Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini were linemates at the Olympics not that long ago, and making Canadian fans very happy in the process. But tonight, Celebrini tries to win a game when McDavid is no longer on his side.
Good luck with that, Macklin.
Nobody quite knew what to expect when Celebrini was slotted onto McDavid's line in Milan. Asking a young player to keep up at the Olympics, with the entire country watching, is a tall order by any reasonable measure. He answered it, and Canadian fans embraced the pairing with the kind of warmth usually reserved for an unpenalized Tom Wilson hit on Dylan Larkin.
The chemistry was real, it was fun, but it's over.
Now they have to stop each other, which is a slightly different dynamic.
Playing alongside someone at that level does teach you things you can't learn any other way. Whether that's tendencies, habits, or decision-making, Celebrini had a window into how McDavid operated that very few players his age have ever had.
The flip side, of course, is that McDavid now knows plenty about Celebrini too, and that thought is not exactly a comforting one if you're a Sharks fan.
There's also something a little bittersweet about the whole thing if you're feeling sentimental. Canada came home with silver; the sting of that final against the United States is still reasonably fresh, and watching two players who were on the same bench now trying to beat each other carries a faint trace of that.
The Olympics give, and the NHL schedule very unceremoniously takes away. Barely enough time to recover from heartbreak before it's back to business.
Whether Celebrini uses his Olympic education to test McDavid, or whether McDavid reminds him fairly quickly that being teammates was a very different arrangement, remains to be seen.
It won't define either player's season, and these two teams are heading in very different directions by April. But for one night, two players who were celebrating together in Italy — well, commiserating over silver together in Italy — get to line up against each other and see what happens.
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