Projected No. 1 draft pick Macklin Celebrini familiar with San Jose area

It will be a bit of a homecoming for Macklin Celebrini.

The San Jose Sharks won the NHL Draft Lottery on Tuesday and the right to pick first in the 2024 NHL Draft, which will be held at the Sphere in Las Vegas June 28-29.

Celebrini is the consensus choice to be the first overall pick.

The 17-year-old center played at Boston University this past season and became the youngest player to ever win the Hobey Baker Award, which goes to the top men's college hockey player in Division I.

Celebrini, who will turn 18 on June 13, is also quite familiar with San Jose because he has lived there before.

Celebrini was born in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, but his family moved to the San Jose area in 2019 when he was 13. His father had been hired as the NBA Golden State Warriors director of sports medicine and performance the previous year. 

Celebrini played with the San Jose Jr. Sharks' minor league program for a year, skating with the under-14 team for the 2019-20 season. Playing up a year, he led the team with 49 goals and 94 points in 54 games.

Celebrini moved on to Shattuck St. Mary's Prep School program in Faribault, Minnesota, for two seasons and then played for the Chicago Steel of the major junior United States Hockey League before enrolling at BU.

He had 32 goals and 32 assists for 64 points in 38 games last season with Boston University.

The icing on the cake is that San Jose GM Mike Grier also played at Boston University.