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New Kid In Town - Jan. 27, 2025 – Vol. 78, Issue 07 - Carol Schram
As the top pick in the 2024 NHL draft and the first-ever No. 1 selection of the San Jose Sharks, all eyes are on Macklin Celebrini. When he and rookie teammate Will Smith made a TikTok recreating LeBron James’ famous family driveway workout over the holiday break, it quickly garnered more than one million views. And when Celebrini made his debut appearance on Hockey Night in Canada’s After Hours segment in late December, intrepid host Scott Oake dug deep to reveal that Macklin’s soccer-playing parents, Rick and Robyn, first met at Vancouver’s Roxy nightclub – the notorious setting for many a tall tale on hockey podcasts and even in the memoir of Hall of Famer Chris Chelios.
It’s a very specific type of scrutiny, new to a teenager who did everything possible not to draw attention to himself when he and his older brother, Aiden, tagged along with their dad to work as kids.
Starting in 2014, Rick Celebrini served as the Vancouver Canucks’ director of rehabilitation for four seasons, when Macklin was eight and Aiden was 10. The boys occasionally got to sneak on the ice at Rogers Arena and fantasize about playing in the NHL themselves someday. They also went to the rink on game nights, where they furtively kept their eyes peeled for a passing glimpse of top stars such as Sidney Crosby or the Sedin twins. “We’d go into the family room,” Celebrini said, “between periods or after the game, kind of peek your head out and try to see if you can see a guy or two. I remember I saw Sid one time in the hallway, and me and my brother kind of freaked out.”
Rick was also on staff as manager of medical services and chief therapist when Vancouver hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics. When Crosby scored his ‘Golden Goal,’ three-year-old Macklin had just recently started to skate. And while he bounced back and forth between forward and defense during his early days of youth hockey, he eventually settled in as a center. Just like Crosby.
After Rick joined the Golden State Warriors as director of sports medicine and performance in 2018, the brothers’ development shifted Stateside. And while the Bay Area offered better hockey opportunities than another potential NBA option in San Antonio, that didn’t ease the sting of leaving hockey-mad Canada for parts unknown. “I didn’t want to leave my hometown,” Celebrini said. “Making that move wasn’t easy. But ever since then, I didn’t stay in one place for too long. So, I kind of got used to it.”
Aiden and Macklin, the oldest of four Celebrini children, joined the San Jose Jr. Sharks. A year later, they moved east to Minnesota, where they suited up for Crosby’s prep-school alma mater, Shattuck-St. Mary’s.
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In 2022-23, the brothers’ paths diverged. Macklin played for the USHL’s Chicago Steel, where he led the league with 86 points in 50 games and was named player of the year. Aiden, who stayed on the blueline, helped the Brooks Bandits win an Alberta Jr. A title. At the 2023 NHL draft, Aiden heard his name called in the sixth round by his dad’s former employer, the Canucks.
Last season, the brothers reunited at Boston University, where Macklin became the youngest-ever winner of the Hobey Baker Award. Then, he followed in Crosby’s footsteps from 19 years earlier when he heard his name called first overall at the NHL draft.
And the parallels persist. Just as Crosby lived with his team’s franchise icon, Mario Lemieux, as an 18-year-old rookie with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Celebrini’s first pro billet dad is San Jose Sharks legend Joe Thornton.
Player comparisons are risky business. No two athletes are exactly alike, and using comparables to illustrate a young player’s talents can create unrealistic expectations. But in the run-up to the draft, Celebrini called Crosby a role model. And Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky sees the resemblance.
“Mack is Mack,” Warsofsky said. “He’s going to be his own player. I’m not saying he’s going to be Sidney Crosby, but there’s some similarities in their games. Sidney is a really good 200-foot center in this game. He does not cheat on the other side of the puck. He’s a winner. I think Mack has a lot of those same qualities. The skill set is obviously similar. I think Mack’s probably even more dynamic, in a sense, and that’s not taking anything away from Crosby. The biggest thing is, I see ‘winner’ written all over Macklin.”
Celebrini is the youngest player to stick in the NHL this season, but hockey’s top league has not overwhelmed the 18-year-old. With a solid six-foot, 190-pound frame and the emotional maturity that comes from growing up around pro athletes, he has been impactful for his team. His motor doesn’t quit, and it’s motivating his teammates to try to match his work rate. “He wants to win more than anyone,” said linemate Tyler Toffoli. “You can see the compete he has every single night. It doesn’t matter who he’s playing against or who he’s matching against. He’s trying to win the puck, and he’s already letting me know when he’s open.”
To this day, Crosby is constantly working, never satisfied with his game. Celebrini is at a much earlier stage of his career arc, but the drive is the same.
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The Hockey News has released its archive to all THN subscribers: 76 years of history, stories, and features.
“Not only is he amazing on the ice, but he’s trying to get better every single day, too,” Toffoli said.
San Jose’s veterans are helping to show him the way. “Mikael (Granlund) has probably been the most impactful as far as helping him become a pro,” Warsofsky said. “What it takes to manage your body and the grind of the schedule. And Toffoli has helped him on the ice a lot.”
When Celebrini scored his 13th goal against the New Jersey Devils Jan. 4, he didn’t just move into top spot among this year’s rookie goal-scorers. His 28 points also parked him in the all-time top 10 in scoring by 18-year-olds through their first 30 NHL games.
Just two active players are ahead of him. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins put up 32 points in his first 30 games with the Edmonton Oilers in 2011. And there’s Crosby, with 31 points for Pittsburgh in 2005.
Like many top-tier athletes, Celebrini hates to lose. But when you’re drafted first overall to a last-place team, some losses are inevitable – at least for a while.
“You’re not going to win every game,” Celebrini said. “We’re just going to keep trying to learn how to close out games and, especially, when we have the lead, how to protect it.”
It’s been nearly two decades since the Penguins went from drafting Crosby to winning a championship in the span of just four years. Since then, most other NHL rebuilds have needed more time to succeed or have sputtered altogether.
But just as the Penguins had young franchise goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and another elite forward in Evgeni Malkin coming up at the same time as Crosby, the Sharks appear to have similar building blocks in Smith and the promising Yaroslav Askarov. And if Sam Dickinson can become their version of Kris Letang, the resemblance could become uncanny.
Now that would be something to look at.
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