Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers has expressed his admiration for Macklin Celebrini’s performance this NHL season, noting similarities between their early careers. McDavid, who was a top draft pick and faced high expectations in his own second year, commented on the impact the 19-year-old San Jose Sharks center is having.
“He’s having a great year,” said McDavid. “He’s a young guy that is fun to watch, exciting to watch. Obviously, they’re a team that’s feeling pretty good about themselves, they have a good thing going, a good vibe about them. It’s pretty impressive to see that whole team come together.”
The two players are set to face off for the first time this season when the Sharks visit Edmonton on Thursday. They will also play together next month for Team Canada at the Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina.
McDavid added: “He seems to play a full, complete game. I think the biggest thing is, he battles hard, and you don’t see that every day in a 19- or 20-year-old. He’s obviously got a good grasp of this league right away and knows what it takes to be successful, and that’s a great thing at a young age.”
Celebrini currently ranks fourth in NHL scoring with 78 points from 27 goals and 51 assists over 51 games this season. He contributed one goal and three assists during San Jose’s recent win against Vancouver and has six points over his last two games. The Sharks are tied with Los Angeles Kings and Seattle Kraken for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference as they pursue their first playoff appearance since 2018-19; they trail Anaheim Ducks by two points for third place in their division.
Celebrini was drafted first overall by San Jose in 2024 and finished his rookie season with 63 points across 70 games. He was named as a finalist for the Calder Trophy but lost out to Lane Hutson of Montreal Canadiens.
“He’s driven, it seems like. You could tell even last year playing against him, he plays hard,” McDavid said further. “He plays not a typical teenager game. He’s dug in on face-offs, wins puck battles and does all the little things a veteran does. It’s been impressive.”
McDavid himself leads the league with 92 points from 33 goals and 59 assists over 54 games this season.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of Edmonton also drew parallels between Celebrini’s start and his own after being drafted first overall by Edmonton in 2011. Nugent-Hopkins recently played his 1,000th NHL game—all with Edmonton—and noted how difficult it is for young players like Celebrini to make such an impact so quickly.
“We’ve skated together a little bit (in the offseason) over the past few years,” Nugent-Hopkins said of Celebrini. “This year, I was unable to skate until later with my (broken) hand, but I’ve seen him and known about him for a long time now. The way he’s evolved into the player his is at this point, so fast, is very impressive.”
Nugent-Hopkins added: “It’s extremely difficult… There’s only really a handful of guys that have been able to step in and make the impact he has so far… If you can think the game, it helps you especially early on… but he obviously thinks the game so well, and is just hard on pucks and takes pucks into dirty areas.”
Matt Savoie of Edmonton recalled playing alongside Celebrini at World Juniors: “He was our youngest player but from Day 1 you could see skill… We built pretty good friendship… cool to see him grow as player.” Savoie described Celebrini as quick-moving with deceptive playmaking abilities.
Before entering NHL competition last year—where he totaled eight points at World Juniors—Celebrini excelled both in junior hockey leagues with Chicago (USHL) and Boston University.
“I think it just shows how special of player he is to see what he was doing last year and how much better he’s gotten coming into this season,” Savoie said.
