ARLINGTON, Va. -- College rivals turned NHL teammates Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith are excited about joining forces with the San Jose Sharks to boost their rebuild this season.
Celebrini, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft who played at Boston University last season, and Smith, the No. 4 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft who played at Boston College, will compete as Sharks teammates for the first time when they face the Utah Hockey Club in the 2024 Rookie Faceoff at Toyota Sports Center in Los Angeles on Friday.
"I played against him a bunch through the years, and it's good to finally be a teammate with him and play with him," Celebrini said at the 2024 NHLPA Rookie Showcase last week. "He's a great guy and getting to know him over the last couple weeks and stuff, it's been awesome."
Celebrini, 18, and Smith, 19, are expected to be big parts of San Jose's future as a potential one-two punch at center and step directly into the lineup this season after the Sharks finished last in the NHL last season with 47 points (19-54-9) and failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fifth straight season.
Celebrini finished third in the NCAA with 64 points (32 goals, 32 assists) in 38 games as a freshman last season and, at 17 years old, was the youngest player to win the Hobey Baker Award as the top collegiate men's player in the United States. Smith led the NCAA with 71 points (25 goals, 46 assists) in 41 games to set a Boston College record for most points by a first-year player and help the Eagles reach the NCAA title game before losing to the University of Denver.
In the four games between Boston University and Boston College last season, Celebrini had four points (all goals), and Smith had nine points (five goals, four assists). Boston College won three of the four games, including 6-2 in the Hockey East Championship game in which Smith had four goals and an assist.
Celebrini scored twice in Boston University's lone win, 4-3 in the Beanpot semifinals.
"Obviously, we had some good battles playing against each other," Smith said. "He would always have a couple (goals) against us, so it was always a good battle. … We were talking about it earlier just how crazy it is that we're on the same team now."