SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Macklin Celebrini might be the only one on the San Jose Sharks not excited to talk about his remarkable season that has the 19-year-old accomplishing feats only some of the greatest players ever have done at his age.
Celebrini delivered another signature performance on Tuesday night when he completed his third career hat trick with an overtime goal that gave the Sharks a 3-2 victory over the Utah Mammoth and put Celebrini in elite company.
The three goals gave Celebrini 30 points in his team's first 20 games of a season, a mark reached only by two other teenagers in NHL history with Wayne Gretzky doing it in 1980-81 and Sidney Crosby in 2006-07. Mario Lemieux also did it in his first 20 games in 1984-85 but he missed seven games during that stretch.
“It’s cool, but that’s the first time I’m hearing about it,” Celebrini said, quickly trying to dismiss any comparison to those legends. “I don’t really want to hear about that. That’s not what’s important.”
Celebrini's teammates have no hesitation talking about the impact he has made on the franchise since being picked first overall in the 2024 draft. Celebrini had 25 goals and 38 assists as an 18-year-old rookie but has taken his game to new heights so far this season with 13 goals and 17 assists.
“Special. He’s special,” said defenseman Vincent Desharnais, who has played with Connor McDavid and Crosby in his career. “I think everyone in here, everyone in this building sees how special he is as a player, as a human being as well. He’s not a (jerk) and walking around and saying that he’s the best player. He always wants to get better every day. I’m sure next skate he’s going to be one of the first guys on the ice to work on something else. So it’s impressive to see and it kind of inspires everyone.”
Celebrini has provided reason for optimism for a Sharks franchise that had the worst record in the NHL in each of the past two seasons and hasn't made the playoffs since the 2018-19 season.
He is part of a young core that features several promising players with more in the pipeline who are expected to be the building blocks for a contender in the coming years.
The two main pieces of that rebuild right now are Celebrini and linemate Will Smith, the No. 4 overall pick in 2023. The 20-year-old Smith has seven goals and 11 assists with the latest coming on a deft cross-ice pass that set up Celebrini's first goal of the night less than two minutes into the game.
“Those guys obviously you see the chemistry,” coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “They can make things happen. I still think there’s another level to be honest they can both get to within their game. Not just the points and the goals, the assists. For us to win consistently and really go on and really start building this thing, we have to have an understanding how we need to play the game and winning habits and what it looks like.”
Warsofsky said what sets Celebrini apart from other young stars is his “hockey sense.” That's a trait he often sees lacking as players spend so much time working on their skills that they neglect that aspect of the game.
That has helped Celebrini become an instant leader on the team despite his age as he earned the title of alternate captain this season and is being groomed to wear the “C” on his sweater soon.
His play has helped the Sharks rebound from a six-game winless streak to open the season with nine wins in their last 14 games that has them at least in range of a playoff spot after winning just 39 games combined the past two seasons.
San Jose has shown more resiliency this season, evidenced by the response in overtime after blowing a two-goal lead in the third period against Utah.
“Coming into this year all of us want to take that next step as a team," Celebrini said. “This is a game we probably would have lost last year. So I think just showing the steps we are taking.”
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San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini (71) shoots during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Winnipeg Jets, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
DEIR HAFER, Syria (AP) — The leader of Kurdish-led forces in Syria announced Friday that they will withdraw from a contested area in northern Syria, potentially heading off a major clash with government forces.
The announcement by Mazloum Abdi, the leader of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, came as the Syrian military announced it had begun striking SDF positions, while the SDF reported “intense artillery shelling” in the town of Deir Hafer east of the city of Aleppo.
Hours earlier, a U.S. military designation had visited Deir Hafer and met with SDF officials in an apparent attempt to tamp down tensions.
The U.S. has good relations with both sides and has urged calm. A spokesperson for the U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Abdi said in a statement posted on X that “based on calls from friendly countries and mediators and in a demonstration of good faith," the SDF would redeploy its forces to areas east of the Euphrates River Saturday morning.
Shortly before Abdi's announcement, interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa had announced issuance of a decree strengthening Kurdish rights.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of people carrying their belongings arrived in government-held areas in northern Syria ahead of the anticipated offensive by Syrian troops on territory held by Kurdish-led fighters.
Many of the civilians who fled were seen using side roads to reach government-held areas because the main highway was blocked at a checkpoint in the town of Deir Hafer controlled by the SDF.
The Syrian army said late Wednesday that civilians would be able to evacuate through the “humanitarian corridor” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and then extended the evacuation period another day, saying the SDF had stopped civilians from leaving.
There had been limited exchanges of fire between the two sides in the area before that.
Men, women and children arrived on the government side of the line in cars and pickup trucks that were packed with bags of clothes, mattresses and other belongings. They were met by local officials who directed them to shelters.
In other areas, people crossed canals on small boats and crossed a heavily damaged pedestrian bridge to reach the side held by government forces.
The SDF closed the main highway but more than 11,000 people were still able to reach government-held areas on other roads, Syrian state TV reported.
Abu Mohammed said he came from the town of Maskana after hearing the government had opened a safe corridor, “only to be surprised when we arrived at Deir Hafer and found it closed.”
SDF fighters were preventing people from crossing through Syria’s main east-west highway and forcing them to take a side road, he said.
Kortay Khalil, an SDF official at the Deir Hafer the checkpoint, said they had closed it because the government closed other crossings.
“This crossing was periodically closed even before these events, but people are leaving through other routes, and we are not preventing them,” he said. “If we wanted to prevent them, no one would be able to leave the area.”
The U.S. military convoy arrived in Deir Hafer in the early afternoon accompanied by SDF officials. Associated Press journalists saw SDF leaders and American officials enter one of the government buildings, where they met inside for more than an hour before departing the area.
Inside Deir Hafer, many shops were closed Friday and people stayed home.
The tensions in the Deir Hafer area come after several days of intense clashes last week in Aleppo, previously Syria’s largest city and commercial center, that ended with the evacuation of Kurdish fighters from three neighborhoods north of the city that were then taken over by government forces.
The fighting broke out as negotiations have stalled between Damascus and the SDF over an agreement reached in March to integrate their forces and for the central government to take control of institutions including border crossings and oil fields in the northeast.
The U.S. special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, posted on X on Friday that Washington remains in close contact with all parties in Syria, “working around the clock to lower the temperature, prevent escalation, and return to integration talks between the Syrian government and the SDF.”
The SDF for years has been the main U.S. partner in Syria in fighting against the Islamic State group, but Turkey considers the SDF a terrorist organization because of its association with Kurdish separatist insurgents in Turkey. Some of the factions that now make up the Syrian army were formerly Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
Al-Sharaa, the former leader of an Islamist rebel group that spearheaded the overthrow of former President Bashar Assad, has sought to win over Kurds and other minorities suspicious of his government, particularly after several outbreaks of sectarian violence last year.
On Friday, he issued a decree recognizing Kurdish as a national language along with Arabic and adopting the Newroz festival, a traditional celebration of spring and renewal marked by Kurds around the region, as an official holiday.
The decree also annulled measures resulting from a 1962 census in the northeastern al-Hasakeh province that stripped tens of thousands of Kurds of their citizenship, and announced that “Syrian citizenship is granted to all residents of Kurdish origin living in Syria, including those previously unregistered, with full equality in rights and duties.”
There was no immediate response by the SDF to the decree.
American soldiers from the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group stand guard during a meeting with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)
Displaced Syrians walk to cross at a river crossing near the village of Rasm al-Harmil al-Imam in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, in Deir Hafer, Syria, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Displaced Syrians cross a river in a boat near the village of Rasm al-Harmil al-Imam in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, in Deir Hafer, Syria, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Displaced Syrians walk to cross at a river crossing near the village of Rasm al-Harmil al-Imam in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, in Deir Hafer, Syria, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
U.S. military vehicles from the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group drive through Deir Hafer, Syria, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, before a meeting with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)
Rohlat Efrin, center, a commander in the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, speaks with an SDF member as American soldiers from the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group stand guard during a meeting in Deir Hafer, Syria, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)
