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It's not going to take long for No. 1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini to endear himself to San Jose Sharks fans — but the young phenom needs to stay healthy in order to do that.
The 18-year-old left Sharks practice early on Tuesday with a lower-body injury, according to NHL.com's Max Miler. Head coach Ryan Warsofsky confirmed that the injury is minor, and he expects the Canadian to be back at practice on Wednesday.
“[He's] dealing with a little something, nothing crazy,” Warsofsky said. “He'll be fine. It is a lower-body thing. It is a little bit of everything. He's been through a lot, the last 2-3 weeks, from the travel and whatnot. We're just trying to watch him a little.”
Celebrini was part of San Jose's second group on the ice at training camp, the “nongame group” that didn't play in Tuesday's 4-3 preseason loss to the Anaheim Ducks.
The first name called in June's 2024 NHL Draft, Celebrini already turned heads with his undeniable skill and compete level earlier in training camp. He's an early favorite to win the Calder Trophy as the league rookie of the year, an award that was bestowed to Connor Bedard last season. The two young stars are friends who both grew up in North Vancouver.
Although Celebrini didn't play on Tuesday, he has already found the back of the net this preseason.
Macklin Celebrini scored first goal of Sharks' preseason
Celebrini factored into both goals the Sharks scored in a preseason-opening 4-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday. He scored a goal and added an assist in the losing effort.
Down 3-0 in the third period, Celebrini potted a nice pass from fellow prospect Luca Cagnoni before picking up an assist on Tyler Toffoli's tally later in the period.
“Right when [I] stepped on the ice, skating in the building for the first time, that was really cool,” Celebrini said of his first taste of profesional action, per NHL.com. “It was pretty loud in there. I really enjoyed that. It was amazing … It was definitely loud, and you could hear the fans that were in the building. That was cool to hear.”
Warsofsky was impressed from what he saw from Celebrini, although he wants to see more on the defensive side of the puck.
“He was good. He did some really good things with the puck,” explained the bench boss. “[There are] some things he needs to work on defensively, without the puck, the speed of the game for him. He scores a big goal [and] gets us momentum. He did some really good things offensively, for sure.”
Ideally, Celebrini's lower-body injury isn't anything serious, and that will be confirmed if he returns to the ice for practice on Wednesday. The Sharks are again in action against the Ducks in Anaheim on Thursday, and it'll be interesting to see if Celebrini is in the lineup for that tilt.
The squad begins the regular-season against the St. Louis Blues at home on October 10.
