Three NHL scouts explain the likelihood of Celebrini improving the Sharks originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
“The Sharks have never had a player and leader of this caliber.”
According to an NHL scout who spoke to San Jose Hockey Now, this is what winning the 2024 NHL Draft lottery on Tuesday – and doing Macklin Celebrini, the No. 1 overall pick in June – could mean for the Sharks.
So, could Celebrini have more of an impact on the franchise than, say, even Joe Thornton?
This scout doesn’t project Celebrini to rack up points like Thornton did — Jumbo’s 1,539 points are the 14th-most in NHL history — but Thornton, the Boston Bruins’ No. 1 pick in the 1997 draft, had to become a better two. center and as a leader in his Hall of Fame-worthy career.
There appears to be a smaller learning curve for Boston University centeraccording to three NHL scouts from outside the Sharks organization who spoke to San Jose Hockey Now.
“Off the ice, his leadership and work ethic will set the tone for the championship,” said the NHL’s No. 1 scout. “He is a No. 1 center who will drive scoring and winning.”
“He’s going to be another guy who leads by example, from what I understand,” the NHL’s No. 2 scout said. “He plays and leads with his effort on the ice, and that carries weight on the bench and in the locker room.”
The No. 3 NHL scout repeated that: “[The Sharks will] to be getting a true No. 1 two-way center in the NHL. He is a very good person and his teammates gravitate towards him.”
“Celebrini is the complete package on the ice,” said the NHL’s No. 2 scout. “This draft class is a little weak, but I think even in other years, he will do as well with other first overall picks, if not better. High skill and IQ, skating, total attention to detail. 200 foot player. Play hard.
“It’s hard to find any real flaws in his game other than he’s undersized, although he’s quite stout at 189 pounds.”
Former Sharks coach David Quinn summed up the Potential Value of 6-Foot Centralizer after the team got the best odds in last month’s draw.
“[He’s] what [the Sharks] I want to be like an organization, what the sport demands. He has a lot of skill, but he has a toughness that allows him to be a different type of player,” Quinn said. “When I watch him, I think a lot about Jonathan Toews. Maybe a little more skill.”
Toews, a No. 1 center in his own right, accumulated far fewer points than Thornton with 883, but scored more than 25 goals in a season eight times, captained the Chicago Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup titles and won the 2010 Conn Smythe Trophy and 2013 Selke Trophy.
“[Celebrini] immediately puts them on the path to the Stanley Cup,” said the NHL’s No. 1 scout. “At the moment they have zero World Cup caliber [franchise] players, in my opinion. Mack gives them a foundation to build on.”
The NHL’s No. 3 scout believes Celebrini should unlock the Sharks’ entire offense of the future: “He would open [Will] Smith was more offensive and would give [Filip] Bystedt’s third-line mismatches. That’s really good depth in the middle.”
Bystedt was the Sharks’ first-round pick for 2022 and Smith was their first-round pick for 2023, so this should be the third year in a row that general manager Mike Grier selects his center of the future in the first round.
Former Jr. The shark could be the axis of everything.
“His actions and player acquisition timeline would change immediately,” the NHL’s No. 1 scout said. “It’s really sad to see what Tank’s attendance has become – it could energize this for another decade. He becomes the face of the franchise.”
That is, of course, gargantuan expectations for a 17-year-old. O son of Warriors sports medicine director and performance Rick Celebrini will turn 18 on June 13, about two weeks before the first round of the 2024 draft on June 28 in Las Vegas.
“I would just be cautious about [projecting] how quickly young players turn things around,” said the NHL’s No. 3 scout, “because it took Buffalo, Edmonton and others [teams] longer than expected when they were young.”
That’s for tomorrow, though. Today? Sharks fans should rejoice: Macklin Celebrini is coming (back) to town.
