My 2025-26 Sharks Awards Vote: Celebrini, Ferraro lead selections

The San Jose Sharks have announced their 2025-26 Awards. And with that announcement came the votes—at least, this voter’s votes.

Player of the Year went to Macklin Celebrini. The vote was simple, and also not subtle: “My vote (in order): Macklin Celebrini, Alex Wennberg, Dmitry Orlov.”

“If I could’ve voted Macklin, Macklin, Macklin, I would’ve,” the voter wrote, “that’s how good a year that he had, no disrespect to the rest of the San Jose Sharks.”

From there, the reasons sharpened. The voter credited Wennberg with “a solid offensive season” and said he’s “one of the best defensive centers in the league.” There was also a minutes-per-night argument: “He’s the only other Sharks forward, besides Celebrini, to average over 20 minutes a night.”

Orlov, meanwhile, came with a caveat—“some high-profile mistakes at the end of the season”—but the vote still ranked him third. Overall, the voter said Orlov remained “San Jose’s best all-around defenseman, moving the puck and killing plays with regularity.” The voter also framed Orlov as an upgrade over prior “placeholder No. 1 defensemen of years past,” naming “blueliners like Mario Ferraro and Jake Walman.”

And there was Ferraro, briefly, in the background. “I will say, Ferraro, with a slightly lighter load, had one of his better seasons in teal. He was definitely in the running for the No. 3 spot on my vote.”

The next category: Media Good Guy. Winner: Mario Ferraro.

“My vote (in order): Alex Nedeljkovic, Ferraro, Wennberg.” The voter said they usually favor players who carry “the most media responsibilities,” specifically those tied to leadership—guys who “have to come out and answer our questions after a tough loss.”

Ferraro was described as “a well-deserving three-time winner,” but the vote explained why Nedeljkovic earned the top spot on this list. Post-game, the voter said Nedeljkovic was “impressive,” answering “tough questions of all sorts with candor and accountability.”

There’s also the goalie reality check. “No doubt, he’s a part of leadership too, and no one bears more of the brunt of a loss than a goalie, more often than not.”

The Sharks asked the voter to say something about Ferraro. That request sat near the middle of the write-up—then the attention shifted again to another player who didn’t win the category.

Celebrini, the voter argued, should have been higher. “Celebrini also deserves an honorable mention here, too, and perhaps should’ve come in ahead of fellow alternate captain Wennberg.” The reason wasn’t subtle either: the voter said “The media load for Celebrini was unlike anything I’ve ever seen for a Shark,” particularly “after his season started taking off in November and the Olympics became talk, then reality.”

The vote also weighed how Celebrini handled it: “While not as expansive as the other three players that I voted for, he was always accountable, and incredibly patient, all things considered, with repetitive question after repetitive question.”

“ In retrospect, he probably deserved the No. 3 spot at least here,” the voter added, “no disrespect to the always-steady Wennberg.”

Then came Rookie of the Year. Winner: Yaroslav Askarov.

“My vote (in order): Askarov, Sam Dickinson.” The voter listed the eligible rookies as: “Askarov, Ethan Cardwell, Igor Chernyshov, Dickinson, Patrick Giles, Michael Misa, and Pavol Regenda.”

There were quick takes too—“Chernyshov and Regenda were more impressive, in short flashes, than Askarov and Dickinson”—but the argument for the finalists was season-long involvement.

“Askarov and Dickinson were here for the entire season.” The voter framed it as uneven for both: “It was an up-and-down campaign for both the goalie and the defenseman,” then tipped the scale toward Askarov by ice-time comparison. “I give the edge to the No. 1 netminder over the essentially No. 6 blueliner (in terms of ice-time).”

The key performance stretch was October-to-November style dominance. “Askarov also had one dominating month, an 8-2-2 November with a .940 Save %.” The voter contrasted that with Dickinson: “Dickinson never reached those kind of heights this year.”

The last category in this vote: Prospect of the Year. Winner: Eric Pohlkamp.

The voter made clear how this one works inside the organization: “The media doesn’t vote on this, team hockey operations does. It’s not an award for best prospect, it’s a vote for which prospect had the best season in his league.”

And then the case for Pohlkamp, tied directly to accolades: “And which San Jose Sharks prospect has a better season than NCAA champion and Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalist Pohlkamp?”

For now, that’s the vote—and the explanation—for the 2025-26 Sharks Awards.