LAS VEGAS – On Friday night at The Sphere, the San Jose Sharks said out loud what had been quietly suggested for weeks: Boston University star Maclin Celebrin was the No. 1 prospect and their No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
Sharks general manager Mike Grier, a Boston University graduate, made the announcement.
There has never been anything higher than this year’s draft. Celebrini, a 6-foot, 197-pound center, has occupied the pole position for two years.
At 16, he was named USHL Player of the Year and led Canada in the U-18 world standings with 15 points in seven games, as a junior and while playing through a shoulder injury that required surgery. That year, he scored 46 goals and 86 points (in just 50 games) in a U-17 USHL season.
That season, an opposing USHL coach said Athletic Celebrini was “a quintessential Sidney Crosby guy.”
As the youngest player in college hockey this season and undergoing shoulder surgery, Celebrini also became the youngest player in NCAA history to win the Hobey Baker Award, recording 64 points in 38 games to lead the Terriers to the Frozen Four.
Midway through the season, he also recorded eight points in five games as Canada’s leading scorer and the world’s youngest player as a youth.
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In a phone call Tuesday before the draft, BU head coach Jay Pandolfo said: “The Sharks are getting a player you can really build around.”
The fit was a natural fit for both Celebrini (who played minor hockey for the San Jose Jr. Sharks’ AAA program, and whose father, Rick, is the longtime director of sports medicine and performance for the Golden State Warriors) and San José (who owned minor hockey). The potential of the center of the first line to rebuild around it).
Pandolfo called it a coming full circle moment.
“I think it’s just because of how it happened, his family moved to California for his dad’s job and then he played for the Jr. Sharks,” he said. “And he’s been talked about for a long time as a potential No. 1 pick, so to have all this pressure and expectations and still separate himself as the No. 1 pick, and then in San Jose, where his family is going to decide. I think it’s very special for him and his family. And I think for a young kid with high expectations, being close to home can definitely help.”
Celebrini, recently selected by the Sharks in the first round, will join Boston College center Will Smith, 100-point OHL player Quentin Musti, Russian defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin and Swedes William Eklund, Filip Bystesdt and David Edstrom in San Jose’s growing pool of prospects.
How does Celebrini fit in at San Jose?
It’s a historic day for the Sharks. They had the No. 1 pick, and Joe Thornton’s brilliant 15-year career will be celebrated with their No. 19 pick next season, but Thornton was the result of the biggest trade in franchise history.
But this was the first time they selected a No. 1, and Celebrini is certainly seen as the player to lead San Jose back to glory.
After his family moved from North Vancouver to the Bay Area, he spent four years playing in the San José Jr. program. With the Sharks gone, Celebrini will now be a Shark senior and could make his NHL debut on opening night if decides to leave Boston University and sign a contract. equipment
The 18-year-old has nothing more to say at the collegiate level than an NCAA title after reaching the Frozen Four.
The allure of starting his professional career right away with college rival and eventual teammate Will Smith could be tempting after Smith signed with San Jose following his breakout season at Boston College. If they develop into top NHL talents, Celebrini and Smith could give the Sharks the same one-two punch that Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane were for the Chicago Blackhawks.
Celebrini has been praised for his all-around ability in the middle, while also being able to change the dynamics of the game on the offensive end and showing a high level of defensive acumen at such a young age. Grier hasn’t been all that excited about who he picks number one since winning the draft lottery, and he didn’t need to be.
The second pick in the draft keeps the intrigue of where the top-rated prospect will go, with several ranked equally higher. No one was taller than Celebrin, whose maturity on the ice won over Grier as well as his exploits on it.
“We had dinner with him and he was sitting at a table with eight grown men and he was talking and he was calm and comfortable,” Grier said earlier this week. “I think he’s a great guy. His parents did a good job raising him. His manners. Good manners But when you sit with him for two minutes, I think you really feel the drive from him and the competitiveness from him. In a way he escapes her.
“I think that’s what you can see the most. He’s a motivated kid. He’s an alpha. Everything you would expect and (based on) the experience of other No. 1 picks, he has all that, self-confidence, will and wants to get better and work on his job. He’s an impressionable kid.”
Such is the excitement over the potential face of a new, marketable franchise that the SAP Center in San Jose was nearly packed for Macklin’s Christmas draft party. The Sharks, symbolically and definingly the franchise, have turned the page on the NHL’s worst 19-win season.
While Celebrini won’t make an immediate difference on his own, his presence at the centre of a new young core brimming with potential will make them even more relevant and a team to watch in the coming seasons. Eric Stevens, Sharks writer
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(Photo: Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images)
