SAN JOSE – Macklin Celebrini, drafted first overall by the San Jose Sharks last week, said it won’t be long before he decides whether to turn professional or return to school for his sophomore season at Boston University.
“Yeah, that’s coming up,” Celebrini said Tuesday after the first day of Sharks development camp. “I’ll make the decision pretty quick here. (I’m) just trying to enjoy this camp, and after that, I guess it’s time to make a decision.”
Celebrini and his father, Warriors vice-president Dr. Rick Celebrini, wanted to see how the Sharks would shore up their lineup to give the 18-year-old centerman the best chance at early success in the NHL.
Since the Sharks won the draft lottery in early May, general manager Mike Grier has made widespread changes, bringing in a handful of veteran players last month and signing free agent forwards Tyler Toffoli and Alexander Wennberg to multi-year deals on Monday.
Toffoli, who has scored 67 goals in the last two seasons, could be a fit alongside the playmaking Celebrini inside the Sharks’ top-six forward group. Wennberg has played middle-six minutes throughout his NHL career.
Celebrini scores on first shot of dev camp. Commentary by Drew Remenda. pic.twitter.com/Wx5NdAXZ96
— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) July 2, 2024
Along with bringing in Barclay Goodrow, Ty Dellandrea, and Carl Grundstrom, the Sharks feel they have a much deeper lineup now than last season and can better support Celebrini and fellow top prospect Will Smith.
Did Monday’s signings of Toffoli and Wennberg make Celebrini want to come to the NHL right away?
“Yeah, of course,” Celebrini said. “Those guys have been around the game for so long, and between those two, they have a lot of NHL games. So being able to learn from those guys and have them around the locker room definitely helps.”
With finalizing his decision on the backburner, Celebrini looked comfortable in his surroundings Tuesday.
In his first drill, Celebrini took a pass along the boards from Joe Thornton with Patrick Marleau right behind him. He then passed it to Kasper Halttunen at the faceoff dot, took the return feed, accelerated, and fired the puck between the legs of goalie Georgi Romanov from a sharp angle.
Just like that, Celebrini’s development camp was underway, as he skated for the first time San Jose Sharks uniform, teal helmet and all. Several members of the team’s front office looked on, as did roughly 100 fans – much more than usual for these summer practices.
Celebrini and other prospects were put through the paces for an hour-long skate, a respite for the teenage wunderkind who had spent much of the lead-up to the draft doing countless interviews and meeting new people.
This week, Celebrini, 18, can focus squarely on hockey again as he starts to become accustomed to his new environment.
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“It was awesome,” Celebrini said of starting development camp. “Starting to build that relationship with some of the guys here, it was lots of fun. I feel like it’s only going to get more enjoyable as the week goes on.”
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