Editor’s note: Shen Peng will be a regular contributor to NBC Sports California’s Sharks coverage. You can read more of his coverage on San Jose Hockey Now and listen to his show on the San Jose Hockey Now podcast. You can also follow him on Twitter. Shen Peng.
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Fitness testing for the 2024 NHL Scouting Combine didn’t start the way Macklin Celebrini hoped.
Measurements were taken first and Celebrini was listed as 6 feet tall, when in reality she was slightly shorter at 5 feet 11 and 3/4 inches.
Round it up, kid.
“Yeah, I was so close. A bit disappointed,” Celebrini said, shaking his head in feigned annoyance.
The Sharks’ near first overall draft pick underwent more than 10 tests, including Y-balance, grip strength, oxygen intake, standing height, arm length, horizontal jump, vertical jump, no-arm jump, squat jump, bench press, Pro Agility Test, pull-ups and the Wingate test.
Most of these tests were publicly available to the media.
Below you can see video of each published test and how Celebrini compares to them: The NHL publishes the top 25 of each test except for Y Balance.
The VO2 test took place yesterday, with Celebrini scoring highly in the aerobic fitness test.Number He placed 4th in test duration (12:35) and 4th in V02max (63.0).
Celebrini was not ranked with either a left or right hand grip.
His body fat percentage of 7.64 was good for 20th place at the combine.
Either way, don’t worry too much about these individual results; the future face of the Sharks franchise is, if anything, the sum of all his parts.
Most importantly, he’s a great hockey player.
“We know there are many areas we need to improve,” Celebrini said.
Don’t worry, Macklin.
Height/Wingspan
Celebrini was visibly disappointed that he was just under six feet tall, standing at 5 feet 11 and 3/4 inches, and that he weighed 197 pounds, heavier than his advertised weight of 190 pounds.
His wingspan didn’t even rank in the top 25.
Horizontal Jump
Celebrini jumped 97.75 inches, which may be below average here. Defenseman EJ Emery was tops at 123.0.
Vertical Jump/No Arm Jump/Squat Jump
Celebrini’s jump of 15.81 inches was a far cry from Emery’s vertical jump (27.23) and no-arm jump (23.57) for the top spot. Forward Jack Pridham led the way with a squat jump of 19.52.
This calls into question Celebrini’s claims about his basketball skills.
“I think it’s pretty good,” Celebrini said.
But his father, Rick Celebrini, the Golden State Warriors’ director of sports medicine and performance, was a bit more critical.
“But every time I play and he watches, he says I’m a hockey player playing basketball,” Macklin said.
Bench Press
Celebrini is 18 years old as of June 13th, and is said to be physically mature for her age, as evidenced by her bench press power score of 6.51.
That put him in 20th place.
Pro Agility Test
There’s still room for improvement for Celebrini, who recorded a time of 4.8 seconds left and 4.73 seconds right, while defender Stian Solberg stunned everyone with a time of 4.12 seconds left and 4.08 seconds right.
Pull-up
But Celebrini was solid here too, reaching double-digit pull-ups in 10 innings.
Celebrini would be in the top 25 if selected 11 times. Defenseman Zeev Bouium leads the way with 16.
“I wanted to try,” Celebrini said of the elusive No. 11, “but there was nothing left.”
Wingate Test
Wingate is an anaerobic fitness test that measures an athlete’s power and fatigue.
Celebrini didn’t finish inside the top 25 in two of the three categories: average power output (center Jett Luchanko, 12.9) and peak power output (forward AJ Spellacy, 18.3).
Celebrini produced a below average 13.4 peak power.
However, Celebrini performed well in the fatigue index, ranking 19th with a score of 47.0.
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