Celebrini ready for Sharks debut, rigors of 82-game regular season 

Macklin Celebrini is ready for this moment. He has been around professional athletes his entire life, watched a fellow No. 1 pick navigate his rookie season and trained with top players to prepare for the rigors of the 82-game grind.

Still, this is the NHL. The 18-year-old forward said he won’t feel completely comfortable when he makes his debut for the San Jose Sharks against the St. Louis Blues at SAP Center on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; HULU, ESPN+, SN360),

“I’ve kind of verbally heard it all, but it’s just experiencing it for myself and really going through it,” he said. “You can talk about it, but every guy’s experience is going to be a little different.”

Celebrini’s background is unique.

His father, Rick, played pro soccer and has worked with several sports organizations as a physiotherapist. Rick spent four seasons as director of rehabilitation for the Vancouver Canucks and is in his seventh season with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, for whom he is now vice president of player health and performance.

When he was young, Macklin got to skate with some of the Canucks and shoot on NHL goalie Mike Smith at North Shore Winter Club in North Vancouver, British Columbia. He got to watch his father work out with NBA star Steve Nash.

“I feel that was a massive benefit for me just to learn from that,” he said. “Even though I wasn’t thinking about it like that at the time, looking back on it now, some of my memories and some of the things I saw and my dad’s stories, it’s all learning and stuff I can use for myself now.”

One of Celebrini’s teammates growing up was a kid named Connor Bedard. Celebrini watched closely when the Chicago Blackhawks selected Bedard No. 1 in the 2023 NHL Draft. Bedard handled the media attention and high expectations as an 18-year-old last season, winning the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year.

“It was great to see how he approached everything,” Celebrini said. “Even without really talking to him, (it was) just picking up on things, learning from it, from his situation, kind of what he went through.”

After the Sharks selected Celebrini No. 1 in the 2024 NHL Draft, Celebrini and Bedard skated together at North Shore Winter Club. Bedard said he gave him some simple advice: Just enjoy it.

“He’s a great kid,” Bedard said. “He’s got a good head on his shoulders and is very mature, so he’s going to handle it great.”

Celebrini played last season at Boston University, putting up 64 points (32 goals, 32 assists) in 38 games and winning the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in NCAA men’s hockey as a freshman.

He knew he had to prepare himself physically to play as much as possible over a full NHL schedule, so he hit the gym and ice hard in the offseason to get used to the workload. He made an impression when he spent 10 days with a group of top NHL players at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan.

“He’s really detailed with everything he does, the way he trains, the way he tries to use his body,” said Quinn Hughes, who won the Norris Trophy last season with the Vancouver Canucks as the NHL’s best defenseman. “He’s very mature for his age. He’s really smart. I was picking his brain. I did one of his workouts when he came in and I was so sore. He’s impressive. He’s very impressive.”

The group included Hughes’ brothers -- Jack, a center, and Luke, a defenseman, for the New Jersey Devils -- plus forwards Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin of the Detroit Red Wings, forward Adam Fantilli and defenseman Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets, forward Cole Caufield of the Montreal Canadiens, forward Kyle Connor of the Winnipeg Jets and defenseman Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators.

The players did a lot of battle drills and scrimmages -- 2-on-2, 3-on-3, 4-on-4.

“Some really good players out there, and ‘Mack’ was, like, he was great,” Quinn Hughes said. “He’s going to have a great year.”

There is nothing like real NHL action, though. Bedard said he faced a learning curve, even though he had 61 points (22 goals, 39 assists) in 68 games.

“For me, it was what’s going to work on the ice,” Bedard said. “Everyone’s different. Everyone plays a different game. I think it took me a little bit to kind of figure out what passes I could make, where I could go, what plays are going to be available. Whenever you make a step up, when I went from U18 to junior, I had that same thing.”

Celebrini knows he doesn’t know it all. This will be a journey, and this is just the start.

“I’m going to face challenges that other guys might not have or different things like that,” he said. “For me, it’s just going through it myself, going through an 82-game season and really dealing with the different ups and downs and back-to-backs and things like that. That’s something that I really have to do for myself.”