San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini told reporters he would be in the lineup tomorrow night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

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While Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky didn't confirm the center's official return to the lineup, but the 2024 NHL Draft No. 1 pick was asked bluntly if he was playing, and he responded with "yeah."

Celebrini confirmed to reporters that his lower-body injury was, in fact, a hip injury that he suffered during a preseason game against the Utah Hockey Club on Oct. 1.

"When I went into the boards, I hurt my hip a little bit in the preseason game," Celebrini said. "I rehabbed it. I didn't play any preseason games after that and then rehabbed. It was feeling really good, and then [I] re-aggravated it during the first game, first shift. 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."

During practice today, Celebrini was playing as the center with Tyler Toffoli and Mikael Granlund on his wings.

"We'll focus on tomorrow's lineup tomorrow," Warsofsky said. "It'll be obviously some additional decisions to make in the morning."

With Celebrini's placement on IR, the Sharks could recall a player from the San Jose Barracuda. With his pending return, GM Mike Grier and staff will need to decide on a player to take off the NHL roster to open a spot.

Celebrini has played just one game this season and had a goal and an assist against the St. Louis Blues.

"I'm excited to play every game, so it [stinks] when you miss 12 games like that," Celebrini said. "We got some really good teams coming next couple days, and I think we are ready for them."

The Sharks host the Blue Jackets at 7:30 p.m. PT tomorrow.

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