What makes Macklin Celebrini the next big big NHL draft prospect

On a Saturday evening in January 2023, the Golden State Warriors had an off evening in Chicago.

Draymond Green didn’t need to go to dinner or out on the city. He had one other concept: going to the suburbs to look at junior hockey.

“​​How often do you get an opportunity to see Sidney Crosby at 17?” Green reasoned.

The next big factor in hockey is Macklin Celebrini, the unanimous No. 1 prospect of the 2024 NHL draft class. Celebrini can be the son of Rick Celebrini, the Warriors vice chairman of participant well being and efficiency.

NHL Draft lottery: Tonight on ESPN/ESPN+, 6:30 p.m. ET

“I was like, really? You wanna go?” Rick Celebrini stated to Green. “I mean, it’s actually not close to where we stay with the team.”

“I don’t care,” Green replied. He needed to support the Celebrinis.

So a bunch of Warriors staffers and gamers organized a journey to Geneva, Illinois.

“We found out a lot of stuff that night,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr stated. “Like Macklin’s nickname was The Cheetah. We didn’t know that until the announcer said something.”

NHL scouts have been dazzled by The Cheetah for years as a result of he’s the full package deal: elite hockey sense, talent, shot and, sure, his motor. The 5-foot-11 two-way heart can be identified for his want to win — and skill to carry his teammates together with him, making everybody nice.

But even the finest athletes have off nights, and in keeping with Macklin, that was certainly one of them.

“It was not a good game,” Macklin stated. “We didn’t play very well.”

Once once more, Green didn’t care. He noticed sufficient.

Macklin was simply 16, taking part in in opposition to extra bodily mature 20-year-olds. Everyone on the ice additionally knew the NHL buzz surrounding him and needed to make their mark. Opponents saved checking Macklin, repeatedly.

“One guy comes out of nowhere and just chucks him and Mack stumbles over and he comes right back — chucks the guy, doesn’t fall,” Green recalled. “Mack hits him again to make sure the guy falls. [Macklin] just takes off to the penalty box. That’s going to suit him going forward. There’s always going to be a target on your back. You’re the projected No. 1 pick and I’m not waiting on my bruiser to come lay you out. I’m going to lay you out myself. That said everything I needed to know.”

Macklin Celebrini grew up in Vancouver as the second of 4 youngsters. He additionally performed soccer till he was 12, the sport each of his dad and mom performed. But hockey at all times had his coronary heart.

“I started off skating, like any kid would, just skating laps at a public rink,” Macklin stated. “Then once I had a stick in my hand, it was game over.” That could also be an understatement. At age 10, Macklin competed in the prestigious Brick Invitational Tournament. He had an intense schedule main as much as that event, and his workforce ended up profitable.

“It was amazing. But afterward his coach told me, Macklin needs a break after this,” his mother, Robyn, recalled. “Like, hide his skates for two weeks, keep him off the ice.”

Robyn did in actual fact cover Macklin’s skates.

“That lasted two days,” she stated, with a smile. It didn’t assist that the native hockey membership was inside strolling distance. Robyn ultimately succumbed to Macklin’s pleas.

That Brick Tournament was additionally the first time the Celebrinis realized Macklin may command a locker room. Rick Celebrini’s favourite story about his son was relayed by certainly one of the workforce’s assistant coaches.

“The first practice, all the kids were really nervous and quiet in the dressing room, and nobody was talking to each other,” Rick Celebrini stated. “And Macklin, I guess he picked this up from hearing some [older players] at his hockey club, but all of the sudden goes in front of everyone and says: ‘Listen up, guys. We only have one rule in this dressing room. There’s no effing swearing in this dressing room.’”

The complete room erupted with laughter. The 10-year-old successfully broke the ice.

The Celebrini youngsters had publicity to skilled athletes from an early age. Rick Celebrini labored for the Vancouver Canucks and MLS Whitecaps earlier than getting the gig with the Warriors. Rick can be a famend physiotherapist who labored intently with Steve Nash since his rookie season, serving to the Hall of Fame level guard overcome a low again situation.

Or, as he’s identified in the Celebrini family, Uncle Steve.

“When Macklin was younger, there was sort of almost like an osmosis,” Rick Celebrini stated. “He wasn’t really paying attention, but I believe he took a lot of it in, especially the early days when I’d work with Steve Nash and I would spend four or five hours on the court and in the gym.”

As Macklin acquired older, and Rick took the job with the Warriors in 2018, the classes grew to become extra acute.

“Just being around some professional athletes, you learn how detail-oriented they are,” Macklin stated. “How they take care of their bodies, how they approach every day, even in the offseason when it doesn’t really have a translation on the season. Every day they’re still doing something to take care of themselves.”

From an early age, Macklin was decided to achieve the highest ranges — and commenced to distinguish himself. “Every step of the way he has set goals that seem almost unreachable,” Rick Celebrini stated. “And each step of the way he’s surprised us.”

Macklin enrolled at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Minnesota in 2020, the similar prep college that helped develop certainly one of his idols, Crosby. Macklin’s statistics throughout that 14AUU season are so absurd, they virtually learn like a misprint: 51 objectives and 141 factors in 50 video games. After three years there, he was off to the Chicago Steel for junior hockey (46 objectives and 86 factors in 50 video games).

A standout efficiency at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship in April 2023 firmly cemented his draft inventory. Macklin matched Canada’s single-tournament scoring document whereas making a stunning game-winning additional time aim in the bronze medal recreation. He scored the most factors by a Canadian participant 16 or youthful — edging out Connor Bedard and Connor McDavid.

This previous season, as a 17-year-old freshman at Boston University, he gained the Hobey Baker Award as finest participant in the nation.

The head of 1 NHL scouting division advised ESPN that Macklin was “as complete a prospect as there is” and stated he’s greater than able to make an impression in the NHL next season.

Macklin stated he fashions his recreation after two-way facilities like Jonathan Toews, Brayden Point and Crosby.

“Those guys that do it on both sides of the puck,” he stated. “They’re leaders on their teams and they also drive offense.”

He cites Crosby and Patrick Kane as his favourite gamers to look at rising up.

“The Blackhawks and Penguins both made their runs to the Cups,” he stated. “And some of my best memories were just watching them play in the playoffs and battle.” Rick helped Macklin and his siblings — brothers Aiden, 19; RJ, 12; and sister, Charlie, 15 — alongside every of their athletic journeys, the place he balanced the line between coach and pa.

“When they’re working out, I tell them there has to be a professionalism to your approach and what you do. And that’s when I’m not Dad,” Rick stated. “But in their times when they’re vulnerable, then I become Dad, and I’ll always be Dad.”

The household is extraordinarily shut, texting and supporting one another always. In his interview with ESPN, Macklin needed to ensure he gave like to his mother, citing her as the one who retains all of it collectively.

Aiden, a 2023 sixth-round draft choose of the Canucks, was teammates (and roommates) with Macklin at Boston University this season. The 6-foot-1 defenseman is a late bloomer. RJ’s hockey highlights have already gone viral on social media. Meanwhile, Charlie is a fast-rising star on the junior tennis circuit.

“When Rick first got [to Golden State] his kids would be running up and down the court playing pickup 3-on-3, with the whole family, Robyn too,” Kerr stated. “It’s so humorous seeing them as youngsters after which impulsively, you discover out the two older boys are big-time hockey gamers.

“And then I started to really ask Rick more about his kids and what they were doing. Then there’s little Charlie, the tennis player. And then I realized, Rick’s cooking something up in his house. … He’s just churning out athletes over there.”

There’s a cause the Warriors needed to support Rick. He’s been essential to their tradition and success.

“He’s one of the best human beings I know, and that’s straight from the heart,” Kerr stated. “He’s got this great combination of emotional intelligence and technical knowledge of his field and humor and authority. The players see him every day, and so for us it means so much that he’s one of the first people they see and feel, and he just sets an incredible tone.”

Green known as Rick “a giver.”

“He gives his time, he gives his energy, he gives his effort,” Green stated. “He’s a magician when it comes to the body. He’s a magician when it comes to the mind. He is our secret weapon and he’s an incredible father. He’s an incredible man.”

Green stated he checks in with Rick about Macklin about two to a few instances per week. Green is aware of a good quantity about hockey, rising up in Michigan and attending Michigan State. By appearances, Green may inform Macklin had the “it” issue when he first met the pre-teen.

“I’m like, ‘Yep, Mack, you’re definitely a player,’” Green stated. “‘You got the hockey hair.’”

While attending to know Macklin over the years, Green was struck by one thing else. “He’s quiet but super confident, and is not afraid to share that confidence with you,” Green stated. “We don’t get the alternative to see him usually, however each likelihood, he has a smile on his face. He walks in the room like he belongs in the room. Like he’s presupposed to be there.

“It’s not something over the top where it’s like, ‘Hey, I need you to realize that I’m here.’ You feel the seriousness when you talk to him. Like, he wants to work, he wants to be great. I have no doubt in my mind that he will be.”

At the Steel recreation in 2023, the Warriors contingent — minus Rick — left after the second interval. After all, it was an extended drive again to Chicago. Naturally, Macklin scored after that they had departed.

When Rick met Macklin in the locker room afterward, his son gave him a great hockey chirp to go alongside to the Warriors.

“Dad,” Macklin stated, “I go to your games all the time, and they’re boring as hell, and I don’t leave.”

Rick relayed the story to the Warriors the next day, and the room erupted in laughter.