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2024's likely No. 1 overall NHL draft pick wants to be a Canuck

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2024's likely No. 1 overall NHL draft pick wants to be a Canuck

Macklin Celebrini, who many believe will be the first overall pick in 2024, thinks the Vancouver Canucks should be rebuilding.

Author of the article:
Patrick Johnston
Published Apr 29, 2023  •  Last updated 17 hours ago  •  3 minute read
Macklin Celebrini in action for the Chicago Steel of the USHL during the 2022-23 season.Macklin Celebrini in action for the Chicago Steel of the USHL during the 2022-23 season. Photo by Chicago Steel /PNG

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Connor Bedard, just about everyone knows, is a very big fan of the Vancouver Canucks.

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The young phenom is widely expected to be the first overall selection in this summer’s NHL Entry Draft.

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Bedard is originally from North Vancouver.

 

Macklin Celebrini, the Vancouver-raised phenom who many believe will be the first overall pick in 2024, is the same as Bedard: he’s a hometown-bred rabid Canucks fan.

 

The Canucks have a three-per-cent chance of winning this year’s draft lottery, set to be held May 8.

 

They could have had a better chance of winning the first overall pick if they hadn’t had such a strong finish to the season, winning more games than they lost while their rivals around them in the standings mostly lost more than they won.

 

The Canucks say they want to make the playoffs next season. Their core of talent — Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, Thatcher Demko — is too good not to be a playoff team.

 

And of course ownership has long wanted to start collecting playoff dollars again. Estimates suggest each home game in the Stanley Cup playoffs reels in $2 million.

 

Sustainable playoff runs are built from lineups that are filled with top talent. The Canucks certainly have a strong enough base to get into the playoffs, but do they have enough depth to their top-end talent for repeated long runs?

 

Bedard certainly, in the long run, would build up the Canucks’ chances of making long runs in the playoffs.

 

 

Celebrini would be a big help too. And just like Bedard, it’s clear he’d love to play for his hometown team.

 

And that’s even as his dad’s career, and now his own hockey hopes, have taken him far from his home — not unlike Bedard.

 

Whereas Bedard has chased his NHL dream by playing major junior hockey for the WHL’s Regina Pats, Celebrini followed his dad Rick to the Bay Area, when Rick was hired by the Golden State Warriors to be their director of sports medicine and performance.

 

He played minor hockey in San Jose, then played high school prep hockey in Minnesota at Shattuck St. Mary’s before starring this past season for the Chicago Steel of the USHL. Still only 17, he’s set to play for Boston University next season.

 

And all the while, he’s kept tabs on the Vancouver Canucks, he says.

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Saturday at the IIHF World U18 Championships in Switzerland, he told Elite Prospects editor in chief J.D. Burke that he remains a big Canucks fan. His dad worked for the Canucks for a time, but left the team around the same time as Trevor Linden was let go by ownership in the summer of 2018.

 

You can imagine that his dad might have shared some thoughts on how things are run at Fortress Canuck, but nonetheless the young man would surely be thrilled to end up with his home town team.

 

But if they do make the playoffs next year, unless they pick up a draft pick from a team that is in position to win the draft lottery, that won’t happen. Making the playoffs means you have no shot at picking first overall.

 

And in Celebrini’s mind, just making the playoffs shouldn’t be the Canucks plan.

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“I think they should be in a rebuild phase. I love the team,” Celebrini told Burke.

 

pjohnston@postmedia.com

 

twitter.com/risingaction

 

https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/macklin-celebrini-draft-pick-rebuild

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9 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Doesn’t the 2023 projected 1st overall pick also want to be a Canuck? 

Yes.

 

Bedard (2023 draft) wants to be a Canuck.  He was born in North Vancouver and Canucks is his favourite team.

 

Celebrini (2024 draft) is also a Vancouverite and wants to be a Canuck as well.

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3 minutes ago, BPA said:

Yes.

 

Bedard (2023 draft) wants to be a Canuck.  He was born in North Vancouver and Canucks is his favourite team.

 

Celebrini (2024 draft) is also a Vancouverite and wants to be a Canuck as well.

If this is the case, then we should seriously be looking at drafting both of them. I hope our scouts are keeping track of their progress…   ^_^

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35 minutes ago, BPA said:

Yes.

 

Bedard (2023 draft) wants to be a Canuck.  He was born in North Vancouver and Canucks is his favourite team.

 

Celebrini (2024 draft) is also a Vancouverite and wants to be a Canuck as well.

So...they'll both try to get to UFA asap and sign with us? If only one can dream...

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2 hours ago, BPA said:

Yes.

 

Bedard (2023 draft) wants to be a Canuck.  He was born in North Vancouver and Canucks is his favourite team.

 

Celebrini (2024 draft) is also a Vancouverite and wants to be a Canuck as well.

Pray they both come home in 7-8 years..

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