Macklin Celebrini On Interviews With Sharks, Where He Needs To Improve, Going No. 1 At The NHL Draft

Macklin Celebrini On Interviews With Sharks, Where He Needs To Improve, Going No. 1 At The NHL Draft

and we welcome mlin celebrating starting over here uh good afternoon mlin John the Associated Press I’m not sure if this thing’s on but um for for a lot of times that we’re here at the combine there’s always a guessing game with the number one pick and no no GM seems to want to say I’m picking this guy I’m picking this guy I’m going to wait till I get to the podium what’s it been like has it been refreshing for you or what’s it been like to be walking going into this draft since the lottery pretty much knowing that you’re going to San Jose barring whatever yeah I mean there’s been a lot of talk around that that subject and um that possibility for sure but I mean at the end of the day I mean you never know what’s going to happen and um I don’t think I’m getting too ahead of myself I don’t think anyone else is going to get too ahead of themselves too so um for right now I’m just going to enjoy this the last couple days of the combine and um enjoy this experience because I’ve really enjo I’ve really really enjoyed my time here hi mlin from from LA Press uh I was wondering there there’s not too many 17year old who play in the in NCA so was this purely a hockey decision from you and or were there other factors and what has it required you to do uh from a school point point of view in order to get there at at 17 yeah I mean that’s a question I actually don’t get too often um no for me it was it was primarily hockey based um I felt like the level of play and um the whole like maturity of the game was going to really help me improve improve what I need to work on and um help my game so um I guess all the other school stuff was was a bonus being able to F take college level courses but just specifically but whatever you had to to do in order to uh to to be admitted that in college at 17 yeah I mean last last uh during while I played for the Chicago steel um I had to take a bunch of classes for grade 11 and 12 and umet complete the required credits but other than that it wasn’t too much work hey Macklin uh have you been able to connect with Conor Bard at all about how to handle all the draft process and the attention that comes with it yeah um I talked to him a little bit um he’s a friend that we kind of grew up a little bit together so um at the start of this year he kind of reached out and said if there’s anything I need or anything I need help with uh let him know so I mean he’s there he’s there if I have any questions but I haven’t had to use him very much hey man mlin um what were you able to take away from your first year in college playing hockey and is it kind of neat going through this experience with with two other college uh freshmen who could be drafted high as well yeah I mean like I said I I I loved my year in college it it was amazing um I had a lot of fun and I mean those other two players are pretty special players as well so it was fun to watch them all year and um watch them have the success that they had as well mlin excluding the San Jose interview what did the teams that you talked to really want to get to know about you this week yeah I feel like it was just an understanding of um kind of who I am who I am as a kid um my family my background just to kind of I mean all my interviews it just it’s more get to know you um see see what you’re like as a kid your interests um just to really understand the kind of person I am mlin um Chris Peters from Flo Sports uh just two questions first one is you know J pandala talked about all the runs that a lot of teams were taking runs at you earlier in the year and I think I saw it in the USHL the year before as well how do you you know how do you manage that and and how did you kind of deal with that as the season were on it seemed like it didn’t maybe happen as much later on but um definitely early on you had to deal with some adversity that way yeah I mean hockey is a pretty physical game so I mean there’s going to be hits and plays where I mean against anyone you’re not going to be too happy with them so I mean I never really looked at it like that I just was playing my game and um yeah I mean I I didn’t really focus on it too much but um yeah I mean anything can happen at any moment to any player on the ice so I I never took too much um weight into those those hits yeah I I also wanted to ask you quickly about artum lefanov as well because you guys played against each other same division in the USHL uh what are the things that you noticed from him going head-to-head and and what what did you you know what made him a tough player to play against yeah I yeah when whenever we played against them in Green Bay I just always remember um guys talking about him and stuff and then and then when we got on the ice he’d always kind of take over the game so um he’s a pretty special player smooth skater um wizard with the puck so it was a lot of fun to play against them and now see see the things he’s done at the college level hey Macklin Ryan Dixon Sportsman ask you about another defenseman here Zam what are your I mean you obvious you know him pretty well what would you say about him as a player in person yeah I mean he’s a great kid great player um saw him at the end of the year saw him at World Juniors um I mean we we went to Shad together kind of grew up a little bit so um to to see how he’s been able to progress over the last couple years and to see the player he is today I was I was I was blown blown away when I saw him at the Frozen four um I felt like he was the best player on the ice so um it’s been really cool to see that but don’t let him don’t let him know I said that how valuable has your brother been through this whole experience not just you know going to college together but also him having previously been drafted yeah he’s been amazing for me he was one of my uh I mean my best friend I live I live every day with them fight with them joke with them so um I mean throughout this year but also through um my childhood he’s always kind of been been there for me for whatever I need and um obviously his experience with with this kind of stuff also helps and then I know you’ve said multiple times you haven’t made the decision yet about going back to college but what more do you think you have to gain from college hockey um I feel like it would just give me a little bit more time to develop um there’s never really I mean there’s never really shame or um there’s nothing wrong with just taking your time and um just improving a little bit more getting stronger getting bigger getting faster so I feel like in those ways um another year would benefit me just to get more physically ready um and uh just make sure I’m I’m very fit and strong when I when I try to make that jump mlin Mike hering news here um obviously the San Jose interview is certainly going to feel a little different perhaps uh how did you approach that one and just secondly what were your impressions of mik career somebody we know very well here you had a you know quite a run with the Sabers mhm yeah I mean I I think I uh I approached every interview the same um a little nervous want to kind of see how how it went and um meet those guys but um it was it was a great interview um it was great to see or put um names to faces and um kind of get to know get to know them while while they got to know me as well and what was your impressions of of Mike certainly the be connection and everything well he’s awesome we went out to dinner um a night and uh yeah know he he has a great personality and we had a lot of jokes so it was cool mlin is is there anything hockey specific that you learned under J sandel that maybe you you didn’t know entering College yeah I mean our whole coaching staff from Kim branvold to J Pand Alo to Joe Pera like we always went through video we always um there there was always stuff that in my game that I need to prove on so they they never hesitated to come up to me um bring me new ideas whether it was power play PK or just five on five structure stuff so um they were all massive in in my in my development over this last year and um especially Jay he uh we went through video a lot and uh he I mean such a great hockey mind a lot of a lot of experience at the National Hockey League level so um he’s definitely a lot of help for me uh two questions for you mlin first uh maybe it’s this one that you might have received from one team or another but what’s the best advice you were ever given probably stay present um I’ve I’ve been told that time flies by and like before you know it like just yeah I’d be here and then before you know it like it’s 5 years later and like wherever you are but um that’s something that I I’ve definitely had to learn just stay present try to enjoy it because I mean I realized that that time really does fly it does uh that U what could you describe your experience of playing with Lane Hudson um understanding on the ice especially that part part of it yeah he’s a great player um I I I was fortunate enough to play with him this year um to play with him and play off him he’s a he’s a special player I haven’t really seen someone who can who can make the plays he does and uh skate pass shoot the way he does like he’s a special player and um I mean I just like to play with him hi mlin Joe J report uh was you spoke about college I wanted to know if you talked with Will Smith uh because he stayed another year in college after being drafted last year I don’t know if maybe you had any conversations with him about that no I haven’t really talked to him about that that kind of stuff were you guys uh I know you had to compete against each other quite a bit last year what was what was that like dealing with him and now you’re going to be teammates it wasn’t very fun he’s uh playing against him he’s a special player um I played against him for the last three or four years so I’ve seen a lot of him and uh he’s a great player super Shifty super smooth so every time we went up against them he uh he lit us up so um yeah no he’s a great player mlin we talked and watched how good you were this season I’m curious where do you think you can still get better and what’s going to be if there’s a specific area or a couple of areas you’re going to focus on this offseason before next season starts yeah I mean I feel like I it’s kind of cliche but I feel like I need to work on everything um I’m not very satisfied with where my games at um I feel like there are a lot of holes in my game this year so I’m going to be working this year and um I was even talking to some to my coaching staff from last year on on some things they think I need to improve so um yeah there’s there’s for sure stuff that I need to work on that I’m going to be working on this summer thank you m

Macklin Celebrini met the media at the 2024 NHL Scouting Combine and dished on everything from what he learned from his first college season, how his interviews have gone with the San Jose Sharks, playing against fellow top prospects and more.

More Of FloHockey’s 2024 NHL Draft Coverage: https://flosports.link/4b98iNP

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