{"id":171880,"date":"2026-02-10T13:45:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T13:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/171880\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T13:45:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T13:45:20","slug":"connor-mcdavid-macklin-celebrini-could-be-olympic-linemates-for-canada-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/171880\/","title":{"rendered":"Connor McDavid, Macklin Celebrini could be Olympic linemates for Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

Any notion that San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini<\/a> \u2014 the youngest NHL player at the Winter Games<\/a> \u2014 would be eased into his first Olympic experience was quickly disabused during Canada\u2019s first two practices in Milan.<\/p>\n

After arriving in Italy over the weekend, Celebrini skated alongside Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid<\/a> and hulking Washington Capitals winger Tom Wilson on Canada\u2019s top line<\/a> at Santagiulia Arena on Sunday and Monday.<\/p>\n

Nothing like getting thrown right into the deep end, with Celebrini, 19, and the Canadians playing their first game<\/a> against Czechia on Thursday at 7:30 a.m. (PST).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun. It\u2019s great,\u201d Celebrini told reporters after Sunday\u2019s practice. \u201cI think we\u2019ve got to get a little chemistry, but it is super cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the process of selecting<\/a> the 25 NHL players who would represent Canada in Milan Cortina began last summer, there was a school of thought that, if Celebrini made the team, he would go mostly to gain the kind of experience that would be helpful to him at the 2030 Games in France, where he would have a bigger role.<\/p>\n

But his time appears to be right now.<\/p>\n

Besides playing alongside McDavid, a three-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner, Celebrini was taking reps on Canada\u2019s second power play unit<\/a> with Bo Horvat of the New York Islanders, plus Mitch Marner, Mark Stone, and Shea Theodore of the Vegas Golden Knights.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Macklin Celebrini can play on any line and have success, as could Connor McDavid,\u201d Team Canada coach Jon Cooper said Sunday. \u201cThere are so many things that go into this, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s tough to answer these questions on the first day of practice, because you have to start somewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to put a group of guys together, but I\u2019ll tell you, it sure is fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just such a unique player,\u201d Celebrini said of McDavid, who leads the NHL with 96 points. \u201cThere\u2019s no one else like him in the world. The speed and pace that he plays with is something I\u2019ve got to get used to, but it\u2019s going to be great. If we stay together, it\u2019s just going to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celebrini demonstrated through the first four months of the NHL regular season that he belongs in such company.<\/p>\n

Celebrini entered the Olympic break fourth in the NHL in scoring with 81 points, the most for a teenager after 55 games since Sidney Crosby had 91 points for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2006-07 season.<\/p>\n

With his point total, Celebrini has been involved in over 47% of the Sharks\u2019 171 goals this season and is the biggest reason why they remain in the mix for a playoff spot. Although they\u2019ve lost four straight games, the Sharks are five points back of a wild-card position with 27 games remaining.<\/p>\n

All of which has led to speculation that Celebrini will be among the finalists for the Hart Trophy,<\/a> presented annually \u201cto the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first practice on the first day of the tournament, but if he\u2019s shown anything to all of us in his NHL year, he\u2019s a pretty special player,\u201d Cooper said of Celebrini said. \u201cI don\u2019t do any award voting, but there sure seems to be a lot of (media members) saying this kid might be up for some big-time awards. So, take his age out of it. He\u2019s a (heck) of a hockey player.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Thursday\u2019s game, Celebrini and the Canadians finish the preliminary round with games against Switzerland on Friday at noon and France on Sunday at 7:30 a.m. The quarterfinals are on Feb. 18, with the semifinals two days later. The Bronze Medal game is on Feb. 21, and the Gold Medal game is the next day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve only been around him a little bit, but even just that little bit of being around him, I can tell how much he puts into it, how hard he works, how much he cares about it,\u201d McDavid said. \u201cIt\u2019s been impressive to see. He\u2019s such a young guy, but to make this team, and not only to make this team, but he\u2019s going to be asked to play a big role, that\u2019s incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides Celebrini, other Sharks representing their countries are forwards Pavol Regenda (Slovakia),<\/a> Alex Wennberg (Sweden), and Philipp Kurashev (Switzerland).<\/a><\/p>\n

Few countries, though, face as much pressure to win gold in hockey as Canada, which also finished on top in 2002, 2010, and 2014, the last year NHL players were involved.<\/p>\n

Having represented his country at the 2024 World Junior Championship,<\/a> Celebrini knew that going in. But now he\u2019s on a much bigger stage, playing in a marquee spot on the highest profile sport at the Winter Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of expectations on us to win,\u201d Celebrini said last month. \u201cThat is the only expectation, is that we come home with the gold. That\u2019s what we want. That\u2019s what the U.S., Sweden, Finland, every country that goes there wants gold. But I think the pressure and the pride in the way people think about hockey in Canada, \u2026 they want to see their country do well, and they want to see us represent our country the right way.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there is definitely the expectation of coming home with gold.\u201d<\/p>\n

BARRACUDA NOTES<\/p>\n

With center Filip Bystedt injured, forward Cam Lund will represent the San Jose Barracuda at the AHL All-Star Classic this week in Rockford, Ill. Bystedt, who leads the Barracuda with 36 points, was originally selected to the event last month, but sustained an upper-body injury in San Jose\u2019s game in Abbotsford on Friday. Lund has 25 points in 36 games this season. Bystedt is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury.<\/p>\n

The AHL All-Star Classic runs Tuesday and Wednesday, and the Barracuda\u2019s next games are Saturday and Sunday<\/a> at home against Henderson. Injured forwards Quentin Musty and Ethan Cardwell are both on track to be available to play this weekend. Musty hasn\u2019t played since Jan. 16, and Cardwell\u2019s been out since Jan. 24.<\/p>\n

Barracuda forward Anthony Vincent was suspended for two games as a consequence of a cross-checking incident in a game at Abbotsford on Feb. 7. Vincent will miss San Jose\u2019s games Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Any notion that San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini \u2014 the youngest NHL player at the Winter Games…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[18693,1035,69902,88,90,89,98,42303,47108],"class_list":{"0":"post-171880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-connor-mcdavid","9":"tag-macklin-celebrini","10":"tag-milan-cortina-olympics","11":"tag-san-jose","12":"tag-san-jose-headlines","13":"tag-san-jose-news","14":"tag-san-jose-sharks","15":"tag-team-canada","16":"tag-tom-wilson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}