CHICAGO— I’ll be the first reporter to admit it: I need to ask Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard better questions.
It’s striking how similar their answers were to similar questions over the last two days.
Do the 2024 and 2025 No. 1 picks, also North Vancouver friends, have any more excitement than usual for Monday’s San Jose Sharks-Chicago Blackhawks showdown, their first game against each other this season?
“I think it’s Blackhawks vs. Sharks. I don’t think either of us really look at that, if you asked him the same thing,” Bedard said. “Looking forward to seeing him off the ice, saying hi, but just another game.”
“Tonight, we don’t need to get up any more than we already need to for other reasons,” Celebrini said of the San Jose Sharks’ playoff chase. “Obviously, a good friend and kind of grew up in the same area. Played on the same team for a year. It’ll be a lot of fun.”
Famously, Celebrini and Bedard practiced in North Vancouver together this past summer. How was that?
“It’s obviously [good] having a guy like that in the summers to battle against and pick some things out from. Pretty special talent in what he does,” Celebrini said. “Being able to take something from him and apply it to my game has definitely helped me in the summers.”
“It’s fun to compete against great players and just see what guys do in the summer and how they approach everything,” Bedard said.
What did they learn, specifically, from each other over the summer?
“His attention to what he was doing, and the purpose of his plan over the summer and how we approached the summer… he thought a lot about it. It shows, just the stuff that he put into it, the work and the effort that he put into it,” Celebrini said.
“His commitment to the game and to getting better and stuff,” Bedard said. “None of this is by accident. How great he is. He puts in the time and the work and really doesn’t cheat it. He is coming in everyday and trying to get better. It’s always nice to see great players, but when you get to see the process of that, it’s always fun.”
Celebrini did add: “We’ll ask each other what we’re doing and see if some of the things maybe the other guy’s doing [that] we’re missing. Or maybe just bounce ideas off [each other], but not too much.”
Celebrini said he doesn’t hide anything about his preparation from his perhaps future Western Conference Finals rival.
How about handling the attention that comes from being a teen prodigy?
This is something that the Blackhawks superstar has been dealing with for longer than his San Jose Sharks’ counterpart: Bedard was interviewed by The Hockey News when he was 12, whereas Celebrini didn’t really start getting a lot of outside attention until he was 16, when he dominated the USHL with the Chicago Steel.
“He had that pin on him when he was a kid: The next big thing, or the next great prospect. I don’t know how he dealt with it when he was 12, 13, 14,” Celebrini said. “Just trying to figure it all out and having people talk about him like that.”
Did Bedard ever have any advice for Celebrini, for how to deal with the buzz?
“Maybe right when he got drafted, like a tiny bit, but not really,” Bedard said.
And their praise for how each other handles the spotlight will sound familiar.
“We’re both focused on the right things, and he handles himself very well. He’s just worried about his game and helping his team win and he’s not thinking about the extracurricular stuff,” Bedard said. “It’s not something we’ve talked about too much.”
“He’s done obviously an amazing job to get where he is,” Celebrini said. “He knows how to handle it, and he’s obviously having a great year.”
“I’m just playing hockey, coming to the rink everyday and having fun,” Celebrini err Bedard said, “so it’s not something I’m really focused on.”
Finally, what do the young superstars think of the comparisons between them?
“It’s good for the game to have that. For us, it doesn’t matter,” Bedard said. “We’re just playing hockey, trying to be the best version of ourselves, and trying to help our teams win. Stuff like that’s fun for fans and brings interest into the game.”
“It’s obviously good for the league, and good for you guys to debate and have those conversations. We like competing against each other,” Celebrini said. “We do it in the summers, and I think that’s all it is. We just like battling, and I don’t think either of us compare each other to the other.”
Bedard added: “I’m rooting for him to do well. We’re both our own people, our own players. I work on my game, I’m not comparing myself too much to other guys. Like I said, I’m rooting for him to be great. And I’m trying to be the best version of myself.”