- Macklin Celebrini reportedly made Team Canada’s roster for 2026 Winter Olympics
- At 19, Celebrini becomes youngest player on Team Canada in NHL-eligible Olympics era
- Read below for full details on Celebrini’s historic Olympic selection
Macklin Celebrini is heading to the Olympics.
According to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, Celebrini has made Team Canada’s roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The official announcement drops Wednesday at 9 a.m. PT, but the 19-year-old sensation has earned his spot.
Celebrini becomes the youngest player to make Team Canada in any NHL-eligible Olympics. For comparison, Drew Doughty was 20 when he cracked the roster in Vancouver back in 2010.
The toughness is there too. On Monday night against Anaheim, Celebrini took a puck to the face, got stitched up, and still finished the game with three points. That’s the kind of mentality Hockey Canada wants on the biggest stage.
His production? Historic. Celebrini has 60 points in 39 games, trailing only Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon in the NHL scoring race. Only Sidney Crosby (35 games) and Wayne Gretzky (37 games) have ever hit 60 points faster.
No teenager has ever scored more points before New Year’s Day. Mack is on an eight-game point streak with 17 points in that span, and in December alone, he put up seven multipoint games.
“I feel like every game he gets to another level,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “What we do need to understand is that we are seeing something pretty special right before our eyes.”
His Sharks teammates saw this coming. After Monday’s performance against Anaheim, they made it clear they’d be shocked if he didn’t make the roster.
“He has to be on that team,” William Eklund said. “It’ll be weird otherwise.”
The big question heading into roster decisions was whether Canada would take both Celebrini and Connor Bedard. Celebrini won out. Bedard, who’s been dealing with a shoulder injury, was described by Kaplan as being “just on the outside throughout the process.”
Hall of Famer Chris Pronger explained why Celebrini deserved the nod.
“I think Celebrini has played his way on,” Pronger said. “Just with his usefulness and utility of playing wing, playing center, killing penalties. Just the way he plays the game, it lends itself to being able to move up and down the lineup.”
It’s not just the offense. Warsofsky praised Celebrini’s two-way game after Monday’s win, crediting him for a pivotal shot block late in the game that sealed the victory.
“That’s what he’s all about,” Warsofsky said. “The ultra-competitor, plays to both sides of the puck. Plays in all three zones.”
The context makes Celebrini’s season even more impressive. The Sharks sit at 19-17-3 with 41 points, right in the thick of the Pacific Division playoff race. Nobody expected San Jose to be in this position.
Celebrini is the reason why. He leads the team with 60 points while the next-closest player, Will Smith, has 29. That’s a 31-point gap. He’s been directly involved in half of San Jose’s goals this season.
Celebrini is on pace for 126 points, which would top Crosby’s 120 in his second NHL season. He leads the entire league with 10 games of three or more points.
Canada already announced six players earlier this year: Crosby, MacKinnon, McDavid, Cale Makar, Brayden Point and Sam Reinhart. Celebrini slides right into that elite company.
Team Canada will make the roster official Wednesday morning. The kid from Vancouver who went first overall in 2024 is about to represent his country on hockey’s biggest stage.
