San Jose Sharks
Sharks Win Celebrini Lottery: ‘Never had a player and leader of this caliber, ever’
“The Sharks have never had a player and leader of this caliber, ever.”
According to one NHL scout, that’s what winning the 2024 Draft Lottery today – and making Macklin Celebrini the first-overall pick of the 2024 Draft in June – could mean to the San Jose Sharks.
This will be the first time in franchise history that the San Jose Sharks have had the No. 1 pick.
So could Celebrini have more of an impact on the franchise, than say, even Joe Thornton?
This scout doesn’t project Celebrini to put up points like Thornton did – Jumbo’s 1,539 points is 14th in NHL history – but Thornton, the No. 1 selection of the 1997 Draft, had to grow into a better two-way center and as a leader over his Hall of Fame career.
There appears to be a lesser learning curve for the Boston University pivot.
“Off the ice, his leadership and work ethic will set a championship-caliber tone,” Scout #1, who’s not with the San Jose Sharks organization, said. “He’s a No. 1 center that will drive scoring and winning.”
Read the Full Article at NBC Sports Bay Area
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Top three moment in franchise history, along with getting to the finals in 2016 and trading for Jumbo. I’m still in disbelief.
Comeback Vs Vegas is pretty significant too.
True that.
Astounded. Stuff like this never happens for us. I had made peace with it, even.
I feel exactly the same. Can’t believe we finally get a break. Now who do we surround this guy with? J Marchesseault? Skjei?
Don’t blow it GMMG, bring him back!!!! 🙂
Your name may come true now.
Tunnel meets light!!!
Potentially one of the most important moments in franchise history.
Given what people are saying, he might well become the best player the Sharks ever drafted.
The rebuild isn’t over, but assuming Celebrini is what he’s reported to be, a corner is going to turn in a year or two.
Have to hope for a maybe a lesser version of Sakic & Forseberg. Or Toews & Kane if Kane were a center.
You gotta love what these scouts are saying about his leadership/compete in particular – as Sharks fans we know you gotta reach another gear in the playoffs. If they’re already talking about this kid in playoff terms that’s terrific.
Wow, this could be huge. Not sure if I want him in teal next year yet, but we will see.
if Smith and Celebrini want to play in college next season, I’m good with that. NHL is a man’s game and I swear, I have ear hairs older than Macklin. Which reminds me, maybe I oughta go find those scissors …
But more to the point, the bottom 4 teams in 2023 were:
CBJ, CHI, ANA and SJS
The bottom 4 teams in 2024 were:
CBJ, CHI, ANA and SJS
We’ll still be a cellar dweller candidate next season. Patience is everything.
Agree, it is all about 2025-26 at this point.
I’m guessing they both go pro, and that the Sharks are going to have their choice of free agents this summer. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they try to ice a competitive team next year.
I wouldn’t go that far. Most free agents are looking for a cup, not 18 year olds who have never played a game in the NHL. They probably do better than they would have if they didn’t land 1OA though. Grier will still have to over pay.
Fair enough, but the Sharks can now reasonably offer a path to a cup in the next five years, so it’ll definitely expand the pool. Plenty of vets want to play with the next generation of incoming studs, even if it doesn’t mean a shot at the cup. Especially those who have already won their hardware. Let’s instead say that San Jose just became an exponentially more attractive destination.
Especially if Smith signs too. Center depth potentially Couture, Granlund, Sturm, Celebrini, Smith. Add a 4C and play the rest in the top 9 with Eklund, Zetterlund, Kostin… Starting to look like a fun team to watch. Need something close to a #1 D though.
Yeah I wonder if now they’ll start looking to add a young defenseman who is closer to NHL ready in return for some redundant prospects.
Macklin Celebration!
We totally deserve this.
Thanks to Sheng for observing and keeping the NHL honest.
Sheng was our good luck charm!
A huge moment for the Sharks! The tank year paid off.
2026/27
Eklund/Cellibrini/FA??
Musty/Smith/Halttenen
Bystedt/Edstrom/Zetter
Feels good!
Maybe put Celebrini’s good buddy Eiserman there on the top line if he’s available at #14. Personally I’m hoping for one of Parekh, Yakemucuck or Buium (I know…zero chance), but if none of those guys are there I’d be happy to land Eiserman at #14.
But yeah, our forward lines, assuming those guys continue to develop, look like they’re falling into place nicely. Now we need a little more focus on the backend.
Would all most be too perfect with Eiserman at 14. Agreed though, as long as the d are not there.
I would not mind it at all if GMMG managed to leverage the Vegas 25 pick to move up to grab any one of those players! I’d love to see the Sharks come home with Celebrini, Yakumchuk, Badinka, & Pulkkinen. Get a big fast skilled backend with a mean streak to go along with the skill being accumulated up front.
Too many people have issues with Eisermans game. Prefer they ad a #1 D prospect.
Yeah… If any of Buium, Parekh, Yakumchuk, Silayev, Levshunov, Dickinson, etc… are available at 14, it’s an easy choice as far as I’m concerned.
If it’s Jiricek or Eiserman… I think I’d lean towards Jiricek but it’s a close call. There are other d-men who are borderline late 1st/early 2nd that I wouldn’t reach for at this point. That said, Nygard and Senneke(sp?) sound like they would be good pickups too and I’d really consider leaning that way instead of Eiserman.
Don’t know if he’ll be around for ’26-’27, but Granlund could still be a respectable player.
The lund-line is a respectable NHL 2nd line, a good NHL 3rd line.
Having Celebrini, Smith and Eklund in top 6 roles ought to help the Sharks grab a high end FA who wants to play on a good/upcoming team.
The back end is going to need some work, though!!
I’m getting Celebrini in my jersey!!! This is so exciting!!!
Might want to wait to see which number he goes with. He was 17 prior to college.
He is 17 or 71 depending where he plays… Currently both used in the sharks system… But I’m guessing knyzhov is going to be finding a new number soon…
I’m sure Macklin will comp Knyzy some GSW tix for the jersey #
Still in shock!
just curious, what are the odds that the NHL lottery goes exactly to form? And had that ever happened before under the current system?
It happened back in 2010 but the odds are around 2%.
thank you
Jeez that’s crazy!
Whose 2-year draft is likely to be the best among these 4 teams?
CHI: Bedard + 2nd overall in ’24
ANA: Carlsson + 3rd overall in ’24
CBJ: Fantilli + 4th overall in ’24
Sharks: Smith + Celebrini
Best I can tell, Bedard is tier 1, a generational talent. Celebrini is in the Carlsson/Fantilli tier or tier 2.
Smith and the 2nd-4th in this draft are in similar tiers, call it tier 3.
To me, Chicago is the winner since they got the lone generational player, while Sharks, Jackets and Ducks get pretty similar level of talent.
Celebrini is a better overall player than Carlsson and Fantilli. If Bedard is tier one, Celebrini is tier 1.5. Carlsson, Fantilli are closer to Smith. Celebrini/Smith/Bystedt is just a ridiculous group down the middle. I wonder what winning the lottery means for Edstrom. Adding another center to this group gives them enough depth to make him expendable. He’s furthest from NHL ready, and the timeline just got accelerated. There’s also a good chance all of the premiere D in this year’s draft are gone at 14. Folks have proposed moving 14 plus Bordeleau or Gushchin to move up a few… Read more »
Endstrom can move to wing of be a 4C. C’s are almost never expendable. Back when the Sharks first got really good with Jumbo they had like 4 guys drafted as C’s in the top 6. Rather have all C’s if you can. Guys that are expendable are any wingers shorter than 6′.
During that time they also traded away Charlie Coyle and Josh Norris. There are only so many roster spots to go around.
Norris was at the end for EK65. Coyle went a long time ago for Burns. They needed a #1 D as Boyle was headed to the downside of his effectiveness.
Point is, centers are absolutely expendable when there’s a need elsewhere.
Both those guys were recently drafted and traded for high end, likely HOF, #1RDs. You have to have a glut and right now they are far from that. Endstrom likely isn’t bringing back what the Sharks need, a #1 D prospect.
I was thinking similarly, I guess the question is at what point do you start trying to balance your prospects for roster purposes? Or at this point of the rebuild do you just keep hoarding, and balance later? The hoarding argument is, you don’t know if Edstrom or Bystedt (or even Smith) will really “be” anything, so maybe you want to pack the center pipeline and make them compete, then skim off the best guys. The balancing argument is yikes, Toronto never built a real D corps and tried to build one by addition, and it just never worked. Either… Read more »
You keep drafting BPA and when you have a need you trade from a position of strength or over abundance. Right now, thanks to DWjr brilliant drafting, the Sharks have a glut of small skill forwards. Most, likely won’t be impact players on a contender so they need to ship them out for more useful assets ASAP. Bords, Gush, Robins, Cardwell, maybe even Eklund if the return is a #1RD almost ready for the NHL. Cardwell and Eklund are the only ones I would consider keeping but none are untouchable IMO.
Ivan Demidov here we come! wooo
This kid couldn’t carry Owen Nolan’s jock to the rink lmao, still excited to have him though. Imagine if we didn’t pass on Brad Lambert when he fell in our lap, then we would really have some fire power in the pipeline
Yeah the Sharks have had some great leaders in their time. Pavs captained them to a cup final, Nolan was pretty great but no Captain did more with less than Bob Errey. Let’s slow our roll on this guy being a better leader than they’ve ever had.
Owen Nolan had the courage of a Ryan Clowe the heart of a Scott Nichol the sniping ability of a Logan cuture the leadership of a Mike Ricci and the temper of an Irishman with a burr under his saddle.
What did he win?
Gold at the Olympics and Worlds. But: Not the Cup.
Again, the cup is a team win. Nolan never played on a team in SJ that was a contender. Just mushy middle of the playoff pack at best.
That team that won Olympic gold could have won with me on the wing.
He also had bad luck, getting traded from the Avs right before they won a cup. Disputable if they would’ve won with Owen rather than Sandis, but sometimes I think of him chillin in the Arms with a pint and hope he’s happy with how his career turned out.
Sandis was a major linch pin for that team winning their cups. Owen likely doesn’t move the needle the way Ozo did.
Nolan is my favorite all time Shark. Only piece of signed memorabilia I have is a photo of him on my wall. He wasn’t the Sharks best captain and he wasn’t as clutch as Couture. Not a big Couture fan but no denying his playoff resume. He’s never captained a playoff team though. At least not yet.
Did Shenger mention that he was going to attend the draft lottery?
https://youtube.com/watch?v=AnLq7YS5cQg&pp=ygUWMjAyNCBuaGwgZHJhZnQgbG90dGVyeQ%3D%3D
Not sure links can be posted here. If so, skip ahead to about the 7 minute mark.
Lol sheng i hope you were the one that clapped
I can’t believe it. So awesome.
The sharks have never had a player and leader of this caliber. I doubt this kid is going to stand up for everyone and take on anyone. https://youtu.be/XGPRb0WT1m8?si=2g9S2fNl_Zk4WSsE
Considering he’s only 17 and has yet to step on the ice in the NHL I’d probably not make that assumption. Maybe give him 2-3 years and see how he develops? If he’s as competitive as people say he is, then I imagine he’s not going to let other players push him around.
I did a double-take when the scout said that, but he said it. FWIW, both Nolan and Thornton, great as they were as players/leaders, had immaturity issues even in the early primes of their careers. This scout knows that — we talked about Jumbo especially after he said that about Celebrini
This will help our coaching search no doubt.
Will be interesting to see how this affects what head coaches might consider coming here now.
I believe the Quinn hiring had a bit to do with nobody else really wanting the job. Having some young talent should make the job more attractive.