Boston University forward, projected top pick discusses experience at Combine
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By Macklin Celebrini / Special to NHL.com
Macklin Celebrini, a center at Boston University in Hockey East, is filing a draft diary for NHL.com this season leading up to the 2024 NHL Draft at Sphere in Las Vegas on June 28-29. The 17-year-old center (6-foot, 190 pounds) and native of North Vancouver, Canada, is No. 1 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters. Celebrini, the youngest player in NCAA Division I men's hockey this season and the youngest to win the Hobey Baker Award presented annually to recognize the top NCAA men's hockey player, led Boston University in goals (32) and points (64) in 38 games. Celebrini filed his most recent diary after completion of the 2024 NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo.
Hello hockey fans.
I arrived in Buffalo for the combine on Sunday night. I just did a little workout earlier in the week to just kind of keep myself ready for the testing, but there wasn't much preparation that I could have done this week that that would have changed the results.
I reached out to a couple of players who have done the testing the last couple of years; I talked to Adam Fantilli (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Connor Bedard (Chicago Blackhawks), who were each selected in the 2023 NHL Draft. It wasn't anything too crazy, though.
I had seven club interviews this week and they all went great. The interviews are a way to just get to know my personality, get to know me as a person. They asked about things I like to do, my family, a lot of that personal stuff to learn more about the me as a person. There were no crazy questions for me. Obviously, you get to see everyone play on live stream throughout the season, but you never have a chance to get to know who they really are as people, so this is a great way to do that. That basically is the type of content that the club teams are looking for in the interviews.
NHL Draft Class: Combine Part I: @TerrierHockey center Macklin Celebrini, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft joins the show, along w/ Sharks dir. of amateur scouting Chris Morehouse.
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I got my schedule early in the week so I knew I would start the testing at 8:30 in the morning on Saturday. I was happy that I got 8:30; it's nice to just get up and get ready so I can get it over with in the morning and I really enjoyed it.
My roommate at the combine for the week was forward Michael Hage of Chicago (United States Hockey League) and it worked out great.
When I got up, I wanted some fuel in my body, so I ate a little something but it's not a big meal. The big meal, and if you're up to it, comes after all the testing.
The hardest test was probably the Wingate bike test. It's probably rated as the hardest and I think we all know why. It really pushes you to the limit, but I enjoyed all the testing. It was good to kind of get an idea of where I'm at with my jumps and strength -- I enjoyed all the tests.
I saw that Cole Eiserman (of USA Hockey's National Team Development Program Under-18 team) mentioned on the "NHL Draft Class" podcast that we had a pretty messy room when we were teammates at Shattuck-St. Mary's Prep in Minnesota a few years ago. He was a great roommate, and we went at each other for leaving a mess but I felt we were good to kind of keep it clean or just sorted so we knew where everything was.
As far as his singing goes ... he does sing. I mean sometimes I just put headphones on. We'd be sitting there watching TV and he'd just turn the speaker on and start singing. When he did that, I just tossed my headphones on. I had to ignore him.
I went out to dinner with one team this week.
I've been asked if I've made a decision on whether or not I am going to return to BU next season. While that decision will be made after the draft, I can say one reason I'd consider returning is the fact we didn't win anything this year. So that would be something I'd really want to go back for; having an opportunity to maybe bring a couple championships back to BU that we missed out on this year.
Overall, I must say it was a great week. You hear a lot about the combine and about how it goes and the different experiences, different meetings, you have with the clubs. To be able to experience it, to be here with all these guys, the top prospects in the world for the draft, was a really cool experience. It was great getting to meet new people and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to be here.
Thanks for reading. Next stop, the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Sphere in Las Vegas. I'm looking forward to it!
