Sharks sign Macklin Celebrini to entry-level contract - ESPN

Eight days after taking him with the No. 1 pick, the San Jose Sharks signed Macklin Celebrini to his entry-level contract Saturday.

Celebrini, 18, said before and after the NHL draft that he wanted to consider all his options when it came to his next step. The decision facing the center was to either return to Boston University for his sophomore season or join the Sharks.

He chose the NHL and with it, the opportunity to establish himself as a top-line center while simultaneously serving as the face of a Sharks' rebuild that has significantly changed its fortunes over the past few seasons.

«Macklin is not only a special player on the ice, but he is a poised, confident and intelligent young man off it,» Sharks general manager Mike Grier said in a statement. «His combination of skills and hockey sense is rare, and we are extremely confident that he is ready to make this transition to being a full time NHL player. We could not be more excited to have Macklin locked in formally to join the Sharks organization for the 2024-25 season.»

The early consensus No. 1 pick, Celebrini's lone season at BU reinforced the belief that the franchise that won the NHL draft lottery would be getting the first rights to draft a player considered to be a franchise cornerstone.

Celebrini was a 17-year-old freshman at BU who finished with 32 goals and 64 points in 38 games for the Terriers. He led the Terriers in goals and points en route to them finishing with a 28-10-2 record and advancing to the national semifinal game. BU would lose in overtime to Denver, which won its 10th national title, the most in men's college hockey history.

Although BU fell short of winning what would have been the sixth national title in its men's program history,