After recording the first five-point night of his promising NHL career, and even after a recent nine-game goal drought that included a couple of rough outings late last month, Macklin Celebrini is officially having the most productive rookie season in San Jose Sharks history.

Collecting 24 goals and 38 assists while usually matching up against one of the opposing team’s top two lines as an 18-year-old isn’t too shabby.

Yet it still might not be enough for Celebrini to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s most proficient first-year player.

Going into Friday night’s game against the Edmonton Oilers, Celebrini, after his remarkable night against the Minnesota Wild, has 62 points, three more than Pat Falloon’s record-setting rookie year in San Jose’s inaugural season in 1991-92. But it’s also two fewer points than Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson’s total.

While Celebrini has played 12 fewer games than the 21-year-old Hutson, his former Boston University teammate, the Sharks are also the league’s last-place team, and the Canadiens are on the verge of clinching a playoff spot.

That, and the fact that the heavily used Hutson is only the 10th rookie defenseman in NHL history — and the first in over 30 years — to reach 60 points in a season, will probably weigh heavily with members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, who vote on the Calder.

The stellar play of rookie goalie and Gilroy native Dustin Wolf is also a major reason the Calgary Flames still have a slim chance of making the playoffs.

So it appears Celebrini is no longer favored to win the Calder Trophy.

And that’s OK.

While it would be a tremendous honor — and a point of pride in San Jose — for Celebrini to become just the second Sharks player after Evgeni Nabokov to win the Calder, that’s not what he and the team are chasing.

The Sharks, with Celebrini as the centerpiece, want to build a team that can be competitive for the long haul and has a legitimate chance of winning the Cup.

Like every other player in the NHL, that’s the trophy Celebrini wants above all others.

Whether Mike Grier, Celebrini, and the Sharks can get there is unclear.

But nights like Wednesday, when Will Smith has four points, Jack Thompson has two assists, and fellow rookie Nikolai Kovalenko shows he can be a valuable asset — plus Yaroslav Askarov’s 24-save shutout, and Filip Bystedt’s game-winning goal for the Barracuda — show that the Sharks have some tantalizing pieces in place, with more to come.

“We just got a good look at the future, didn’t we?” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said after Wednesday’s game. “Was one of (Celebrini’s) better games here as of late, obviously with points and whatnot. And then (Smith) as well. Even (Kovalenko) has really stepped up and played a good spot in that role (on the Celebrini line).

“But yeah, we just got a really good look at the future.”

After a slow start to the season, Smith is now fourth in rookie scoring with 44 points in 70 games, as he and Celebrini have developed some obvious chemistry.

“You see the player (Smith) is, and he always was, obviously went through a little bit of a slow start,” Celebrini said. “You can see what happens when it gets going and when he has confidence and he’s just playing out there and having fun.”

All three of Celebrini’s goals in his first career NHL hat trick were assisted by Smith. When Smith scored with 52 seconds left in regulation time, tying the game 7-7 in the defense-optional affair, it was Celebrini who set him up.

“We really relied on that line tonight to get us back in the game,” said Sharks winger Tyler Toffoli, who scored his 29th of the season in the first period, “and they found a way and scored goals at the right time.

“There’s obviously a lot of pressure on them, but they’re relied on already to be the cornerstones of the franchise,” Toffoli added of Smith and Celebrini. “Really proud of them the way they handled themselves tonight, but they’re gonna have to do that for the rest of my time here, especially.”

In some recent seasons, winning the Calder Trophy has not been a bellwether of future team success.

Connor Bedard and Moritz Seider, two of the last three winners of the award, will need to wait at least until next season to have a chance at playing in their first NHL playoff game. Other recent winners like Kaprizov, Matty Beniers, and Elias Pettersson have a few playoff round victories between them.

The only Calder winner in the last nine years to hoist the Cup is Cale Makar, who captured the award in 2020 and won it all two years later with the Colorado Avalanche.

We can safely assume that’s what Celebrini wants to do in a few years, rather than dust off a replica of the Calder Trophy — as gorgeous as it is — inside his home.

Before it happens, Celebrini, the Sharks know they will have to make massive strides on the defensive end. They’re now allowing a league-worst 3.79 goals per game, just slightly better than the 3.98 they gave up last season.

It won’t take place overnight, but Celebrini, Smith, and the Sharks want to be in this for the long haul, even if it’s without the Calder. Celebrini will be in line for several trophies in his career, but he and the Sharks are searching for something greater.

“We’re going to continue to preach the other side of the puck,” Warsofsky said. “Because if we’re going to start winning hockey games in the future, we have to be a group that defends, all four lines, and that will be a big emphasis going into the offseason.”