Despite participating in warmups for Monday’s game in Dallas, San Jose Sharks star Macklin Celebrini was scratched just before puck drop in the team’s first road game. (The Sharks were then bombarded by the Stars, 5-0.) After the game, Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky told reporters that Celebrini was “still being evaluated” and that the team would know more about the severity of the injury later.
NHL teams are notoriously vague about player injuries — something the league has continued to allow over the years — and the Sharks (2-1) are no different, saying only that Celebrini suffered a “lower body injury.” (The other currently injured sharks have either an “upper body” injury or an “undisclosed” injury, to give you an idea.)
At the team’s practice in Dallas Tuesday morning, Warsofsky said “not much has changed” in the 12 hours since his initial comments. When San Jose Hockey Now reporter Sheng Peng asked if Celebrini’s injury happened during warmups, Warsofsky said no. Peng asked the natural next step: So when did this happen?
“(I’m) not really sure, to be honest with you,” Warsofsky said. “It’s something we’ve been trying to manage a little bit here… still being evaluated, you know, I would put it in that category on a day-to-day basis and we’ll go from there.”
When Peng tried to ask how long Celebrini had been injured and how long the team had known about it, Warsofsky said he was “not going to get into the players’ injuries and when they happened.” He did, however, say that Celebrini would travel to St. Louis with the team that day before San Jose’s game against the Blues on Thursday.
Given Celebrini’s star status — illustrated in a glowing GQ article published Wednesday — and the team’s reliance on him, any injury is something local and national reporters were going to be asking about across the league. And on Tuesday night, insider Chris Johnston went on TSN, Canada’s national sports network, and offered an “encouraging” take on Celebrini, sharing some new, never-before-seen information.
“Right now, there’s nothing to be overly concerned about,” Johnston said on TSN’s “Insider Trading.” “He’s just been evaluated, they’re going to see how he responds to treatment here for a lower body issue that he dealt with during training camp and the start of the season. Given how important Celebrini was to the Sharks and how they looked without him against the Stars, it’s obviously good news for San Jose that it doesn’t look like this will be a long-term absence.”
Peng and the Sharks radio announcer Dan Rusanowsky then reported Wednesday that Celebrini had not yet practiced.
And that’s when things took a turn. When Warsofsky met with reporters after practice, he directly refuted Johnston: “It’s completely false. It’s not true.” Warsofsky did not say what was true about Celebrini, once again refusing to answer Peng’s follow-up question, saying “not much has changed.” (Warsofsky, however, confirmed to Peng that Celebrini did not skate alone, outside of team practices, on Tuesday or Wednesday.)
Peng then contacted Johnston, who told the Sharks reporter that he “misspoke when referring to training camp” and was saying Celebrini’s injury was not one the Sharks were concerned about long-term. TSN, however, has not updated the article that cites Johnston’s report to reflect this.
At this point, all we know is that Celebrini wasn’t injured in training camp, but apparently was between then and Monday night. Whatever his lower-body injury was, it wasn’t serious enough to keep him out of the lineup Monday or out of warmups, but it got bad enough to take him out of the game just before faceoff and keep him from practicing the final two days. There is still no clarity on Thursday’s availability or when he is expected to return.
The Sharks, with or without Celebrini, will face the Blues on Thursday at 5 p.m.
Gn sports
