Nathan MacKinnon<\/a>, on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n![\"SAN](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2247400063.jpg\")
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 18: Macklin Celebrini #71 of the San Jose Sharks scores his third goal of the night in overtime to win their game against the Utah Mammoth at SAP Center on November 18, 2025 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Just as games between MacKinnon and Crosby have been appointment television for years because of their friendship and obvious connections, games between the Avs superstar and Celebrini are now as well.<\/p>\n
And just as Crosby became a mentor for MacKinnon as their friendship grew, both of those guys have done the same for Celebrini.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s great. Spent a lot of time with him at world championships and then saw him this summer too,\u201d MacKinnon said. \u201cLots of golf and just hanging out. He\u2019s an awesome guy. I think he\u2019s super dedicated and focused.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, having your dad show him all those things is pretty cool. He\u2019s very mature. Seems like a great leader for that team. Just an awesome player, a guy you\u2019d definitely want to build a team around for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Celebrini\u2019s father, Rick, is the director of sports medicine and performance for the Golden State Warriors. Macklin grew up in Vancouver, but also spent time living in the Bay Area and played one season with the Junior Sharks youth program.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s earned praise as a complete player, and as being well ahead of his years without the puck. He\u2019s drawn comparisons to MacKinnon and Crosby with his off-ice work ethic, plus his blend of world-class skill and competitive nature. He\u2019s also about the same size as Crosby, shoots left-handed and uses his lower body to win battles for pucks in similar fashion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he plays a lot like (Nikita) Kucherov and Sid, a bit of a mix of both,\u201d MacKinnon said. \u201cYeah, I get it. I get the comparison. I think Sid plays at the net a little more, but they both battle hard. The compete is second to none with both of those guys, so yeah I can see it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Celebrini\u2019s incredible start to the season has made him a viable candidate to make Canada\u2019s roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics. He went to the world championships this past summer and fit in well with three goals and six points in eight games.<\/p>\n
Just putting up great offensive numbers does not make anyone a lock for Team Canada. The Canadians will always have offense to spare, but what could separate Celebrini from other young stars like Connor Bedard or Wyatt Johnston is how well-rounded his game is, despite still being a teenager.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I think he has a great chance, as good as anybody,\u201d MacKinnon said. \u201cHe\u2019s just one of the best players in the world at 19 years old. He\u2019s impressive.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, you\u2019d have to ask (Hockey Canada general manager Doug Armstrong) about that, but it\u2019s looking good for him for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blackwood has spent time as a teammate and a foe with Celebrini. The teenager got the best of him in the first matchup of the season between these clubs, scoring San Jose\u2019s first goal in a 3-2 overtime win at SAP Center.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d certainly put Celebrini on the Olympic team. It seems like MacKinnon would, if he had a say, as well. Celebrini has gone from future star to franchise superstar in a hurry, and he\u2019ll likely see a lot of MacKinnon on the ice at Ball Arena.<\/p>\n
\u201cMack is the ultimate professional,\u201d Blackwood said. \u201cHe\u2019s definitely like Nate and Sid. I think he\u2019s got a lot of that in him. But at the same time, he can also be a fun, happy-go-lucky guy too. He\u2019s a little bit of both in him, which is kind of unique, I think. He\u2019s joking all the time, always has a smile on his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut just like those guys, when it\u2019s time to go, he\u2019s locked in and he\u2019s the ultimate competitor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mackenzie Blackwood knew about the hype, but he wanted to see it in person. Blackwood arrived in San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[23797,32006,92,12234,181,24247,32000,24178,404,9898,10012,88,90,89,4861,127,20223],"class_list":["post-72035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-avalanche","tag-ball-arena","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-connor-bedard","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mackenzie-blackwood","tag-more-avalanche-news","tag-nathan-mackinnon","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-draft","tag-olympics","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-sidney-crosby","tag-sports","tag-wayne-gretzky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72035","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=72035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}