Ryan Reaves<\/a> noted, the ways in which he doesn\u2019t cheat, in which he\u2019s willing to go into corners, to backcheck, to hit, to play a physical game.<\/p>\nThe ways in which he leads.<\/p>\n
Asked if he was shocked about Celebrini\u2019s emergence, Sharks general manager Mike Grier said recently, \u201cA little bit. I don\u2019t know if shocked\u2019s the word, but it\u2019s surprising for sure. But maybe I shouldn\u2019t be because I know the work that he puts in every offseason to get better and the drive he has to be the best, so maybe I shouldn\u2019t be surprised.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m more impressed by how he handles [the media] and the pressure and the things off the ice. It\u2019s a lot to ask of a 19-year-old kid and he handles it much better than I would have at 19, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not only those inside the organization who have noticed. As Celebrini passed through Florida last week, playing first against the Panthers and then against the Tampa Bay Lightning, he had two opposing coaches, both of whom have won the Stanley Cup, effusively praising his game, praising him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the most impressive young player that I\u2019ve seen in years in maturity of the game,\u201d Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. \u201cUsually these guys come in and they have a gift that just nobody else has, they\u2019re just much faster or much more skilled or more offensively gifted than other players. But you don\u2019t really see young players come in with an exceptionally well-rounded game marked by the plays they don\u2019t make.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got [74] points, but he doesn\u2019t cheat for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
That means he doesn\u2019t do what so many kids coming into the NHL do, doesn\u2019t try for plays that he shouldn\u2019t try for, doesn\u2019t force pucks that he shouldn\u2019t force.<\/p>\n
Maurice recalled a game between the two clubs during Celebrini\u2019s rookie season in which the center made a cross-ice play that was, as the coach put it, special. It was a risky play, though, on the edge of being too dangerous to try against a team that had already won the Stanley Cup and would go on to win it again.<\/p>\n
Later in the game, Celebrini was faced with nearly the same situation, but with the Panthers a little tighter, a little better positioned.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t try it.<\/p>\n
Maurice remembered thinking, \u201cOh, this guy\u2019s on top of it. He\u2019s going to be a captain and he\u2019s going to be a great leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a feeling that has only gotten stronger as Celebrini has attacked his second season, as he has opened even more eyes, as he has built on all the strengths that he flashed in a rookie season in which he scored 63 points (25 goals, 38 assists) in 70 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cA kid that\u2019s wise, well beyond his years,\u201d said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who will be Canada\u2019s coach at the Olympics. \u201cI mean, he\u2019s 19. I sit here and my 15-year-old\u2019s sitting right back there in the back row, have a 17-year-old sitting there and it\u2019s like, wow, he\u2019s just a few years removed from their age.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty remarkable, just his skill set and everything. He doesn\u2019t play a kid\u2019s game, he can play a man\u2019s game.\u201d<\/p>\n
* * * *<\/p>\n
When Rick Celebrini was hired as the director of sports medicine and performance by the NBA\u2019s Golden State Warriors in August of 2018, he had to rush off to his new city, with his wife, Robyn, and their four kids remaining back in North Vancouver.<\/p>\n
It was a handful.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Macklin] would wake up Robyn every morning at 4:30 in the morning and literally sort of shake her and say, \u2018Mom, can you drive me down to the rink?\u2019\u201d Rick recalled of the then-12-year-old before his 6:30 a.m. practices. \u201cAnd this is in the middle of winter when it\u2019s cold and it\u2019s raining and it\u2019s ugly outside and he\u2019s got all his stuff ready to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how much he loves it. He\u2019d sacrifice sleep, he just wanted to get down to the rink.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was also when they realized that Macklin might be built a little differently.<\/p>\n
Reminded of that, Macklin laughed.<\/p>\n
But what was it about the game? What did he love so much that he was willing to get up before dawn, get his bag packed and risk waking his mom up before her alarm?<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a good question,\u201d Celebrini said. \u201cI don\u2019t even know. I found it fun and, I mean, obviously I had a dream of playing in the NHL. I wanted to be the best I could be.\u201d<\/p>\n
He still does.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why, last summer, he was laser focused on preparing himself for the rigors of his second season in the NHL, a season in which the expectations would be higher, with a chance to make Canada\u2019s Olympic team, a season in which the demands would be ever greater with a compressed schedule.<\/p>\n
He took no shortcuts. He never has. This, after all, is the same kid who came to Boston University in 2023-24 coming off shoulder surgery, who blew past the timeline originally set, who was so keen to get on the ice that he would sneak on in a regular jersey, bypassing the noncontact one designed for him, according to BU coach Jay Pandolfo.<\/p>\n
That push has not stopped now that the season is in full swing. It has only grown.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants to continue to get better,\u201d Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. \u201cEven though he\u2019ll have two goals and an assist, the next day we meet and we\u2019re talking about D-zone coverage and puck play in the D zone and, yeah, he\u2019s very accountable. The accountability that he has is what makes him great and is what is going to drive this organization forward for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
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