Doug Armstrong spoke with Macklin Celebrini at the Enterprise Center last December, several hours before the St. Louis Blues hosted the San Jose Sharks.
Armstrong, the longtime Blues general manager who is Team Canada’s GM for the 2026 Winter Olympics, told Celebrini at the time that he would not be on the Canadian roster for February’s 4 Nations Face-Off, but that if he played well, the door was open for the teenager to be a part of his home country’s World Championship team and possibly the Milano-Cortina Games.
“And I told him at about 10 in the morning, and he had (three) points that night,” said Armstrong of Celebrini, “and so I said, ‘I should have talked to him after the game.’”
Armstrong will see Celebrini, now 19, again next week when Hockey Canada hosts its National Teams Orientation Camp from Aug. 26-28 in Calgary. Celebrini, who is entering his second NHL season, was the youngest of the 42 players and 26 forwards invited when Canada announced its men’s orientation camp roster on Aug. 1.
Each Olympic team will have 25-man rosters, likely 14 forwards, eight defensemen, and three goalies. Rosters are expected to be finalized in early January, with the men’s tournament starting Feb. 11 and the gold medal awarded Feb. 22.
“The men’s team will get together for some dinners and build relationships, and the coaches will have some time with the players,” Armstrong told TSN 1050 in Toronto on Wednesday of the camp. “But it’s more of an information gathering for the players, and to get a lot of the paperwork done. So when we do select our 25 players, they have a lot of that work behind them.”
If Celebrini wants to wear his country’s uniform again and travel to Italy in February, he has a lot of work ahead of him. But after an outstanding rookie season in which he led the Sharks with 63 points in 70 games and was named a Calder Trophy finalist, Celebrini also showed he could make an impact at the international level.
Often playing alongside his childhood idol, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby at the World Championships in May, Celebrini had six points in eight games with one game-winning goal and a +9 rating.
Canada was upset by co-host Denmark in the quarterfinals, but Armstrong was impressed by the top overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft who was just named one of the NHL’s top 20 centers by NHL Network.
“He’s a dynamic player. He’s a special player,” Armstrong said of Celebrini. “He was at the worlds. He carries himself, like (Connor) Bedard, they carry themselves differently than people their age. They’ve been under the spotlight for a long time.”
Still, making the Canadian roster will not be easy for Celebrini or Bedard, both North Vancouver natives.
Every forward that was a part of Canada’s winning team at the 4 Nations Face-Off was also invited to next week’s camp. Other forwards who were not on that team but are in the mix for a roster spot include the Los Angeles Kings’ Quinton Byfield, the Edmonton Oilers’ Zach Hyman, the Winnipeg Jets’ Mark Scheifele, the Montreal Canadiens’ Nick Suzuki, and the Blues’ Robert Thomas.
Canada will be loaded with high-end forwards such as Crosby, the Oilers’ Connor McDavid, the Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon, and the Vegas Golden Knights’ Mitch Marner. So, Celebrini will not only need to show his skills on offense, but he can be trusted to play a checking role against the best players from other countries.
Celebrini already does so many things well. Can he do them well enough again this season to be one of Canada’s 14 forwards? Armstrong and other Hockey Canada staff members will decide that as they watch games through the first three months of the season.
Armstrong said for Celebrini and Bedard, “they just have to do what (Philadelphia’s Travis) Konecny, has to do, and all these other different players. They have to perform.
“We’re going to take the players that are performing the best, that (Canadian coach) Jon Cooper and our staff, with our management staff, feel can give us the best chance. But there’s not an age requirement to make this team. There’s going to be a skill requirement and a requirement that you can help us be competitive for a gold medal.”
“I’m looking forward to spending more time with them, to get to know them,” Armstrong told Sportsnet radio in Toronto. “… I’m looking to build relationships. It’s like anything in life. If you have a personal relationship with somebody, it’s more natural you’re going to pull and dig a little bit harder for them.”
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Crosby, who just turned 38, helped Canada win Olympic gold in 2010 and 2014 and will captain next year’s team. He and Celebrini also spent some time together in Halifax earlier this summer, with the two joined by MacKinnon and Sharks forward Will Smith for an on-ice session that made the rounds on social media.
Regardless of whether Celebrini becomes an Olympian, the experience of again being around Crosby and other elite NHL players should be beneficial.
“I think (Crosby) just being at this August camp, talking to players, not just the 23 that we had (for 4 Nations), but there’s going to be 40 plus players there,” Armstrong said. “My message is to watch what Sid does, watch what Connor (McDavid) does, watch how they prepare. That’s how the best of the best prepare.
“There are other countries that have players like that, but Sidney Crosby, he’s not even a generational talent. You don’t get a player like that every generation. He’s a first ballot Hall of Famer, (on the) Mount Rushmore of hockey. He’s very, very special.”
