San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) General Manager Mike Grier announced today that the club has signed center Macklin Celebrini (@MackCelebrini), the Sharks first-overall selection in the 2024 NHL Draft, to a standard, entry-level contract.
“Macklin is not only a special player on the ice, but he is a poised, confident and intelligent young man off of it,” said Grier. “His combination of skills and hockey sense is rare, and we are extremely confident that he is ready to make the transition to being a full time NHL player. We could not be more excited to have Macklin locked in to formally join the Sharks organization for the 2024-25 season.”
Celebrini, 18, played in 38 NCAA games for Boston University, recording 64 points (32 goals, 32 assists) along with a plus-25 rating. As a freshman, Celebrini finished second in the NCAA in points-per-game (1.68, trailing only current teammate Will Smith at 1.73), ranked second in goals and was third in points. He became the fourth player in collegiate history to achieve a 30 goal-30 assist campaign and failed to register a point in only six games this past season. He registered a four-assist game on Nov. 11, a 10-game point streak (nine goals, 13 assists), and in his first 11 games of the season, he notched eight multi-point outings and collected a total of 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists). He helped BU to the Beanpot Final, scoring a goal against Northeastern, guided his team to the Hockey East Final against Smith and Boston College, and helped BU reach the NCAA Frozen Four semifinal.
Celebrini was recognized with several year-end awards and achievements, notably winning the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s top player, becoming the fourth freshman in NCAA history and the youngest to ever to be named the recipient of the award. He was named the National Rookie of the Year, New England Rookie of the Year, Hockey East Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, and named First Team All-American, Hockey East First Team All-Star, Hockey East All-Rookie Team, among several other achievements. Additionally, he was named National Rookie of the Month for October and March, Hockey East Player of the Month in October, and was the Hockey East Rookie of the Month twice (January and March), Player of the Week twice (Oct. 30 and Mar. 11), and Rookie of the Week seven times.
Prior to playing for BU, he played one season in the United States Hockey League (USHL) for the Chicago Steel, recording 86 points (46 goals, 40 assists), leading the league in goals, points, game-winning goals (8) and power-play goals (21). He broke the league record for most points by a U17 player (previously 69) in a single season, became the first player in Steel history to score five goals in a game, and his single season goal total was two shy of the team record 48. He was named the USHL’s Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Forward of the Year, becoming the first player ever to capture all three honors in a single season. He also was named to the All-USHL First Team and All-Rookie Team.
Celebrini also appeared with the San Jose Jr. Sharks program during the 2019-20 campaign, collecting 94 points with the U14 AAA team across 54 games (49 goals, 45 assists).
Internationally, he has represented Team Canada at the 2024 World Junior Championship and led the team in scoring with eight points (four goals, four assists) in five games. He also helped Canada to a Bronze medal at the 2023 U-18 World Junior Championship, and was named a Top-3 Player on the Team for both tournaments.
The six-foot, 190-pound native of Vancouver, British Columbia, was selected by San Jose in the 2024 NHL Draft (first round, first overall).
