Where Macklin Celebrini would fit with the Blackhawks

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If the Chicago Blackhawks win the NHL Draft Lottery for the second consecutive year, no player may benefit more than Connor Bedard.

Of course, Bedard will be more than fine without the Blackhawks winning the lottery, but imagine what drafting Macklin Celebrini, the consensus No. 1 pick in 2024, would mean for Bedard and the Blackhawks. Chicago general manager Kyle Davidson surely has.

For one, Celebrini would likely become the Blackhawks' top center. Bedard is probably more gifted offensively, but Celebrini has the makings of the full package. If that's the case, Celebrini and his line could take on the toughest matchups and free Bedard and his line up for slightly easier competition.

The Blackhawks could also put Bedard and Celebrini on a line together, at least sometimes. The Edmonton Oilers often have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl centering separate lines, but they'll bring them together when the situation calls for it.

This probably sounds familiar to Blackhawks fans, too.

"If Chicago gets (Celebrini), it'd be sort of like having the Jonathan Toews to Bedard's Pat Kane," said Jack Han, the publisher of "Hockey Tactics" and a hockey consultant. "Not a perfect comparison, but it gives them a lot of flexibility of either playing them together or separately, like 19/88 back in the day. Hard to find a better fit for what Chicago needs, which is a top center who can do everything to free up Bedard."

What to know about Celebrini

Not that long ago, Blackhawks fans were able to see Celebrini play in the Chicago area with the Chicago Steel, dominating the USHL as a 16-year-old. As a 17-year-old, he did the same in college hockey while a freshman at Boston University. Celebrini, who is 6 feet and 190 pounds, won the Hobey Baker Award (men's college hockey's top player) with 32 goals and 32 assists in 38 games. He also had four goals and four assists in five games for Canada in the World Junior Championship.

Celebrini's offense and production are elite, but as Boston University coach Jay Pandolfo said, his ability doesn't end there.

"It's just his overall game," Pandolfo said in December. "The maturity in his game for a 17-year-old, it's really impressive. The kid at that age that has that kind of offensive capabilities, for him to care just as much about the other side of the game, the defensive side. … He doesn't take any shifts off. He plays 200 feet all the time. He works back on defense just as hard as he goes on offense."

Blackhawks prospect Ryan Greene gave a similarly glowing review of Celebrini from his vantage point centering BU's second line.

"He's just got a motor that doesn't stop," Greene said. "He's just got a bit of everything, like there's nothing that he can't do really. He's so dynamic and overall, just such a good player. His skating is great, transition, he possesses pucks, he can win puck battles. He can kind of do it all. He's been a good friend of mine so far this year, unbelievable guy, great teammate. So, I can't say enough good about him. He's been really fun to watch. He's been great for us."

Where The Athletic ranks Celebrini

Like everyone else, The Athletic's Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler each have Celebrini ranked No. 1. Like last year with Bedard, there's little debate about Celebrini being the top draft prospect this year.

As Pronman wrote of Celebrini, "He checks every box you want in a top prospect and is one of the few players I've scouted where it's hard to see any noticeable weakness."

Video review

Celebrini plays with speed, but what's especially impressive is how controlled he is with that speed. On this play, he gets the puck at the blue line and quickly makes something happen.

Later in that same game, he makes another incredible pass. On this play, he's bouncing off defenders, keeping the puck alive and always maintaining an awareness of where the puck can go next.

This pass doesn't result in a goal, but this pass is even more special than the last two.

Celebrini doesn't have Bedard's shot, but it's still pretty effective.

Like Bedard, Celebrini drives zone entries. On this play, he finds a hole between three defenders to enter the zone, creates a little space and drops a nifty pass to a teammate. A 17-year-old doing this in college is remarkable.

Here is another entry example. It's almost as if the entire Boston College team is defending him.

Not only does Celebrini beat out an icing call here, he knows where to set up a teammate.

As mentioned, it's not just his offense. Here's an example of his defensive instincts.

NHLe model

Celebrini's development progression isn't far off Bedard's, according to Byron Bader's NHLe model.

"To put Celebrini in perspective, the only four forwards over the last four decades to have a similar freshman season in college which is also their draft year are Paul Kariya, Jack Eichel, Adam Fantilli and Macklin Celebrini," Bader said. "Couple this with a superb 99th-percentile showing in the USHL in his D-1 year as well. Very few prospects look like this in the model spanning three and a half decades. All that have come before him have turned into superstars or on the verge of doing so, like Bedard.

"As well, Celebrini, born in June, is extremely young. To be this far out ahead of his peers in an outlier way and also be six months younger than the ones that typically look like this is another massive bonus of this prospect. Bedard shared a similar summer birthday as well as (Sidney) Crosby and Jack Hughes. The others to come before have all been older, relative when drafted. So, sky is the limit with this prospect. Could be every bit as good as Bedard in his prime."

Where Celebrini would fit with the Blackhawks

The Blackhawks have drafted a lot of centers in recent years, but they'd have no problem moving some over to wing to fit in Celebrini. He would give the Blackhawks a perfect 1-2 punch down the middle along with Bedard. The Blackhawks could also look to build a deeper team. Maybe someone like Frank Nazar could remain at center but drop to the third line. With Greene, Oliver Moore, Paul Ludwinski and Martin Misiak, among other centers in the pipeline, the Blackhawks have a lot of options. Not a bad problem to have.

If the Blackhawks were to win the lottery, it's likely Davidson would be even motivated this offseason to bring in some established NHL forwards. Davidson would want to better support Bedard and Celebrini with capable wingers.

Celebrini's NHL timeline

Celebrini is the only draft prospect this year who is thought to be ready for the NHL from the start. Celebrini said he hasn't closed the door on returning to college, but it's likely he'd jump straight to the NHL.

During this season, Bedard dismissed questions of Celebrini joining the Blackhawks, but Bedard is well aware of his talent.

"I've watched some of his highlights and stuff and seeing clips," Bedard said in February. "World juniors, I watched pretty closely. He's a special player. What he's doing this year is remarkable. I don't know if it's ever been done at his age. … It's been exciting to watch a guy like that. The NHL is probably pretty excited about him coming in."

And if the Blackhawks win the lottery, they would be excited, too.

(Photo: Brace Hemmelgarn / USA Today)