SAN JOSE, Calif. – Macklin Celebrini, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, got his pro career off to a roaring start with a goal and assist for the San Jose Sharks in their 5-4 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.
It didn’t take long for the 18-year-old to put his fingerprints on his first game before a sellout SAP Center crowd that anticipated his debut. Seven minutes into the opening period, Celebrini took a pass from William Eklund and made a no-look spin-o-rama move to his backhand as he looked to get the puck back to Eklund crashing to the net.
The pass instead ricocheted off the skate of Blues defenseman Matthew Kessel and scooted by St. Louis goalie Joel Hofer, drawing a roar from the crowd and a celebration on the ice as Eklund rushed to grab the Sharks’ newest star following his highlight-reel play.
ARE YOU KIDDING?!!! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/kZ2h2SwWab
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) October 11, 2024
Hours before the game, Celebrini discussed what he’d anticipate his first taste of regular-season action would be like. His status for Thursday’s game was put into some question when he suffered a lower-body injury in a preseason game against Utah, but he returned to practice Monday and declared himself fit to go.
“The pace of play, it’s higher,” Celebrini said. “But at the end of the day, it’s the same game. You make the same plays, and you want to play the game.”
After the Blues tied it on Pavel Buchnevich’s goal, Celebrini went to work again in the latter stages of the first. Seeing that Jan Rutta’s shot would wind up behind the net, the reigning Hobey Baker Award winner as college hockey’s best player got the puck and spun to his right for a nifty pass to Tyler Toffoli.
Toffoli deposited it by Hofer for a 2-1 Sharks lead with 2:46 left.
TYLER TOFFOLI!!
That 70s line is somethin’ 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/WxTwVCrW47
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) October 11, 2024
“He’s a Ferrari out there, right?” Sharks first-year coach Ryan Warsofsky said of Celebrini in an ESPN bench interview during the second period. “He wants to go. He wants to go every shift. He’s trying to do things every shift. He looks more and more comfortable every shift he gets, too.”
St. Louis’ Radek Faksa and Ryan Suter started a Blues third-period rally with goals. With 47 seconds left, Justin Faulk would erase the three-goal deficit with a shot from distance that got past Sharks goalie Mackenzie Blackwood as the Blues pulled Hofer for a sixth attacker.
The Blues sealed the win with a goal from Brayden Schenn 45 seconds into overtime.
Celebrini delivers hope
The rousing first period got the Sharks in their season opener going as they added goals in the second period from Fabian Zetterlund and Barclay Goodrow. And they got all they hoped for and more from Celebrini in his first game, bringing hope to a franchise that was once synonymous with consistent success, particularly in the era when Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski were their biggest stars.
San Jose suffered through a miserable 19-54-9 season as the NHL’s worst team last year. Sharks general manager Mike Grier has taken the club through a difficult teardown and rebuild during his tenure after the franchise was one of the league’s most competitive teams for two decades. The slide began after a Western Conference finals showing in 2019, three years after reaching their only Stanley Cup Final.
Bottoming out had its payoff when the Sharks won the draft lottery in May. Grier didn’t bother to hide who would be his choice in June when the league got together at Sphere in Las Vegas. Celebrini was the consensus best prospect, cementing that with a freshman season at Boston University where he was among the NCAA’s top scorers and led the Terriers to the Frozen Four.
The lottery win gave a fan base hope and an instant favorite. The center was raised in North Vancouver, British Columbia, and grew up a Canucks fan but played in the Jr. Sharks program as a 13-year-old when the family moved to the Bay Area. Celebrini would follow Will Smith onto the ice for the traditional first-game solo lap during the pregame warm-up skate.
Nothing better than a couple of Opening Night rookie laps! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/PL0NjCmHBX
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) October 11, 2024
Celebrini and Smith usher in new Sharks era
Smith, whom the Sharks took as the fourth pick in 2023, also made his NHL debut after his stellar freshman season at Boston College, where he was a rival opponent of Celebrini and led the nation in scoring. Their appearances before the game drew a loud ovation.
Smith and Celebrini are the centerpieces of a youth movement in Grier’s long-term project that the Sharks believe will one day return them to winning ways and Stanley Cup contention. Fans have already latched onto Celebrini, forming a long line at the team’s autograph signing this week. His teal-colored No. 71 jersey was dotted throughout the crowd.
On Thursday, this new franchise face didn’t disappoint.
“I’m not worried about him finding his way this year,” Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said of Celebrini. “We’re just going to do our best to make him feel part of this group. Make him feel like he can come to us older guys for anything he needs. There’s enough pressure around the league being a first overall pick. There’s enough pressure from other teams. No pressure from us on him. Just go out there and play his game.”
(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
