Training Camp (9/23): Macklin Celebrini

Training Camp (9/23): Macklin Celebrini

back on the ice. Kind of frustrating you have to miss a couple of days. Yeah. Yeah. You never want to miss a couple days, especially at the start of camp. You don’t want to miss those hardest days, bro. Can you say what happened on Thursday? You kind of had to said you said you weren’t feeling well and did kind of send you home like how did you was it just an illness? Yeah, I mean I mean I’m back now and I can’t wait to to get going with the group. something you kind of felt before already had during camp. It just happened that day. You felt, you know, this is your second training camp. I know you’ve had a pretty successful rookie season, but maybe how have you I know it’s only been a couple days, but just how have you felt coming into this camp maybe compared to last year? I mean, it’s it’s nice coming into a spot you’re already familiar with it. Um I mean, we have a bunch of new guys, but for the most part, all the personnel is kind of the same, the staff and stuff, so just nice to go to a familiar place. um feel comfortable and um kind of know what to expect going into it. I know a lot of the last year we talked to you, especially second half of the year, it’s like, you know, you don’t like to lose, you hate to lose, and what what do you think of the changes? You feel like it’s it’s the right moves that that Mike made to kind of bring in those changes to start to take that step forward that everybody’s talking about. Yeah, I mean, for sure. I think we uh we have some guys in here that can that can help our group and um help us contribute to the goals that that we want and and win some more games this year. I think we uh I mean I think we need to kind of take that next step and and push towards that and um yeah I think we have we have a good group. How’s it been sitting against to Tyler here? I know you were next to him but sounds like he you know he’s bringing that personality. What do you think of the addition of him? Just from a from a personality standpoint, do you feel like somebody like Revo was kind of needed in this room to kind of uplift it a little bit maybe? Yeah. I mean, I think we had a we had a really good group, but I mean, he helps tremendously. Just the the attitude he brings and and uh the energy and um just the way he he treats everyone. I think it’s just it’s really good for our room. What’s your impression of Michael Visa so far? He’s awesome. Great kid. Great uh guy. We uh hung out a bunch uh before camp started and um he had to go to wreck camp so I haven’t seen him in a bit but I think he’s uh he’s played really well and um it’s fun to watch him. What’ you learn about him off the ice? Yeah, I mean he’s just he’s a great kid. He’s just um super humble but uh yeah, he’s he’s an awesome guy. And what’s advice you give him to transition to if he makes it to the NHL as a 18-year-old? Yeah, I think I uh I mean, he’ll figure it out. It It takes some time. I think I I told him what everyone told me. Just I mean, try to learn every day. Um just be prepared for for the contact and and um I mean, he he’ll be fine. Like he’ll be fine. You got a chance obviously this summer and obviously starting with the World Championships, but then going to Calgary, part of the orientation camp. What did that What did that mean to you just to be part of that and what did you kind of take away from that experience? Um, yeah, I mean that was an awesome experience. Any chance you get to uh to represent your country, especially at the Olympics, I think it’s super um it’s something that you you think about when you’re a kid and um it means a lot. So, I think just even being considered for a spot on that team, I think it’s one of the hardest teams to make in in hockey and um I mean, you never know what’s going to happen, but I mean, just to be considered. uh you spent quite a bit of time this summer with Sydney Crosby. What did that mean to you? What were some of the things maybe you tried to talk to him about about adjusting your second year and any challenges things you try to maybe learn from him? M I think I mean yeah with worlds and um it was great just to talk to him learn from him just different experiences he’s had and um even just to just to watch him see his approaches every day some of the things he does some of his habits I think um you don’t really need to talk to someone like that to learn from good things to say about you too and your what you’ve done so far in your career your approach kind of thing is that you looked at him and say, “Well, it’s very nice of him to say kind of thing, right? This guy who’s been a legend, you know, right now.” Yeah. I mean, he’s an idol of mine growing up and someone I looked up to. So, um, anytime you get compliments from your peers and people you play against, um, it it definitely means a little more. You were talking with Tyler Defoley last week and he said that you put a lot of pressure on yourself to help this team sort of get to where it needs to be. I mean, what do you what are your own expectations for yourself and for this team this season? Um, I think it’s pretty clear. I think I mean, when you’re losing, it’s no one’s having fun. Like, as much as you try to look at the positives and learn from it and all that cliche stuff, I think it’s no it’s it’s not fun. It’s not enjoyable when you lose. So, I think uh just I mean the the more we can kind of gel together and and come together during this preseason um try to get as ready as we can for the start of the season, just have a really good start. I think that’s big. And then I mean we just got to kind of take it day by day. How do you you know I don’t you know sh maybe see a lot of whether there’s what Crosby says there’s some hype from social media. How do you how do you kind of not let the hype not necessarily get to your head but just kind of how do you deal with those sort of things where instead of you know you put a lot of pressure on yourself internally but maybe that outside pressure I mean this vote saying you’re going to be the next face of league. How do you deal with those sort of things? I mean the way I look at like tomorrow I could I could have a bad day and people could be saying that I’m not. So it doesn’t really matter like the uh there’s a lot of opinions, a lot of people that say different things and I mean at the end of the day in a month things could change and people could switch their switch whatever they’re thinking up. So, I mean, I have a belief in myself and I know um the player I am and I know the the time that I’ve put into it and I think whatever people say obviously if it’s from people you respect and um look to I think it means a little bit more whether there’s criticism or compliments but I think just you can’t really look into it too much cuz you got to stick to what you believe and and how you approach every day. How much did maybe and you could say it could mean anything, but how much did maybe being around some of the warriors, especially like Steph and Jamon during their like upbringing and how they dealt with what? Yeah, I wasn’t really around. Okay. Yeah, I didn’t think so. I thought I’d ask, but just like, you know, when when you see those things, I mean, does it just when you get on the ice that just kind of disappears? Is that sort of the feeling you get when you’re on the ice? You’re going to just give your all. Is that kind of the way you approach things once you hit the ice? You don’t worry about outside noise. It’s kind of literally the glass keeps you in focused on hockey type thing. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I I don’t think I really think about it away from the rink either. Um I mean it’s the kind of way we grew up. We all have social media and we see different things, but I mean it doesn’t really affect what I’m going to do next day when I come to the rank or how I approach my next day. Like it’s not going to change anything. So I’m not going to let it bug me or change the way I think. Uh, in your individual game, can you say anything that you focused on that you really want to improve going into this season? I mean, there were a lot of things that I worked on this summer and um I mean, I just watched some film and um there’s a lot to clean up. So, I mean, a big one is I think I was minus 31 last year, which I mean isn’t good. So, that’s got to change. We’re working a bit on faceoffs, too. We saw you with Zen and Kapka today. Um, talk about working with him a little bit. Yeah. No, he has a lot of great insight into draws and um I mean just talking to him for for 10 15 minutes, I think that that helped a lot and um hopefully he’s around the next couple days and learn a little bit more from him. Uh last season at the end of last season um when we talked to Mike Gur said that Will Smith was probably going to play center this year, started cap, he’s on your right wing. just how happy or pleased are you to see your friend to be able to play with him on on the line and hopefully into the season? Yeah, I mean I think last year we play when when we played together, I think we ended the year together and um we had some really good chemistry. So I think we uh if we uh stick together, I think um I mean either way I think we can we can create some offense. And what does adjust Skinner add to to that line? Yeah, I mean he’s uh he’s been around the league for a long time. I think he has a 50 goal season. So, he’s uh he’s a really good player and um I think he just adds that offensive piece, but also the he’s been around veteran um knows knows a lot about the game. So, and is it true that you left Tyler Foley behind in the Brown? Yeah, it was his first time so you got to give him a break. What do you think of that? Uh we’ll finish up here with Colonel Bobblehead there with the sleepover thing. Any thoughts on the sleepover bobblehead that they’re giving out? Yeah, I mean it’s crazy how big that thing got. Um I mean we just did it for fun and then turned into all this. So it’s pretty cool. There’s a lot of I mean there’s a lot of veterans in this room, a lot of leaders, but do you want to be become maybe more of a leader on this team? I know you know obviously leader by example. Maybe uh you’re you know vocally too. Is that is that something you want to try to do this year too? Yeah, I mean I want to feel comfortable to kind of be myself and and um speak up when when I want to, but I mean obviously we have a couple Stanley Cup winners and and guys who’ve been around for a long time. So I mean you respect their voices and what they have to say and um I mean they’ve just been along and they’ve they’ve seen a lot more stuff than me. So um definitely going to going to learn a lot from them. You’re asked this a little bit in Calgary about um you know making the Olympic team. Is that too Is that also in the back of your mind as you kind of just go through this year knowing that the evaluation is going to be starting right away I guess? Yeah, I mean that’s like I said it’s something I dreamed about as a kid, but I can’t really control. All I can control is how I play and and see if we can win some games at the start of the year here. So, um I mean I think if we’re we’re playing well as a team, I mean I think it’ll help that

Sharks Forward Macklin Celebrini answers questions from the media at training camp on September 23, 2025