The San Jose Sharks took a step towards returning to NHL relevancy Friday evening after they chosen Macklin Celebrini with the No. 1 total decide of the draft.
Celebrini, 18, was a star middle at Boston College, the fourth freshman to win the Hobey Baker Award as faculty hockey’s prime participant. And he did in order the nation’s youngest participant.
He scored 34 targets and had 64 factors in 38 video games.
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Macklin Celebrini of Boston College was drafted by the San Jose Sharks within the first spherical of the NHL Draft June 28, 2024, on the Sphere in Las Vegas. (Jeff Speer/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photographs)
“Only a surreal feeling,” Celebrini stated. “I’ve dreamed about this second ever since I used to be a child, and for it to return true, it’s simply a tremendous feeling.”
Celebrini remains to be undecided whether or not he’ll return to Boston College for his sophomore season.
The Sharks entered the NHL in the beginning of the 1991-92 season. Friday evening was the primary time they’d the No. 1 decide within the draft. They’ve had the No. 2 total decide 3 times. In 1991, they chose Pat Falloon. In 1996, they chose Andrei Zyuzin. In 1997, they took Patrick Marleau.
An NHL Central Scouting report described Celebrini as being a “a powerful skater with fluid stride, elusive velocity and quickness. … The go-to for one-timers on the facility play. Performs a heads-up full sport.”
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Macklin Celebrini (71) of the Boston College Terriers and Zeev Buium (28) of the Denver Pioneers battle for the puck in the course of the Division I males’s ice hockey semifinals at Xcel Power Heart April 11, 2024, in St Paul, Minn. (Tyler Schank/NCAA Images by way of Getty Photographs)
Celebrini is a central a part of the Sharks’ future. The crew chosen middle William Smith final yr.
“Having the primary total decide, it’s a giant second for the group, to have somebody hopefully that may be a giant a part of our core and play right here for a protracted, very long time,” Sharks common supervisor Mike Grier stated earlier this week.
“It’s positively doing a superb job of laying (the muse). I don’t know if it’s ending the muse,” he added. “It’s positively an essential time, an essential draft, however we nonetheless obtained some work to do to sort of spherical issues out and preserve build up the prospect pool.”
The draft came about on the Sphere in Las Vegas for the primary time.
The Chicago Blackhawks selected defenseman Artyom Levshunov with the No. 2 decide. The Anaheim Geese shocked the NHL world after they took Beckett Sennecke, a proper winger, at No. 3.
Macklin Celebrini, second from left, poses after being chosen by the San Jose Sharks in the course of the first spherical of the NHL hockey draft Friday, June 28, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Picture/Steve Marcus)
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At No. 4, the Columbus Blue Jackets selected middle Cayden Lindstrom. The Montreal Canadiens selected proper winger Ivan Demidov with the fifth decide.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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