Macklin Celebrini finished No. 1 among North American skaters on the NHL Central Scouting Bureau’s rankings, the league announced Tuesday in its final release ahead of the 2024 NHL Draft.
The 17-year-old centre from North Vancouver, B.C., became the youngest player to win the Hobey Baker Memorial Award as the NCAA’s most outstanding male player with 64 points (32 goals and 32 assists) in 38 games for Boston University this season.
Celebrini, who also topped the mid-season draft rankings, is just the fourth freshman to earn the Hobey Baker award after Paul Kariya (1993), Jack Eichel (2015) and Adam Fantilli (2023).
“Macklin Celebrini has had a remarkable freshman season at Boston University accumulating the NCAA Hobey Baker and Hockey East Player and Freshman of the Year award,” Dan Marr, vice president of NHL Central Scouting, said in a release.
“He possesses that rare, elite ability to thrive with his skills and smarts while competing with a consistent passion to face every challenge head-on and generate results, all the while making himself a better player.”
Celebrini is one of three NCAA players ranked within the top four alongside Belarusian defenceman Artyom Levshunov (Michigan State) at No. 2 and American defenceman Zeev Buium (Denver University).
Canadian centre Cayden Lidstrom from the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers is the top-ranked player from the CHL at No. 3.
The top 10 also includes Tij Iginla, who moved up two spots from the mid-season rankings to finish at No. 9. The son of Hall-of-Famer Jarome Iginla had 84 points (47 goals and 37 assists) in 64 games during the regular season with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets.
Russian defenceman Anton Silayev is the top-ranked international skater. Silayev, who turned 18 on April 11, spent the season playing professional hockey with the KHL’s Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo and registered 11 points (three goals and eight assists) in 63 games.
“It’s not often that there is a 6-foot-7, 211-pound defenceman who is a fluid skater and has the puck skills, attributes, and intangibles to be considered a franchise-type prospect,” Marr said. “He has quick smarts, instincts, and composure to read and react on the play and has a very efficient transition and puck movement game.
“His play this year displayed a level of compete and maturity that will transcend to the NHL game and his ceiling is projected to be the highest of any player on our international ranking.”
The 2024 NHL Draft is scheduled for June 28–29 at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
