Macklin Celebrini on cover EA Sports’ NHL 27 video game, talks new contract
Macklin Celebrini has made history again, as EA Sports announced on Tuesday that the San Jose Sharks center is the cover athlete for its NHL 27 video game.
Celebrini, who turned 20 last month, is the youngest NHL player to be featured on the cover of the game.
Celebrini is arguably the league’s top young player and is quickly becoming one of its most marketable. Celebrini broke a single-season Sharks record with 115 points, including 70 assists, in 82 games.
With the record-setting year, Celebrini joined an exclusive list of teenagers who scored 100 points in an NHL season, joining Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux, Dale Hawerchuk, and Jimmy Carson.
Celebrini reached the 100-point mark in 72 games in his second season with the Sharks. Only Gretzky (61 games in 1979-80) and Crosby (65 games in 2006-07) reached the milestone faster as teenagers.
This season also saw Celebrini win a silver medal at the Winter Olympics, captain Canada’s team at the World Championship, be named a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award as the NHL’s MVP as voted by the players, and win the IIHF Male Athlete of the Year Award.
Celebrini is entering the final year of his entry-level contract and has said he’s open to signing a contract extension this summer.
Celebrini’s next deal will most likely make him one of the NHL’s highest-paid players, but he told ESPN recently that he’s not necessarily going to seek every dollar available.
The next generation is here. Macklin Celebrini is the youngest NHL cover athlete in history.
Tune in for the #NHL27 Reveal Trailer July 16 at 11 AM ET: https://t.co/jihAWdWaXP pic.twitter.com/C1LkKxBfu2
— NHL (@NHL) July 14, 2026
“I think it’s just whenever it makes sense for both sides,” Celebrini said. “I still have a year left. There’s no reason to rush. We’ll kind of see how it goes.
“Obviously, guys want to get paid — as they should, because you’ve got to make a living. There are guys that deserve those numbers that are getting them, but of course, you want to put your team in the best spot possible, where you give a team the ability to make moves necessary to win. I think all that goes into the decision.”
