VANCOUVER -- Aiden Celebrini can’t bring his younger brother to any more Vancouver Canucks games to cheer together, like they did during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, after Macklin Celebrini was selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and signed with the San Jose Sharks.
Aiden will, however, still be able to lean on -- and into -- Macklin in his quest to one day sign with the Canucks and play for the team they grew up in Vancouver rooting for.
The older Celebrini, a 19-year-old defenseman prospect chosen by the Canucks in the sixth round (No. 171) of the 2023 NHL Draft, continues to train and skate with his 18-year-old brother this summer after the two played together as freshmen at Boston University last season.
“He's the best player in his age group, a special talent, so every time I get to go up against him, it makes my game better,” Aiden said. “There's no better training buddy you can ask for and, honestly, not just in the sense of his talent, but his compete and work ethic.
"He will do whatever it takes to beat me and that pushes me to do whatever it takes to beat him, because we're both competitive and we both hate to lose to each other -- especially to each other. It’s special to have that, but also have a bond off the ice where we can be close to throwing punches and then go out for lunch after. I’m so happy to have him through this process.”
That process has been very different for the Celebrini brothers.
Macklin was long projected as a top NHL pick, representing Canada at the under-18 and under-20 World Championships and starring in his lone USHL season. Aiden played for Brooks in the lower profile Alberta Junior Hockey League, helped Brooks win a Canadian Junior A championship in 2022-23 and was named to Team Canada West at the 2022 World Junior A Challenge, but still had to wait late into the second day of the 2023 draft to hear his name called.
Even their first season at Boston University was very different.
Macklin became the youngest player to win the Hobey Baker Award as the top men's player in NCAA ice hockey. Aiden battled for playing time on a deep team that reached the NCAA Frozen Four semifinal, where it lost to eventual national champion Denver University.
Aiden, whose calling card is being a shutdown defenseman, finished with six points (one goal, five assists) and a plus-7 rating in 36 games and will return to BU as a sophomore hoping to add offense and move up a depth chart that includes fellow Vancouver prospect defenseman and friend Tom Willander, the No. 11 pick in the 2023 draft.
“That's been my journey throughout junior hockey to getting a college scholarship," Aiden said. "It's always been trying to earn it and having to prove myself. Having such a loaded defense corps, it presented a challenge trying to break out. I had to earn my way into a regular role. I didn't just have a few good games and that was it, I was in. I had to battle it all year.”
That battle, perseverance and character is part of what the Canucks like about him.
“Talk about enthusiasm and effort,” said former NHL defenseman Mike Komisarek, who joined Vancouver's player development staff in 2022. “We preach to these guys to get involved, to get engaged, to seek out the coaches, to get to know the staff, to recognize the armory of people behind them. Aiden is at the forefront of that.
"You can't say enough about the kid.”
