On a Saturday night in January 2023, the Golden State Warriors had a night off in Chicago.
Draymond Green didn't want to go to dinner or party. He had another idea: go to the suburbs to watch youth hockey.
“How often do you get the chance to see Sidney Crosby when he was 17?” Green reasoned.
The next big thing in hockey is Macklin Celebrini, the unanimous No. 1 prospect in the 2024 NHL draft. Celebrini is also the son of Rick Celebrini, the Warriors' vice president of player health and performance.
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“I thought, really? Do you want to go?” Rick Celebrini told Green. “I mean, we're not really close to where we left off with the team.”
“I don't care,” Green responded. He wanted to support the Celebrinis.
So a group of Warriors staff and players organized a trip to Geneva, Illinois.
“We discovered a lot of things that night,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Like Macklin's nickname was The Cheetah. We didn't know until the announcer said something.”
NHL scouts have been dazzled by The Cheetah for years because he's the complete package: elite hockey sense, skill, shot and, yes, his motor. The 5-foot-11 two-way center is also known for his desire to win and his ability to bring his teammates with him, making everyone great.
But even the best athletes have bad nights, and according to Macklin, that was one of them.
“It wasn't a good game,” Macklin said. “We didn't play very well.”
Once again, Green didn't care. She saw enough.
Macklin was only 16 years old and playing against more physically mature 20-year-olds. Everyone on the ice also knew the NHL rumors surrounding him and wanted to make their mark on him. Opponents kept checking on Macklin, time and time again.
“A guy comes out of nowhere and just throws it and Mack trips and he comes back and throws it, it doesn't fall,” Green recalled. “Mack hits him again to make sure the guy goes down. [Macklin] he just goes to the penalty area. That will suit you in the future. There will always be a target on your back. You're the projected number one pick and I'm not waiting for my bully to come attack you. I'm going to expose you myself. That said everything I needed to know.”
Macklin Celebrini grew up in Vancouver as the second of four children. He also played soccer until he was 12, a sport his parents played. But hockey always had his heart.
“I started skating, like any kid would, just going around a public rink,” Macklin said. “Then once I had a stick in my hand, it was game over.” This may be a euphemism. At age 10, Macklin competed in the prestigious Brick Invitational Tournament. He had an intense schedule before that tournament and his team ended up winning.
“It was amazing. But then his coach told me that Macklin needs a break after this,” his mother, Robyn, recalled. “That is, hide his skates from him for two weeks and keep him off the ice.”
In fact, Robyn hid Macklin's skates.
“That lasted two days,” he said with a smile. It didn't help that the local hockey club was within walking distance. Robyn finally succumbed to Macklin's pleas.
That Brick Tournament was also the first time the Celebrinis realized that Macklin could dominate a locker room. Rick Celebrini's favorite story about his son was told by one of the team's assistant coaches.
“At the first practice, all the kids were very nervous and quiet in the clubhouse, and no one was talking to each other,” Rick Celebrini said. “And Macklin, I guess he understood it when he heard some [older players] at his hockey club, but suddenly he gets in front of everyone and says, “Listen, guys.” In this locker room we only have one rule. “There are no bad words in this dressing room.”
The entire room burst into laughter. The 10-year-old boy effectively broke the ice.
The Celebrini children were exposed to professional athletes from an early age. Rick Celebrini worked for the Vancouver Canucks and the MLS Whitecaps before landing the job with the Warriors. Rick is also a renowned physical therapist who worked closely with Steve Nash since his rookie season, helping the Hall of Fame point guard overcome a lower back condition.
Or, as he is known in the Celebrini household, Uncle Steve.
“When Macklin was younger, there was almost an osmosis,” Rick Celebrini said. “He wasn't really paying attention, but I think he picked up a lot, especially the early days when he was working with Steve Nash and spending four or five hours on the court and in the gym.”
As Macklin grew older and Rick accepted the job with the Warriors in 2018, the lessons became more acute.
“Just being around some professional athletes, you learn how detail-oriented they are,” Macklin said. “How they take care of their bodies, how they approach each day, even in the offseason, when it doesn't really translate into the season. Every day they still do something to take care of themselves.”
From an early age, Macklin was determined to reach the highest levels and began to differentiate himself. “Every step of the way he has set goals that seem almost unattainable,” Rick Celebrini said. “And every step of the way we've been surprised.”
Macklin enrolled at Shattuck-St. Mary's in Minnesota in 2020, the same high school that helped develop one of his idols, Crosby. Macklin's stats during that 14AUU season are so absurd they almost look like a typo: 51 goals and 141 points in 50 games. After three years there, he went to the Chicago Steel to play junior hockey (46 goals and 86 points in 50 games).
An outstanding performance at the IIHF World U18 Championship in April 2023 firmly cemented his project. Macklin tied Canada's single-tournament scoring record and scored a magnificent goal in overtime to win the bronze medal game. He scored the most points for a Canadian player 16 years old or younger, surpassing Connor Bedard and Connor McDavid.
Last season, as a 17-year-old freshman at Boston University, he won the Hobey Baker Award as the nation's top player.
The head of an NHL scouting department told ESPN that Macklin was “as complete a prospect as there is” and said he is more than ready to make an impact in the NHL next season.
Macklin said he models his game after two-way centers like Jonathan Toews, Brayden Point and Crosby.
“Those guys that do it on both sides of the puck,” he said. “They are leaders on their teams and they also drive the offense.”
He cites Crosby and Patrick Kane as his favorite players to watch growing up.
“Both the Blackhawks and the Penguins made it to the Cups,” he said. “And some of my best memories were watching them play in the playoffs and fight.” Rick helped Macklin and his brothers: brothers Aiden, 19; RJ, 12; and his 15-year-old sister Charlie throughout each of their athletic journeys, where she balanced the line between coach and parent.
“When they're working out, I tell them there has to be professionalism in your approach and what you do. And that's when I'm not a dad,” Rick said. “But in their moments when they are vulnerable, then I become a dad and I will always be a dad.”
The family is very close, texting and supporting each other constantly. In his interview with ESPN, Macklin wanted to make sure to give love to her mother, citing her as the one who holds everything together for her.
Aiden, a 2023 sixth-round draft pick of the Canucks, was Macklin's teammate (and roommate) at Boston University this season. The 6-foot-1 defenseman arrived late. RJ's hockey highlights have already gone viral on social media. Meanwhile, Charlie is a rapidly rising star on the junior tennis circuit.
“When Rick first came [to Golden State] “Their kids would be running up and down the court playing 3-on-3, with the whole family, Robyn too,” Kerr said. “It's so fun to watch them as kids and all of a sudden you find out that the two older kids are great hockey players.
“And then I started asking Rick more about his kids and what they were doing. Then there was little Charlie, the tennis player. And then I realized Rick was cooking something at his house… He was just producing athletes en masse.”
There's a reason the Warriors wanted to support Rick. It has been crucial to his culture and success.
“He's one of the best human beings I know, and that comes straight from the heart,” Kerr said. “He has this great combination of emotional intelligence and technical knowledge of his field, humor and authority. The players see him every day, and it means a lot to us that he is one of the first people they see and feel, and he just sets an incredible tone “
Green called Rick “a giver.”
“He gives his time, he gives his energy, he gives his effort,” Green said. “He's a magician when it comes to the body. He's a magician when it comes to the mind. He's our secret weapon and he's an amazing father. He's an amazing man.”
Green said he talks to Rick about Macklin two or three times a week. Green knows quite a bit about hockey, having grown up in Michigan and attended Michigan State. From appearances, Green realized that Macklin had the “it” factor when he met the preteen.
“I told him, 'Yeah, Mack, you're definitely a player,'” Green said. “'You have hockey hair.'”
As he got to know Macklin over the years, something else caught Green's attention. “He's calm but very confident and he's not afraid to share that confidence with you,” Green said. “We don't get a chance to see him often, but every time he can, he has a smile on his face. He walks around the room like he belongs there. Like he's supposed to be there.
“It's not an over-the-top thing that says, 'Hey, I need you to realize I'm here.' You feel the seriousness when you talk to him. He wants to work, he wants to be great, I have no doubt he will be.”
In the Steel game in 2023, the Warriors contingent, minus Rick, left after the second period. After all, it was a long trip back to Chicago. Naturally, Macklin scored after he left.
When Rick ran into Macklin in the locker room afterward, his son gave him a good hockey squeak to pass on to the Warriors.
“Dad,” Macklin said, “I go to your games all the time, they're so boring and I don't leave.”
Rick told the story to the Warriors the next day and the room erupted in laughter.
