After a dominant freshman season, Macklin Celebrini’s Boston University career is complete.
The San Jose Sharks announced that Celebrini will jump from BU to the NHL for the coming season. The news comes just over a week after he was selected first overall by San Jose in the 2024 Draft.
The announcement came after Celebrini skated this past week at San Jose’s development camp.
“Macklin is not only a special player on the ice, but he is a poised, confident and intelligent young man off it,” said Sharks general manager Mike Grier, a BU alum, in a press release. “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.”
Celebrini accumulated a laundry list of accolades in his one season at BU. He scored 32 goals and tallied 64 points last season, winning the Hobey Baker Award as the best player in college hockey. He was also the youngest player in the nation, only turning 18 on June 13.
The Terriers are still in shape to compete for a national championship, featuring a roster that will include highly-touted newcomers Cole Eiserman (20th overall pick to NYI), Cole Hutson (43rd overall pick to Washington), and Kamil Bednarik (61st overall to NYI), along with returners like defenseman Tom Willander, forward Shane Lachance, and goalie Mathieu Caron.
Still, Celebrini’s departure leaves an enormous void for the team that made the national semifinal last year — especially when paired with the loss of his BU co-star Lane Hutson, who signed with the Montreal Canadiens after the Frozen Four.
With San Jose, Celebrini will immediately become the centerpiece of a young team that was the NHL’s worst last season. He’ll also play alongside a former rival, Will Smith, who starred at Boston College last season and signed with the Sharks in late May.
“We could not be more excited to have Macklin locked in to formally join the Sharks organization for the 2024-25 season,” Grier added.
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