Sharks’ Celebrini chasing down Gretzky record

Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby are the only two teenagers to have ever won the Hart Trophy.

Macklin Celebrini is trying to become the third, and he’s skating in the same rare air as those two all-time greats.

Celebrini, 19, had three more points for the San Jose Sharks in a 4-3 overtime win over the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night. He’s now up to 67 points and has factored in on exactly 50 per cent of all goals scored by the Sharks this season.

How rare is that? It’s the highest percentage ever recorded by a teenager. Gretzky at age 19 accounted for 45.5 per cent of the Oilers’ goals in 1979-80, while Crosby was in on 44.9 per cent of the Penguins’ goals in 2006-07 when he was 19. Both Gretzky and Crosby won the Hart in those seasons.

Celebrini trails only Connor McDavid (75) and Nathan MacKinnon (74) in scoring, and is on pace for 127 points over a full 82 games. Gretzky finished his 19-year-old season with 137 points, and Crosby posted 120.