Why Macklin Celebrini’s Olympic play has Maple Leafs in awe

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When the Maple Leafs visit the San Jose Sharks on April 2, John Tavares might have a few words for Macklin Celebrini.

Words of congratulations, or something along those lines.

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Tavares is among the Leafs — and just about everyone else watching the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina — who have been in awe of what Celebrini has been doing for Canada at the age of 19.

“Yeah, it does, it does (blow him away),” Tavares told the Toronto Sun this week. “He goes over there and he just looks so comfortable with who he is as a player and how he has to play.

“The stage isn’t anything more than him just having fun and playing his game. Everywhere he goes, things just kind of happen.”

Celebrini followed that script on Friday in Canada’s enthralling 3-2 victory against Finland in the semifinals in Milan.

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The North Vancouver native did everything but score for Canada, leading the team with eight shots on goal before assisting on Nathan MacKinnon’s power-play winner with 36 seconds remaining in the third period to send Canada to the gold-medal game. When the final horn sounded, Celebrini led all Canadian players in ice time with 25 minutes 53 seconds.

Playing on a line with MacKinnon and Connor McDavid, there has been nothing that Celebrini can’t handle, never mind times when he has been dominant.

Few scoring peers

In five games in Milan, Celebrini’s 10 points (five goals and five assists) had him second among all scorers (behind only McDavid’s 13 points) before the U.S. and Slovakia met in the other semifinal on Friday afternoon.

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“His awareness and hockey IQ are off the charts,” Tavares said. “The tremendous attributes with his skill set, whether it’s puck-handling, playmaking, shooting — he’s very strong and he wins a tremendous amount of puck battles.

“We’ve seen it in his first couple of years in the (NHL) but on a stage like that, it’s pretty remarkable.”

Leafs winger Bobby McMann didn’t have to force a smile when we asked him about Celebrini’s play in Italy.

“Incredible,” McMann said. “I can’t even imagine when I was that age … The part that’s crazy to me is how well-developed he is with his spatial awareness on the ice, because that’s usually something that you get when you play a longer time in the league.

“You look at guys that slow down, they’re still playing because their spatial awareness around the ice is so good, but he has that at that age, and plus he has the elite skill.

“When you mix those two, that’s how you are one of the best players in the world.”

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun

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