Top 2024 NHL Draft prospect Macklin Celebrini has had one of the best college freshman seasons ever

2024 top prospect and Boston University superstar Macklin Celebrini just capped off one of the best NCAA freshman seasons ever after winning the NCAA Hockey East Rookie of the Year and NCAA Hockey East Player of the Year awards. Celebrini is also a Hobey Baker Finalist for the NCAA Top Collegiate Player.

Today on Daily Faceoff Live, prospect analyst Steven Ellis broke down the sensational season the North Vancouver product has had out east in Boston.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s talk about Macklin Celebrini and his big season, he has been getting a ton of recognition as of late but can he win the Hobey Baker though?

Steven Ellis: It’s a tough one, some look at Cutter Gauthier, Will Smith and Lane Hutson again. But with what Celebrini has done as a rookie this year is rivalling what we saw last year with Adam Fantilli and in some cases even better. He’s the NCAA Hockey East scoring leader and some of his other achievements include, Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Hobey Baker Nominee he’s a top-10 finalist and I expect him to be in the conversation for top-3 when we get there.

Steven Ellis: Even if he doesn’t end up being the highest-scoring player in college he still had 55 points in 33 games as a 17-year-old freshman. He missed a couple of games at the start of the year but that never slowed him down and there is no question of a doubt he is the best prospect, he does everything so well and is one of the most complete players in college hockey. I’m glad he took this route of NCAA, I’m not sure how much he would have benefited from playing in the WHL against kids his own age and at least going to Boston University he gets to play against competition that is likely headed to the NHL next year and that has really set him up. He’s benefited from having a guy like Hutson passing to him and all the powerplay points, but I hope Celebrini wins the Hobey Baker as best athlete, that would be fun.