CALGARY — Macklin Celebrini has a confession to make.
Working his way through the media car wash at the recent Canadian Olympic orientation camp, where he did everything from posing for official team headshots to stacking cups at the social media station to sitting down for multiple one-on-one interviews with rightsholders, the affable 19-year-old kept getting tripped up by the same question.
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“I’m getting asked about my favorite Olympic memories and stuff, and it’s like …” Celebrini told The Athletic during a break in his schedule, punctuating the extended pause with a laugh.
“No 2018 Olympics (for NHL players). In 2022, it was in the (COVID-19) bubble, so it was like no real experiences when I could actually remember and watch the games. Obviously, I still appreciate the Olympics and everything that goes into it, but it’s a little weird just not being able to kind of remember a specific moment.”
Celebrini was a 3-year-old growing up in North Vancouver when Sidney Crosby scored the “Golden Goal” to put an exclamation mark on the 2010 Games, not too far down the road. Four years later, when Crosby and Co. repeated at Sochi 2014, their 3-0 win over Sweden ended a little after 8 a.m. local time on Canada’s west coast and didn’t leave a lasting impression on Celebrini.
The NHL’s Olympic hiatus in the years since has not only created an immense amount of anticipation for its return to the Milano Cortina Games this February, but it’s also left open the possibility that Celebrini’s first true hockey memory from the event will be one he creates himself as a member of Team Canada.
Of course, there remains a huge barrier to entry for the San Jose Sharks sophomore.
He will need to push aside All-Stars and Stanley Cup winners in a crowded field of contenders to grab one of the nine remaining spots still available at forward after Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Brayden Point and Sam Reinhart were named to the initial roster in June.
But Celebrini is an intriguing wild card for the management group to consider coming off a surprisingly effective rookie campaign with the basement-dwelling Sharks and an encouraging performance at the IIHF World Hockey Championship, where he skated on a line with Crosby and internalized as many lessons as he could from veteran teammates such as MacKinnon, Ryan O’Reilly and Travis Konecny.
In the words of Crosby: “He’s earned the right to be in the conversation.”
Securing one of 42 invites to the summer orientation camp was the first step. A month beyond his 19th birthday, Celebrini was the youngest men’s player brought into Calgary by Hockey Canada and only found himself with one true peer there in 20-year-old Connor Bedard, the player who preceded him as the NHL’s No. 1 draft pick in 2023.
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While no teenager has been chosen to don the Maple Leaf in the five previous Olympics contested with NHL players — Crosby was famously left off the 2006 team at age 18 — the Canadian braintrust has chosen upside over experience before, selecting a 20-year-old Drew Doughty in his second NHL season for the 2010 team and also bringing 21-year-old Jonathan Toews to Vancouver.
Celebrini and Bedard will almost certainly represent their country at the 2030 Olympics, but Team Canada general manager Doug Armstrong made it clear to both players that scouts will be watching them closely this season to see if they’re ready to make the leap.
“They’ve been told that Oct. 7 to Jan. 1 is massive for them, like it is for everybody else,” Armstrong said. “You don’t have to be a certain age to make this team. If you’re good enough and you can help us compete to win, then you’ll make this team.”
It’s a message Celebrini seems to have taken to heart, saying that he approached the orientation camp as though he was going to be part of the group traveling to Milan.
Consider it a sign of how far he’s come in only a calendar year.
Last fall, Celebrini arrived at Sharks training camp unsure of what the jump to the NHL would look like for him. He wound up missing most of October with a lower-body injury, then having what he termed a “terrible” game in his return to the lineup on Nov. 5, but he still managed to finish the season with a respectable 25 goals and 63 points in 70 games.
He finished third in voting for the Calder Trophy, finishing behind Lane Hutson of the Montreal Canadiens and Dustin Wolf of the Calgary Flames.
“It was a mix of emotions,” Celebrini said of his rookie season. “I don’t think I came in with any expectations (beyond) consciously just going out there and doing my best. That’s kind of my mentality. You don’t know if you’re going to be ready for it — like, you’ve never played in it before — but I think the more comfortable I got, the more confidence and more at home I felt.”
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As a smart two-way player who can win board battles and create offense off the rush, Celebrini’s game translated extremely favorably to the pro ranks.
That’s what stood out to Crosby when they became teammates at the worlds. While the tournament ended in shocking fashion for Canada, with a 2-1 loss to Denmark in the quarterfinals, it may ultimately be remembered as a coming-out party for Celebrini, who wound up playing more minutes than several well-established teammates while finishing with six points and a plus-9 rating in eight games.
“He’s an incredible player,” Crosby said. “Just his all-around game at his age is pretty impressive. He’s committed defensively, he competes hard. He’s got a pretty mature game for his age. I think having that experience at worlds can only help. I’m sure he built confidence from that.
“I know being on the ice with him, and then seeing him out there day to day and what he puts into it, I’m sure that’s something that’s made him a better player right away. As the year went on last year, he got better and better, and that’ll be a big building block.”
This summer, Celebrini returned to the lab looking to make gains. He said he reviewed video and reflected on areas where he can improve, while also leaning into offseason training.
With the Sharks deep into a rebuild and coming off a 20-50-12 campaign, Celebrini is approaching his second NHL season with a high degree of optimism.
“We had an awesome group of guys (last year),” he said. “Especially with the situation we were in, you need that group of guys to stay positive, stay light and just try to pull yourself out of it. I think for the most part we tried to focus on pulling ourselves out of the dark and gloomy.
“I just think with the guys coming in that we got and our group, especially the young guys getting a year older and a little bit more experienced, I think we’re going to be in a better position.”
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His own growth stands as an enticing proposition for the Sharks.
To see Celebrini maneuver among a group of hockey’s best and most accomplished players in Calgary in late August, you never would have known he was a relative newcomer to the scene. He exchanged notes on best equipment fits with Cale Makar while they took turns donning the Olympic sweater for photos, bumped fists with MacKinnon when they crossed paths in the hallway and got chirped playfully with a call of “Maccckkkkkklin” from Mitch Marner when he came upon Celebrini speaking to a reporter.
Hence why he didn’t have the nerves you’d expect from a teenager finding his way in that star-studded scenario.
“It’s just great people,” Celebrini said. “There’s nothing that you have to be too worried about.”
As a player just scratching the surface of his potential with so much still ahead of him, the coming months are critical to his hopes of landing an invite to Italy.
However, as much as playing in the Olympics remains a big goal, Celebrini doesn’t think it will cloud his focus on the process once the puck drops in October.
“Once we get into the season, it’s going to be all about the season,” he said. “It’s going to be all about winning games and our team and what we need to do. Obviously, I’m not going to try to play better. However I play is going to be how I play, I’m not going to change the way I play.
“It’s going to be a decision that they’re going to make. I don’t even know when they’re going to make it.”
(Top photo: Jonathan Nackstrand / Getty Images)
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Chris Johnston is a senior writer covering the NHL for The Athletic. He has two decades of experience as an NHL Insider, having appeared on Hockey Night in Canada and the NHL Network before joining TSN in 2021. He currently hosts the “Chris Johnston Show” on the Steve Dangle Podcast Network. He’s written previously for the Toronto Star, Sportsnet and The Canadian Press. Follow Chris on Twitter @reporterchris
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