The hockey collecting world is about to see the game’s next phenom.
The World Junior Championships (U20) take place in Gothenburg, Sweden with the first puck dropping Dec. 26 and the gold medal game set for Jan. 5.
It will be the hockey world’s first major glimpse of the next superstar to be drafted into the NHL. He is Macklin Celebrini, a 6’, 190-pound center from Vancouver.
Boxing Day is a national holiday in Canada, and most Canadians would tell you that the reason that Boxing Day exists as a holiday is because it is the opening day of the World Juniors. It’s a big deal in Canada – as big a deal north of the border as NCAA March Madness is in the U.S. The only difference is that the entire country is watching, following, invested in and rooting for one country.
There are 3,500 Canadians in Sweden for the tournament.
In last year’s World Juniors, Connor Bedard dominated the tournament and led Canada to gold in a thrilling overtime at the gold medal game. Bedard became a household name in Canada and throughout the world.
Celebrini is next up.
After his no-brainer selection to the Canadian team, Celebrini commented to the media about how he had always dreamed of playing in the World Juniors. He said that the tournament for any hockey family is part of the holiday ritual. Christmas is on the 25th, and then the World Juniors starts on Boxing Day. His favorite hockey moment growing up was watching Alexis Lafreniere lead Canada past Russia 4-3 in the 2020 gold medal game.
The story of Celebrini’s rise to be projected as the top pick in the 2024 NHL Draft is an interesting one. His father played soccer for Canada and also played professionally for the Vancouver 86ers. His mother was also an elite soccer player. Rick Celebrini, Macklin’s father, worked for the Canucks, the Seattle Seahawks and the MLS Vancouver Whitecaps. He took a job in 2018 as the director of sports medicine and performance for the Golden State Warriors.
The move plucked him out of Vancouver. Celebrini had already emerged as a prospect with the U12 and U13 Western Canada Selects. He played in the same Vancouver elite tournament club as Bedard had a year before him.
The move to California meant that Celebrini would play for the San Jose Junior Sharks AAA team. In his U14 year, Celebrini played 54 games and had 49 goals and 45 assists for 94 points.
His next stop was the famed Shattuck St. Mary’s High School program in Minnesota. Among the NHL stars who have gone through the program are Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Kyle Okposo, Zach Parise and countless others.
To say Celebrini made his mark in the school’s hockey annals is an understatement. He played for the U14AAA team in his first year. In 50 games, he scored 51 goals and had 90 assists for 141 points.
The next year, he made the school’s elite team, the U18AAA prep team, as a 15-year-old. Playing against 17 and 18 year-olds, he put up ridiculous numbers again with 50 goals and 67 assists for 117 points in 52 games.
He has some jam to his game as well, as he averaged one penalty minute per game in his two seasons at Shattuck.
At 16, Celebrini made the jump to junior hockey. Playing with the Chicago Steel of the USHL, once again against players two and three years older than he was, Celebrini led the USHL with 46 goals and 86 points in 50 games. He also added 62 PIMs. Celebrini became the second player in the history of the United States Hockey League to win Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Forward of the Year in the same season.
He played for Canada in the IIHF World U18 championships. He was dominant again, with 15 pints in seven games. He scored the overtime game-winner for Canada in a 4-3 win over Slovakia in the bronze medal game.
Off to Boston
The Boston Terriers were not even on Celebrini’s radar. But sometimes fate just makes things happen in sports.
The Warriors were playing the Celtics in the NBA finals. Boston University coach Jay Pandolfo reached out to Rick Celebrini, and a meeting was set up. After visiting the school and meeting the coaches, both Celebrini and his brother, Aiden, who was drafted in the sixth round by the Vancouver Canucks last year, became Terriers.
Once again, Celebrini is playing against older competition. As a 17-year-old, Celebrini has 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points in 15 games. The Terriers are ranked fifth nationally.
Celebrini is keeping a diary for NHL.com and is detailing his experience playing college hockey and his trip to Sweden for the tournament.
“The World Juniors has always been a huge event in the Celebrini household over the holidays,” he wrote. “For as long as I can remember, we’ve been watching this tournament every Christmas. I can’t remember a year I didn’t watch the tournament, so it’s a big thing.
“I think the best moment I can clearly remember meaning so much for our country was the 2020 IIHF World Juniors when forward Alexis Lafreniere had 10 points (four goals, six assists) in five games and Canada came back to defeat Russia 4-3. I mean, that win kind of sums it up, beating Russia and the way Canada came back in the final was pretty cool.”
One of hockey’s top analysts, Bob McKenzie of TSN, said that people should not expect too much from a player who is only 17, despite Bedard’s legendary performance at 17 last year.
“I don’t want to raise the expectations too much for a kid that’s not going to turn 18 until June,” McKenzie said on TSN Friday. “But the first day of final evaluation camp, against a group of 23, 24 and 25 year old players from U Sports (Canadian university hockey), he was the best player on the ice for Team Canada.
“He looks like he’s got some special qualities,” McKenize added. “he’s going to be playing on a line with Fraser Mitten, a Toronto Maple Leafs second round pick. Mitten will be on the left side and Jordan Dumais, a Columbus Blue Jackets third round pick, on the right side.”
Every NHL team will have scouts in Sweden at the tournament watching the game’s top prospects. All eyes will be on Celebrini.
“If you are looking for a comparable, that’s a tough one,” said one NHL scout to sportscollectorsdaily.com last week. “His skill set is elite in all 200 feet of the rink. There are absolutely no holes, no weakness, or anything that makes you say he is elite but he needs to work on this or that. His skating, his shot, his vision, his toughness, his strength, his defensive play – they are all great.
“When he is on the ice, the game just revolves around him. The incredible thing about him is that we have only ever seen him play against competition two and three years older than he is. When he is 25 or 26 in the NHL and reaching his physical prime, I would suspect he will be even more of an elite player.”
As big a deal is Celebrini is, he has only ever been in one hockey card set that was available in packs. You can him in 2023 Upper Deck Team Canada Juniors with three base cards and parallels (Clear Cut, Exclusives, High Gloss (# to 10) and 1/1 Finite), insert sets like Go to the Top, License to Ice, Prospectus Momentous, Skating the Wave, Breakouts and FX and jersey variations of the three base cards. You can see several dozen of his cards on eBay here. There are 43 Celebrini cards on the production list in all, counting parallels.
Celebrini is also part of a Chicago Steel team set issued in March of 2023 as part of a team promotional night sponsored by a local card shop.
Players stayed after the game to sign autographs and there are a few of his signed cards that have been offered for sale.
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