SAN JOSE >> The wait to see dynamic rookie centerman Macklin Celebrini play another game for the Sharks appears to be over.

Celebrini, who has missed 12 games over nearly four weeks with a hip injury, said he’ll be in the lineup tonight when the Sharks host the Columbus Blue Jackets at SAP Center.

Celebrini, drafted first overall pick by the Sharks in June, skated on San Jose’s top line for the first time since Oct. 10 on Monday morning, indicating the rookie centerman was on the verge of returning to the active roster.

Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said Celebrini looked good during Monday’s practice but would not commit to any lineup decisions for tonight’s game. Still, if Celebrini is in good health, it would be surprising not to see him activated off injured reserve and in tonight’s lineup as the Sharks continue their homestand.

“Just having him in practice today, the last couple of days, has been good for our group,” Warsofsky said Monday afternoon. “I think he’s taken the next step of being close to ready to help us. So we’ll focus on tomorrow, tomorrow if he’s playing.”

Celebrini, who hasn’t played for the Sharks since his electrifying NHL debut on Oct. 10, skated with Tyler Toffoli and William Eklund during Monday’s roughly 45-minute practice. Celebrini has been on injured reserve since Oct. 12. but has been skating for over a week.

“It sucks playing one game and then having to sit out for a bit,” Celebrini said. “But it was the right thing to do.”

The Sharks (3-8-2) won just three of 12 games without Celebrini and will enter tonight in 32nd and last place in the NHL’s overall standings. After tonight, the Sharks finish their homestand with a game against the surging Minnesota Wild on Thursday and begin a four-game road trip against Metropolitan Division teams on Nov. 10.

Celebrini has dealt with the hip injury since the early days of training camp in September. He also hurt his hip in an Oct. 1 preseason game against the Utah Hockey Club, as he was tripped up on a partial breakaway before he collided heavily — hip first — into the end boards.

Celebrini said he felt fine in the days before the Sharks’ season opener on Oct. 10 but was hurt early in the game against the Blues. Despite that discomfort, Celebrini still had a goal and an assist in the Sharks’ season-opening 5-4 overtime loss to St. Louis at SAP Center.

“Rehabbed it, was feeling really good, and then re-aggravated it during the first game, first shift,” Celebrini said. “I didn’t want to not play in that game, so I kind of stuck through it. But at the end of the game, something didn’t feel right.”

Celebrini said his rehab consisted of “a lot of gym work, strengthening all the muscles around (the hip), doing a lot of exercise where I’m moving the right way and not putting it in jeopardy.”

The 18-year-old Celebrini also participated in some battle drills Monday morning. Warsofsky said last week that Celebrini, who has dealt with a hip injury, would not return to a game before he went through a practice with some contact.

Celebrini also skated with the Sharks three times last week, joining them for two morning skates on Thursday and Saturday and one practice on Friday.

After a nine-game losing streak, the Sharks earned their first three wins of the season late last month, staging a wild comeback to beat the Utah Hockey Club on Oct. 28 on the road before earning wins over Los Angeles and Chicago last week. The Sharks’ win streak ended with a 3-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.

“I had a couple of people say that the second period in the St. Louis game was one of the best periods we’ve played in a while,” Celebrini said. “So I felt like we were doing great things. That stretch there where we couldn’t find a win, those are tough for any team, no matter the level.

“But we stuck with it. We stuck to our identity. We fixed some things that we needed to fix, and we got rewarded for it.”

Forward Ty Dellandrea, who is out with a hand injury, also participated fully in Monday’s practice and said afterward that he’s ready to play again. If he and Celebrini are both activated off IR, as is expected, the Sharks will have to make some roster decisions to stay at 23 players.

The easiest decision would be for the Sharks to return forwards Danil Gushchin and Ethan Cardwell to the Barracuda, but nothing had been announced as of late Monday afternoon. Gushchin made the Sharks’ roster out of camp and has one assist in 10 games, and Cardwell doesn’t have a point in three NHL games. Neither player would require waivers.

“Both of those guys have to continue to improve,” Warsofsky said of Gushchin and Cardwell.