2024 NHL Draft Diary: Macklin Celebrini

Macklin Celebrini, a forward at Boston University in Hockey East, will file a draft diary for NHL.com this season leading up to the 2024 NHL Draft. The 17-year-old center (6-foot, 190 pounds), who was born in North Vancouver, Canada, is an A rated skater on NHL Central Scouting’s preliminary Players To Watch list and a projected first-round selection. He has six points (five goals, one assist) in four games this season. 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 after leading the league with 46 goals and 86 points in 50 games in 2022-23.

Hello hockey fans.

I'm glad I'll be able to share some monthly thoughts with you in a draft diary for NHL.com this season. For my October entry, here's some background and what's been going on in my life. 

I started playing hockey when I was 3 or 4 years old. It was really just like every kid starting out, too. I learned how to skate and was then introduced to more stick work and puck work. I don't have a big hockey family. My dad, Rick, played hockey growing up, but he switched over to soccer, and my mom, Robyn, was a soccer player, too. My whole family is into both soccer and hockey but of my three other brothers, me and two others, Aiden Celebrini and RJ Celebrini ... we picked hockey.

I consider myself a two-way center. I take care of the defensive zone, but also create plays and try to make things happen, offensively. I feel like I watched Patrice Bergeron a lot. I just liked how he carried himself on his team, how responsible he was, defensively, and how he also was a big part of that Boston Bruins offense.

My brother Aiden is a freshman defenseman at BU. It's my second time playing with him on the same team, and it's been great. I've loved living with him. He's one of my best friends so it's been real enjoyable.

My two seasons playing hockey at Shattuck St. Mary's in Minnesota (2020-22) was one of the most important times in my life because COVID was affecting everyone in the world. Shattuck was able to keep us playing, keep us skating together and we had a real special team that first year when COVID was at its peak.

I took a lot from the coaching staff at Shattuck. It was a big time in my life to learn from them and kind of take different things away as is the case with any coach you have when you're young. It was important to my development.

This offseason was a lot different than others. It was a lot more rehabilitation-based work. Obviously with the (shoulder) surgery in the offseason, it was a difficult time just trying to work back from the injury that I sustained late last year. Most of the work was rehab, but then later in the summer I got all the fundamentals back and worked on getting my hands and shot better. I just wanted to get back to the level that I was before, and I feel like I did a good job.

Our team went through a tough patch a few weeks ago at BU, but hopefully we're coming out of it now. We had a good win against Notre Dame (8-2 on Oct. 21) in the second game of a back-to-back and we're just going to try to build from it. Coach Jay Pandolfo wants me to kind of keep playing my game, keep working for the team. I just keep trying to help the team win because that's why we're here.

I love playing for Coach 'Pando'. He's taught me a lot already and its only October. I like the fact he's hard on us and he sets the expectations high. He pushes us to be better.

I haven't set any personal goals. The goals I've set for myself kind of tie into team goals. All I want this season is to win. I want to have success in the Hockey East regular season, Hockey East Tournament, the Beanpot Tournament and then the NCAA Tournament. Those are our team goals and my goals for this year. I feel like if we just keep working, we can get them done.

Finally, I know Cole Eiserman of USA Hockey's National Team Development Program Under-18 team is also filing a diary for NHL.com. I played with him for two years at Shattuck and he can score. Watching him the last couple years, he's a great player. He can score like few guys I've ever seen, and I really enjoyed playing with him. 

We have a great friendship. We FaceTime every couple of days to catch up and see how things are going. Obviously, I want to see him do well and he wants to see me do well, so we're tight. I think he's one of my best friends and I value that friendship.

Well, that's it for this month. Thank you for reading!