San Jose Sharks rookie Macklin Celebrini will live with former NHL star Joe Thornton this season after choosing not to return to college, and he explained why.

Incoming NHL rookie center Macklin Celebrini will get a colorful taste of what The Show is all about when he moves in with San Jose Sharks legend Joe Thornton. 

Even though his dad works in San Francisco for the NBA's Golden State Warriors, the opportunity for Celebrini to live with an experienced NHL veteran leading the way for him is too rewarding to pass up.

“First of all, I wouldn’t live at home,” Celebrini told The Hockey News' Michael Traikos at this week’s NHL media tour in Las Vegas. “It’s too far. It’s probably like an hour. With traffic, it can get bad. It just wouldn’t make sense for me to live there.”

In the Modern Era of the NHL, there’s no one solution for rookies regarding how they spend their first year off the ice. 

Pittsburgh icon Sidney Crosby lived with fellow superstar Mario Lemieux. Edmonton dynamo Connor McDavid lived with veterans Taylor Hall and Luke Gadzic. Colorado superstar Nathan MacKinnon lived with goaltender J-S Giguere.

Last year’s rookie of the year, the Blackhawks' Connor Bedard, lived on his own, although his parents were there to help him adjust to Chicago. Different players have different personalities, and each player’s living situation varies accordingly.

For Celebrini, having a laid-back, highly supportive person to lean on in Thornton – who mentored for Maple Leafs youngsters Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner during a stint in Toronto – was the right move for him. 

'Jumbo Joe' will be an excellent guide for Celebrini as he deals with the pressure of being a No. 1-overall NHL draft pick. And Celebrini said moving in with Thornton was a decision that gradually came into focus.

“It was fluid – there was never a simple question and answer,” Celebrini said. “Throughout time, it started building, and then I feel like it was right for me to have someone there who was a former first-overall pick who’s been through it all and who is one of the best players to ever play and someone who I can learn from and who has experienced a lot of the things that I’m going through. Just ask questions and be there.”

Celebrini had the option of returning to college at Boston University this season, but after considering the pros and cons of another year in the NCAA, he decided that turning pro was the right route for him.

“A lot of people came up to me after and kind of questioned whether I was actually going to go back (to college),” Celebrini told Traikos. “And funny enough, I was talking with my dad the other day, and what people don’t realize is I love BU, and I loved my time there. 

“Yes, I decided to sign (with San Jose), and I felt that was the right decision for me and my career. But I did think about it. There was talk of me going back. Overall, it wasn’t the right thing for me.”

There is a recent history of a first-overall pick returning to college, as 2021 first-overall pick Owen Power returned to the University of Michigan to play his sophomore NCAA season before playing for the Buffalo Sabres full-time in 2022-23. 

Celebrini said the chance to have success with Boston University made it tempting for him to go back to school.

Boston University is a “pretty historic program with a lot of great names coming out of it,” Celebrini said. “And also part of the thing was we didn’t win anything last year with the team we had. So getting an opportunity to go back and maybe win something after a couple of missed opportunities would have been great.”

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