Macklin Celebrini

November 2023: The list of NCAA draft-eligibles who, since the 1990s, have exceeded Celebrini’s two-points-a-game pace so far for BU (18 in nine games played) has one name on it: Paul Kariya. And that was more than 30 years ago.

If you look at some of the names right below Celebrini’s, you’ll find Adam Fantilli and Jack Eichel, both of whom put up in the neighborhood of 1.80 points per game in their respective draft years. Both of them were late October birthdays. Celebrini, meanwhile, was born in June. He is almost eight months younger, and is still outscoring the two former top-three picks.

Celebrini is a supreme rush chance creator. He jumpstarts offensive transitions with solid defensive positioning, great intensity, and refined technique in board battles. Once the puck is secured, he has the technical abilities to either skate it out himself while evading pressure with his crossovers, or to find an outlet and outrace back-checkers to open ice in order to make himself a shooting threat. His ability to move pucks from the boards to the middle of the ice in offensive zone cycles has also grown massively since his Draft -1 season with the Chicago Steel, aided by the muscle he added in the off-season. The tools and the toolkit make Celebrini the runaway first-overall pick at this point in the season, and he has all the makings of a top-line, do-it-all center at the NHL level. Hadi Kalakeche