NHL Rookie Buzz: Celebrini sits out remainder of tournament for Sharks
No. 1 pick in 2024 Draft healthy, team wants to evaluate other players; Canadiens goalie prospect Miller might be done for season
© LA Kings
San Jose Sharks
Macklin Celebrini will not play against the Colorado Avalanche in the 2024 Rookie Faceoff at Toyota Sports Performance Center on Monday.
The No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft is healthy, but the Sharks wanted to see other players for their last two games of the tournament in El Segundo, California. Celebrini did not play in a 7-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday.
He scored a goal in the opener, a 3-2 win against the Utah Hockey Club on Friday, and said Sunday he would have liked to play but understood he may not until the Sharks open main training camp Thursday.
"That's a [coaching] question, that is not on me," he said. "I'll do whatever they tell me to do."
Even though he didn't play in the tournament again, Celebrini said he would be content to watch.
"There's a lot of great hockey players out there, maybe pick up a few things," he said.
John McCarthy, coach of the Sharks' American Hockey League affiliate in San Jose, is guiding the Sharks at the Rookie Faceoff. He believes Celebrini can continue his maturation by watching.
"I think anytime you are watching hockey, for a guy like him, he's a high-IQ guy," McCarthy said. "We already talked about his competitiveness. He's got it.
"The thing that has been impressive to me is he's a very down-to-Earth kid. This year I don't know if he is going to play with a lot of these guys, but he is still being a good teammate." -- Shawn P. Roarke
Montreal Canadiens
Quentin Miller will have shoulder surgery next week and could be out for the season for Rimouski of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.
The 19-year-old goalie prospect's recovery time is six months; Rimouski's QMHJL season begins Friday and ends March 22.
Selected by the Canadiens in the fourth round (No. 128) of the 2023 NHL Draft, Miller was injured prior to Montreal's rookie camp this week.
Rimouski, which will host the 2025 Memorial Cup, acquired goalie Samuel St. Hilaire in a trade with Sherbrooke on Saturday. -- Sean Farrell
Buffalo Sabres
Jiri Kulich is feeling confident ahead of his third NHL training camp after getting five goals and an assist at the Prospects Challenge in Buffalo.
“I feel more confident than years before,” said the 20-year-old forward, who was selected by Buffalo with the No. 28 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. “So, yeah, I'm going to the camp to be still confident, work hard and just enjoy the hockey.”
Kulich, who made his NHL debut on Nov. 25, 2023, had 45 points (27 goals, 18 assists) in 57 games with Rochester of the American Hockey League last season. Known for his shot and offensive capabilities, Kulich was forced, however, to improve other areas of his game while in the midst of a two-month goal drought, something he credited to former Rochester coach Seth Appert, who was promoted to an assistant on Lindy Ruff’s staff in Buffalo on May 13.
“If he wasn’t that hard on me, I’m not really the player that I am now,” Kulich said. “That was the thing when I came to North America, I thought I could [just] shoot and I didn’t care about the other things. ... I really appreciate what he did for me.”
Michael Leone, who was hired to replace Appert as Rochester's coach on June 6, was behind the bench for the Sabres at the Prospects Challenge. It was his first chance to see Kulich play live, and he summed up the performance in three words.
"He was excellent," Leone said.
“When the staff's watching the game and he goes out there and has performance after performance after performance, it makes decisions harder. That's what you want, the inner competition, and he blew the doors off of the tournament.” -- Heather Engel
St. Louis Blues
Dalibor Dvorsky had three assists in the third period, and the St. Louis Blues completed the 2024 Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase with a 6-1 win against the Minnesota Wild at USA Rink inside Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri.
Dvorsky, the 10th pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, assisted on two goals scored by 2023 third-round pick Juraj Pekarcik, one at 1:20 and another at 11:03, along with a short-handed goal by Marc-Andre Gaudet at 8:30.
The 19-year-old center was held off the score sheet Friday in a 4-3 overtime win against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Dvorsky, who had 88 points (45 goals, 43 assists) with Sudbury of the Ontario Hockey League last season, will attend Blues main camp, which begins Thursday.
"My mindset's always the same," Dvorsky said. "Nothing has changed. I did a lot of strength training [this summer] and I was on the practice ice pretty much. I think I got stronger, I got faster, so it was a really good summer for me.
"I've been looking forward to this for a long time obviously. I'm happy that the games start now." -- Lou Korac
Utah Hockey Club
Maveric Lamoureux had a goal and two assists for the Utah Hockey Club in a 5-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2024 Rookie Faceoff at Toyota Sports Performance Center on Monday.
“I didn’t expect this type of offensive ability,” said Steve Potvin, who is the head coach of Tucson of the American Hockey League and ran the bench for Utah in the 2024 Rookie Faceoff. “He’s one of the guys that generated the most offense in the first game, most of the offense came off his stick, and then tonight again it seemed to find him.”
The 20-year-old defenseman, who was selected by the Arizona Coyotes with the No. 29 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, will participate in Utah’s training camp this week after playing in two games at the Rookie Faceoff.
“Sometimes you have a thought about a player, but when you see how much he can do ... I don’t know what his ceiling is,” Potvin said. “I think his ceiling is really high.” -- Dan Greenspan
Vegas Golden Knights
Jakub Brabenec scored for the second straight game in the Vegas Golden Knights’ 5-3 win against the Seattle Kraken in the 2024 Rookie Faceoff at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo, California.
Brabenec, a 21-year-old center who was selected in the fourth round (No. 102) of the 2021 NHL Draft, has three points (two goals, one assist) in two Rookie Faceoff games. He had 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in 48 games for Henderson of the American Hockey League last season.
“We want him to shoot more,” said Henderson coach Ryan Craig, who is overseeing the Golden Knights rookies at the event. “He has a good shot. We’ve seen it in the first two games here, so it’s nice to see him get rewarded.” -- Dan Greenspan
