Macklin Celebrini : In-Depth Scouting Report
Macklin Celebrini is the newest prodigy coming out of North Vancouver. He became only the 4th player to win the prestigious Hobey-Baker Trophy as a Freshman, and out of all the previous winners, he is the youngest to achieve the feat. I have had the privilege of observing Celebrini up close over the last two seasons at different calibers; USHL, U-18, NCAA, WJC. And there were three certainties every time he stepped on the ice: He was going to be the most skilled player on the ice, the smartest player on the ice and the hardest-working player on the ice.
Version française : Analyse détaillée de Macklin Celebrini
It’s a little difficult to properly explain Celebrini’s game by dissecting his qualities one by one, as it doesn’t do justice to his overall game and doesn’t give a fair idea of what a typical Celebrini shift on the ice looks like. But here’s what a typical shift from him looks like: he’ll cause a turnover thanks to his speed and work ethic, then go to cover the position of one of his teammates, receive the disc, execute a very high-level play to set up a scoring chance and then be the first to backcheck defensively.
His intelligence can be seen in the speed with which he can plan a play after intercepting a puck. His subsequent pass is always well calculated and as soon as the puck has left the blade of his stick, his feet start moving and he positions himself in a place where he can land a hand for a teammate.
This is also another strong point in terms of his intelligence: his spatial recognition. The support he offers his teammates is remarkable. He always represents a good passing option, and often arrives at the opportune moment to offer them an escape.
The Terriers’ color bearer is characterized first and foremost as a player who thrives on his dynamism on the ice. He is the highest pace player in the entire draft. In fact, probably even in recent years. Celebrini feast Off-the-Rush. Even if the opposing team puts up a wall of 4 players at the blue line, he uses his outside-speed to solve the problem. All he needs is a teammate to rush to the net with his stick on the ice and a scoring chance has just materialized out of nothing.
Although he is not the type to slow down the game, that does not make him an unmethodical player. It’s just that he likes to cut up opposing defenses and force them to adapt to him. Rather than studying what openings there are on the ice, he creates them thanks to his dynamism.
He is a powerful skater who reaches impressive top speeds but what I like most about this aspect is how strong he is on his skates. It is very difficult to push him off balance. He demonstrates great muscular strength as well as he manages to remain standing even when an opponent grabs him and pulls him down with the full weight of his body. This sequence particularly impressed me.
Celebrini regularly uses powerful weight-shift to get rid of a coverer. He manages to explode with a single push using his edges.
His edgework are also very good.
Having rolled at a rate of almost a goal per game in the USHL at 16 years old as well as in the NCAA at 17 years old, Celebrini is an excellent goal scorer. He has an excellent shot. His shot is heavy and has a lot of velocity. Regardless of his location, he is a threat to goaltenders. One of the places where goalies should be wary of him is very close to the net, as he has a particular ability to lodge the puck in the top of the net.
What I find particularly interesting is that Celebrini has added another string to his bow this season. Last year, he didn’t have a one-timer as good as he has this year and he used it much less regularly. This is mainly due to the fact that BU’s offense is very thin after Celebrini and there aren’t really any players who could have taken on this ‘Trigger-Man’ role on the power play. But all the same, I can only praise a player of his talent who decides to put on the efforts to broaden his range of offensive weapons. We often see young players with elite traits sit on these same qualities until they hit a wall and realize that their toolbox is not sufficient. I believe this is the perfect representation of Celebrini’s passion for the game of hockey.
Despite statistics bordering on the absurd in the NCAA, this may seem like an imprudent comment, but I expect Celebrini to be better in the NHL than what we’ve seen this year. I’m not talking about offensive production, however. What I mean by that is that the supporting cast he had at Boston University was very thin and some of his attributes couldn’t stand out as much as what we saw in the USHL, at the U-18 and at the WJC. By playing with better teammates and not being forced to be the one to put the finishing touches on plays, we will be able to see strengths in Celebrini that shined less brightly at BU.
An example of this is how Celebrini likes to use short Give-N-Go with a teammate. His explosion on his skate and his quick reads of play makes a perfect combination to eliminate opponents. Already, we have seen these sequences occur at a higher frequency in a few games at WJC than in the entire season at Boston University.
Celebrini is a player who makes others around him better and can display impressive offensive production no matter who he is paired with. But I believe that to get the most out of his potential, it would be better to place players who quickly analyze the game and who executes quickly with him.
I don’t think his playmaking skills were on full display this season in the NCAA. Having watched more than 20 Chicago Steel games in the USHL last season, I firmly believe that we will see more of this in the NHL.
We see the demonstration of his feeds Off-the-Rush while he is at full speed.
Celebrini often favors passes at the goalmouth as attention turns to the danger he poses with his shot, he takes advantage of a teammate breaking free to deflect one of his passes.
What I find particularly interesting is that Celebrini has a certain propensity to make passes on his backhand. Beyond the skills required to make these plays, what piques my attention is that it adds to the comparison with Sidney Crosby.
It is always a perilous exercise to compare a prospect with a player like that. Especially since the parallels between the two are not that striking (Celebrini’s game relies more on dynamism than Crosby’s). But for me, players compare themselves through their love for the Game. It’s a bit difficult to explain, but when I mentioned in the opening that Celebrini is both the most talented and hardest-working player on the ice, it’s something we’ve always seen in the Penguins captain. Both seem to get the same level of satisfaction from blocking a shot or forechecking as they do from scoring a goal. Despite being the most talented players on their roster, they don’t play much different than the 12th forward on their team. Celebrini’s strength on his skates is something that can also draw some comparisons to Crosby.
When I mention that both players don’t take shortcuts on the ice, I’m also referring to Celebrini’s defensive play. His work ethic makes him a player who can annoy his opponents when backchecking, but what most characterizes his defensive game is the support he offers to his defensemen. We see him very regularly as low as behind his own goal line.
Something special about Celebrini this season is that no one mentioned the fact that he had shoulder surgery last summer. Back then, the timeline was that Celebrini was likely to miss the first few games of the year. Even if, in the end, this did not turn out to be the case, it still means that the young prodigy from North Vancouver was not able to benefit from a full summer of training. This is what is frightening about Celebrini’s potential, in such circumstances it would have been completely normal to observe a certain period of adaptation. But he dominated from the start. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, he even added elements to his game! This shows me that he is a young man completely dedicated to being the best version of himself. This is the attitude you look for in the player who will be the face(s) of your franchise for years to come. The team that gets their hands on him will not only have an excellent player, but also an outstanding leader and an excellent model and example to follow for the city he will represent.
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