Macklin Celebrini, one of the leading candidates to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, is expected to have a leading role for Canada at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship according to Steven Ellis, associate editor and prospect analyst for Daily Faceoff.
"Everything we've seen from him, from his time in college, from his time at [Canada World Junior selection] camp, this guy should be on the first line and might be one of the best players in this entire tournament," Ellis said on the latest edition of the "NHL Draft Class" podcast.
Celebrini, a 17-year-old forward, is tied for fourth among NCAA players as a freshman at Boston University with 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) in 15 games.
Ellis touched on several other top 2024 draft prospects who could play significant roles at the WJC, including United States defenseman Zeev Buium. The 18-year-old leads NCAA defensemen and is tied with Celebrini for fourth among all college players with 25 points (five goals, 20 assists) in 18 games as a freshman at the University of Denver.
"With Buium being one of the older guys in this draft class because of his late birthday (Dec. 7), this gives him a good opportunity to show why he's one of the best defensemen in this draft," Ellis said. "I know some scouts I've talked to are thinking, ‘could he be top 10? Could he go higher?’ I think this tournament ... he's going to be one of USA's most important players."
The World Junior Championship from Gothenburg, Sweden, runs Dec. 26-Jan. 5, with all games live on NHL Network in the United States and TSN and RDS in Canada.
Hosts Adam Kimelman and Mike G. Morreale also talked about the experiences at USA Hockey's World Junior selection camp, the omission of top 2024 draft prospect Cole Eiserman from the U.S. tournament roster, and the potential of the 2024 draft to be held at Sphere in Las Vegas.
The podcast is free, and listeners can subscribe on all podcast platforms, including iTunes, Spotify and Google Podcasts. It also is available on NHL.com/multimedia/podcasts and the NHL app.
