Connor McDavid is on the verge of making history at Milano Cortina 2026, and linemate Macklin Celebrini is not far behind him.

Both players will have a chance to continue to build on their impressive tournaments in Friday’s semifinal against Finland.

Watch Canada vs. Finland LIVE on TSN1, TSN.ca and the TSN App Friday at 10:40am ET/7:40am PT.

McDavid has posted two goals and an Olympic-record nine assists in four games to tie the record for points at an Olympic tournament involving NHL players.

Both Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu notched 11 points in Finland’s silver medal-winning performance at Torino 2006.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” teammate Drew Doughty said while praising McDavid on Thursday. “I’ve been in the league a long time, I’ve never seen anybody play the way he plays.”

McDavid could be elevated to the role of captain for Team Canada in the semifinals if Sidney Crosby is unable to play. The future Hall of Famer has not yet been ruled out of the semifinal, but his status is a major question mark after he exited Wednesday’s win with an apparent lower-body injury.

“Everybody’s different in their own way,” McDavid said of leading. “Everybody goes about things differently. That being said, Sid’s an unbelievable leader, and everybody here watches him and is trying to learn off him.”

Crosby’s status and who wears the ‘C’ if he can’t go all hot topics as Canada preps for SF Mark Masters is joined by Pierre LeBrun, Ryan Rishaug and Arpon Basu with the latest on Sidney Crosby’s status as Canada prepares for Finland in the semi-finals. They also touch on who wears the ‘C’ if Crosby isn’t available, the play of Nick Suzuki and Connor McDavid and more.

Celebrini starring at just 19

While McDavid has lived up to his billing as the best player in the world in Italy, Celebrini has far exceeded all expectations in his first best-on-best event.

Celebrini is just two points behind McDavid, having posted five goals and four assists while playing on the same line as the Edmonton Oilers superstar.

The 19-year-old San Jose Sharks forward came up clutch as Canada survived a massive scare in their quarter-final against Czechia on Wednesday, notching three points including an assist on Mitch Marner’s overtime winner.

Selected first overall by the San Jose Sharks in 2025, Celebrini was not named to Canada’s roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off as a rookie last year. He finished his first NHL season with 25 goals and 63 points, but has exploded this season with 28 goals and 81 points through just 55 games.

Celebrini’s five goals are tied for the most ever by a Canadian player at an Olympic tournament involving NHL players. Jarome Iginla had five goals at Vancouver 2010 en route to winning gold.

Going above and beyond doing unprecedented things for a teenager at an Olympic hockey tournament, Macklin Celebrini is starting to challenge some #TeamCanada highwater marks too. Thanks to his goal in today’s QF win vs CZE, he now sits tied for top spot on this list of NHL names pic.twitter.com/oM8gcdVHuB

— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) February 19, 2026

With his opening goal against Czechia in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, Celebrini became just the fourth player to score a goal in four straight games at an Olympics including NHL players. He joined elite company in Hall of Famers Marian Hossa (with Slovakia in 2006), Selanne (2006), and Mats Sundin (with Sweden in 2002).

The record for points at any Olympics for a teenager stands at 11, shared by Ernesto Crotti (1956), Vladimir Krutov (1980) and Eric Lindros (1992). Celebrini’s nine points are already a record for a teenager at an Olympics involving NHL players after he blew past Evgeni Malkin’s record of seven with a goal and two assists in the quarters.

Gold remains the ultimate goal for both McDavid and Celebrini as the duo look to lead Canada to the top of podium for the first time since Sochi 2014, when NHL players last took part.