
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That's what Macklin Celebrini did. He took advantage of his only shot, for now. And it's hard to agree that he's worth less in light of Carlsson getting a similar number for much lower production.
Judging from price discovery alone, Celebrini should have gotten substantially more than what Carlsson got.
That's why the market is now suddenly distorted. It will take a while for the overall NHL player valuation to find an equilibrium. In the meantime, teams with rising young stars will be in tough to figure out what their stars are worth.
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Pressure Now on to Prove Value
Signing his extension was just the first step in the next phase of Macklin Celebrini's NHL career. The next step now will be to prove he's worth the contract he got.
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The Sharks are essentially paying Celebrini for what he's GOING TO do, not his track record. That's probably the riskiest type of contract. There's no telling if the 19-year-old's 100-point sophomore season was a harbinger of what's to come, or just a flash in the pan.
No one really knows that. And if there is anyone who does, Mike Grier would be very interested in talking to them.
As such, the pressure is now on for Macklin Celebrini to prove he's worth every penny. If he can, as implausible as it may seem, the Sharks will look like geniuses for inking Celebrini to a deal only slightly more lucrative than Carlsson's.
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