Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini are making their very own rendition of 'Bad Boys' in San Jose, and are one of the NHL's favourite duos. However with Celebrini taking all the headlines and spotlight, fans are really sleeping on Will Smith as he is writing a pretty good 'Shark Tale' for himself.
Being one of the worst teams in the league, the emphasis and pressure is going to be on the young guys to make good, and this is exactly the case in San Jose. But, with being a lottery team for the last couple of seasons comes a lot of young and exciting talent, two of those guys being Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. Celebrini who was selected first overall in the 2024 NHL was somewhat extremely unlucky not to have won the Calder Trophy last year after losing out to Lane Hutson, however earning a leadership position on the team at such a young age in his second season really speaks volumes to how good he is really going to be for the Sharks in the future.
But despite the Sharks faithful being all-in on Celebrini, former fourth overall pick back in 2023 Will Smith is starting to write his own story in San Jose, and is slowly becoming one of the more electrifying and exciting young prospects in hockey. Smith, who was selected as a very promising young forward out of Boston College, is now becoming one of the most integral and rapidly-developing prospects in the Sharks prospect pool, and with what he is already doing this season doesn't seem to be getting enough recognition.
Last year Smith ended the year with a really solid 45 points in 74 games, putting up a respectable tally as a part of a losing team straight out of college. Now, Smith has found chemistry with lots of guys on the team, and has put up 10 points in 11 games so far, and is quickly making his challenge as one of the best scorers on the Sharks.
When you have a guy like Celebrini, it is hard to look through him and see how well everyone else is performing, but in this case, for a former top five pick, Smith is a guy the Sharks fans sould be keeping a close eye on. He is flying very swiftly under the radar, slowly emerging as one of the NHL's quickest growing point scorers. Smith was always going to be a guy who would be a massive asset for the Sharks, and was always going to be a promising piece in a few years time, but in terms of how quickly he has adapted his skills, and become a massive even strength and power play guy, Smith is definitely not talked about enough, and could easily be considered and intangible for the Sharks.
Who knows how much worse off the Sharks could be in the absence of Smith, and who knows what time of gap he would leave if he wasn't there. Smith is a guy that deserves more attention, and isn't just Celebrini's 'buddy', but he is a very, very good hockey player, and maybe for the time being, the spotlight being elsewhere will help him progress even more, but in a few years time, people will be wondering when Will Smith got so good, and that time is now.