Macklin Celebrini
Canadian ice hockey player (born 2006)
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Macklin Richard Celebrini (born June 13, 2006) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a centre and alternate captain for the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Selected first overall by the Sharks in the 2024 NHL entry draft, Celebrini made his NHL debut in the 2024–25 NHL season and was a finalist for the Calder Memorial Trophy.
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| Macklin Celebrini | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Celebrini with the San Jose Sharks in April 2026 | |||
| Born |
June 13, 2006 North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) | ||
| Weight | 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb) | ||
| Position | Centre | ||
| Shoots | Left | ||
| NHL team | San Jose Sharks | ||
| National team |
 Canada | ||
| NHL draft |
1st overall, 2024 San Jose Sharks | ||
| Playing career | 2024–present | ||
Playing college ice hockey for the Boston University Terriers, Celebrini won the Hobey Baker Award during his freshman season, becoming the youngest player to do so.
Internationally, Celebrini has represented Canada multiple times, including the 2024 World Junior Championships, the 2025 and 2026 IIHF World Championships, and the 2026 Winter Olympics, where he became the youngest NHL player to play for Canada at the Olympics.
Early and personal life
Macklin Richard Celebrini was born on June 13, 2006, in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to Robyn and Rick Celebrini.[1] Rick was a soccer player for the Vancouver 86ers and a former physiotherapist for the Vancouver Whitecaps FC. He was later hired by the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) as their director of sports medicine and performance.[2] Celebrini grew up a fan of the Vancouver Canucks, his hometown team.[3]
Celebrini is the second of four children: His older brother, Aiden, was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the sixth round of the 2023 NHL entry draft. The two brothers played together for the 2023–24 college season.[4][5] His two younger siblings are a brother, RJ, and a sister, Charlie.[6]
Celebrini is of Croatian descent through his paternal grandfather, Anton Celebrini, who was born in Porat, a village on the island of Krk.[7]
Celebrini currently lives with former San Jose Sharks captain Joe Thornton.[8][6]
Playing career
Amateur
Celebrini played minor hockey in Vancouver with the North Shore Winter Club before the family moved to San Jose, where he would spend the 2019–20 season with the San Jose Jr Sharks program.[9][10][5] Following a season with the Shattuck-Saint Mary's School, where he would score 50 goals and 67 assists in 52 games, he signed with the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League (USHL) for the 2022–23 USHL season, where he would score 86 points, leading the USHL and breaking the record for most points ever by an under-17 player in USHL history.[11][12] After helping the Steel reach the USHL's Eastern Conference Finals, Celebrini was named Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Forward of the Year, becoming the second USHL player to win all three awards, and the first to do so in a single season.[12] Celebrini was also named to the All-USHL and All-Rookie first teams.[13][14]
Celebrini committed to play for Boston University starting in the 2023–24 season, playing alongside his older brother Aiden.[3][5] During his freshman year he recorded 32 goals and 64 points in just 38 games, winning Hockey East Player of the Year, Hockey East Rookie of the Year, Hockey East Scoring Champion, and the Hockey East Three-Stars Award. Celebrini would also win the Hobey Baker Award, becoming the youngest player to win the award and the fourth freshman to do so, following Paul Kariya in 1993, Jack Eichel in 2015 and Adam Fantilli in 2023.[15][16]
Professional
Celebrini was drafted first overall in the 2024 NHL entry draft by the San Jose Sharks, signing a three-year entry-level contract with the Sharks on July 6.[17][18] While preparing for his first NHL season, Celebrini stayed with the Hughes family, brothers Quinn, Jack and Luke all play in the NHL, where he spent two weeks preparing for entry into the NHL.[19] He made his NHL debut on October 10, scoring his first goal and assist in a 5–4 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues.[20] Celebrini led all NHL forwards in puck battle wins per game in the first half of the 2024–25 season.[21] In early April 2025, Celebrini and other Sharks players hosted a five-year-old cancer survivor in partnership with Make-A-Wish Foundation, after the child wished to meet Celebrini.[22]
On April 9, 2025, in a game against the Minnesota Wild, Celebrini scored his first NHL hat-trick, becoming the first rookie to do so in the 2024–25 season.[23] Playing in 70 games, Celebrini finished the season with 25 goals, second most among rookies behind Matvei Michkov, and 63 points, tying with for second place with Michkov, behind Lane Hutson. Celebrini was a finalist for the Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to NHL's best rookie, and was named to the league's All-Rookie Team.[24][25] During the summer of 2025, Celebrini and Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks trained together in North Vancouver, with Celebrini stating that both players grew from each other.[26]
Celebrini temporarily became the NHL's leading scorer during the start of the 2025–26 season, scoring 23 points in the first 15 games, the third player to reach this achievement after Wayne Gretzky and Steve Yzerman.[27] Celebrini got a hat-trick and two assists in a five-point night against the New York Rangers, and a hat-trick against the Utah Mammoth in a 3–2 win less than a month later.[28][29] He became the sixth teenager in NHL history, after Wayne Gretzky, Dale Hawerchuk, Mario Lemieux, Jimmy Carson, and Sidney Crosby, to record 100 points in a season after he scored a goal against the St. Louis Blues on March 30.[30][31] On April 16, Celebrini recorded a goal and two assists against the Winnipeg Jets to reach 115 points on the season, setting a new franchise record for most points by a Shark in a single season. The previous record was held by Joe Thornton, who had 114.[32] Fourth overall in league scoring, he was named a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award, given by the National Hockey League Players' Association to the "most outstanding" player in the NHL.[33]
International play
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's ice hockey | ||
| Representing Canada | ||
| Winter Olympics | ||
 | 2026 Milano Cortina | |
| World U18 Championships | ||
 | 2023 Switzerland | |
Celebrini made his international debut for Canada with the under-17 team in the 2022 World U-17 Hockey Challenge.[34] The following year, he was named to the under-18 team for the 2023 World U18 Championships, where he would score the bronze medal-winning goal against Slovakia in overtime.[35][36][37] Celebrini later played with the junior team at the 2024 World Junior Championships, leading the team in scoring with four goals and four assists.[38]
Following the conclusion of his debut collegiate season, Celebrini accepted an invitation to make his senior team debut at the 2024 World Championship, but was dropped from the roster following the addition of NHL players whose teams were eliminated in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs.[39][40] He would make his debut the following year at the 2025 World Championship, recording three goals and three assists for a total of six points in eight games for Canada.[41]
Celebrini was invited to Hockey Canada's 2025 National Teams Orientation Camp in anticipation of the 2026 Winter Olympics as the youngest player to be considered for the senior team at the time.[42] On December 31, 2025, Celebrini was named to Canada's roster for the Winter Olympics, making him the youngest-ever NHL player on the Canadian men's Olympic team.[43][44] In Milan, he opened the scoring for Canada in a 5–0 win over the Czech Republic, surpassing Jonathan Toews to become the youngest Canadian NHL player to score an Olympic goal.[45] He also tied Evgeni Malkin's 2006 record, with seven points by a teenager at a Winter Olympics with NHL players.[46] Celebrini assumed a key role for Canada in the tournament, playing on the team's top line alongside Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon. He had the most ice-time of any Canadian player in its 3–2 comeback victory over Finland in the semifinal round.[47][48][49] Canada was ultimately defeated by the United States in the final, receiving the silver medal.[50] Celebrini was named to the Olympic All-Star Team.[51]
Celebrini returned to Canada's roster for the 2026 World Championship as the team's captain, making him the second youngest player to ever captain Canada's senior team after Roy Heximer, who was named captain at 18 during the 1938 World Championship.[52][53][54] Celebrini was voted to remain captain after Sidney Crosby, the national team captain for several international competitions starting from the 2014 Winter Olympics, was added to the roster following the Pittsburgh Penguins' playoff elimination.[55]
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 2021–22 | Shattuck-Saint Mary's | Midget AAA | 52 | 50 | 67 | 117 | 44 | 11 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 12 | ||
| 2022–23 | Chicago Steel | USHL | 50 | 46 | 40 | 86 | 62 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2023–24 | Boston University | HE | 38 | 32 | 32 | 64 | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2024–25 | San Jose Sharks | NHL | 70 | 25 | 38 | 63 | 28 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2025–26 | San Jose Sharks | NHL | 82 | 45 | 70 | 115 | 44 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| NHL totals | 152 | 70 | 108 | 178 | 72 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
International
Awards and honours
| Award | Year | Ref |
|---|---|---|
| USHL | ||
| USHL Player of the Year | 2023 | [12] |
| USHL Rookie of the Year | 2023 | [12] |
| USHL Forward of the Year | 2023 | [12] |
| All-USHL First Team | 2023 | [13] |
| USHL All-Rookie First Team | 2023 | [14] |
| College | ||
| All-Hockey East First Team | 2024 | [56] |
| Hockey East All-Rookie Team | 2024 | [57] |
| Hockey East Scoring Champion | 2024 | [15] |
| Hockey East Three-Stars Award | 2024 | [15] |
| Hockey East Rookie of the Year | 2024 | [15] |
| Hockey East Player of the Year | 2024 | [15] |
| Tim Taylor Award | 2024 | [58] |
| Hobey Baker Award | 2024 | [59] |
| AHCA East First Team All-American | 2024 | [60] |
| NHL | ||
| NHL All-Rookie Team | 2025 | [24] |
| San Jose Sharks | ||
| Sharks Player of the Year | 2025, 2026 | [61][62] |
| Sharks Rookie of the Year | 2025 | [61] |
| International | ||
| Winter Olympics All-Star Team | 2026 | [51] |