Intrigue of NHL draft expected to begin after the Sharks likely select Celebrini with top pick

LAS VEGAS (AP) — San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Grier is trying to keep whom he’s selecting with the first pick in the NHL draft on Friday a mystery, even after he more than hinted at his intentions last month.

After excitedly noting the big opportunity it was for a rebuilding franchise to select Macklin Celebrini upon winning the draft lottery last month, Grier has since decided to play coy regarding college hockey’s top player, who has topped draft charts for more than a year and has ties to the Bay Area.

“We’ll see come Friday night,” Grier said this week.

And yet, the third-year GM gushed when asked what more he’s learned about the Boston University center over the past six weeks.

“We had dinner with him and he sat at a table with eight grown men and held the conversation, and was at ease and comfortable,” Grier said of dining with Celebrini at the combine three weeks ago.

“When you sit down with him for two minutes, you really feel his drive and competitiveness. It just seeps out of him,” he added. “He’s a driven kid. He’s an alpha.”

In other words, the just-turned 18-year-old is the type of foundational piece Grier can use to add to a deepening talented prospect pool in rebuilding a franchise in the midst of its longest playoff drought, now spanning five years.

At 6 feet and nearly 200 pounds, Celebrini finished second in the nation with 32 goals and third with 64 points in 38 games as college hockey’s youngest player. Though from North British Columbia, Celebrini spent a year playing for the Junior Sharks program after his father, Rick, was hired as vice president of player health and performance for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.

With Celebrini likely going first, the intrigue revolves around the order of the next five picks; whether the two-day draft will feature a major trade or two with Toronto’s Mitch Marner and Columbus’ Patrik Laine being shopped; and the visual indoor and outdoor spectacle Las Vegas' year-old Sphere will play in hosting its first sporting event.

Celebrini's looking forward to enjoying the Sphere experience in more ways than one.

“I've never been," he said, Wednesday. “From everything I've heard about it, it's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

As for his lengthy pre-draft process coming to a close, Celebrini said: “It’s a big moment, something that I’ve dreamed of ever since I was a kid. To get this opportunity, I’m excited, nervous, grateful.”

The draft also serves as a coming out party for the Utah Hockey Club, following the franchise’s offseason relocation from Arizona to Salt Lake City.

“You’ll have to wait and see,” GM Bill Armstrong said of which color jerseys will be donned by the team’s new group of prospects, with Utah currently having 13 picks through the seven-round draft, starting with No. 6.

The Chicago Blackhawks will influence how the draft unfolds in having the No. 2 pick, a year after choosing center Connor Bedard No. 1 last year.

Without saying whom the Blackhawks have identified at No. 2, GM Kyle Davidson said his staff enjoyed a healthy debate in reaching their decision.

“There’s great options. And so when you have great options, then you have to talk it through,” Davidson said Thursday. “If it was a no-brainer, then we probably would have known months ago or whenever the lottery was.”

The prevailing wisdom has Chicago’s choice split between two defensemen, Michigan State’s Artyom Levshunov and Russian Anton Silayev, and Russian forward Ivan Demidov.

While Levshunov left his native Belarus to play in North America two years ago, the Russian prospects raise questions because NHL teams are restricted from entering the country to scout and meet players since the war in Ukraine.

Davidson hasn’t yet met Silayev, who is listed at 6-foot-7 and 211 pounds, but did get a chance to meet Demidov at a player agent-run combine of Russian players in Florida last week.

“A really impressive young man,” Davidson said of Demidov. “It was a really great piece of information for us. And a great sort of button to put on the draft process that was necessary for everything to come in."

Anaheim is scheduled to pick third, followed by Columbus and Montreal.

Other top prospects among the top five are Medicine Hat Tigers center Cayden Lindstrom and University of Denver defenseman Zeev Buium.

Central Scouting Director Dan Marr says the top of this year’s draft class is especially deep at defensemen who bring a variety of strengths.

“No two are the same. It’s like a smorgasbord,” Marr said.

A position not deep in talent is goalie, with some projecting the first goaltender coming off the board in the third round. The top-rated goalie is considered to be Mikhail Yegorov, who is from Moscow, played for USHL Omaha last season and is committed to attending BU.

The overcall uncertainty due to how teams rank Demidov and Silayev, leaves Armstrong having various different plans at No. 6.

“It’s a guessing game right now,” he said.

What is clear is how Salt Lake City has embraced its NHL franchise.

“People are waiving to me in the street, and it’s kind of weird because they know who you are in Salt Lake City. And when you’re in Arizona, you went undetected,” Armstrong said. “This is a big thing in the state of Utah and in Salt Lake, and you can feel that.”

Associated Press freelance writer W.G. Ramirez contributed to this report.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

FILE - Members of the media wait for celebrities to arrive during the opening night of Sphere, Sept. 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. Sphere, the newly opened Las Vegas globe-shaped live entertainment center, with LED screens wrapping both the inside and outside of its structure, will serve host to the two-day NHL hockey draft Friday and Saturday, June 28-29, 2024. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

FILE - Western Michigan forward Wyatt Schingoethe (18) is pressured by Michigan State defenseman Artyom Levshunov (5) during the second period of an NCAA college hockey game in Maryland Heights, Mo., March 29, 2024. Levshunov is expected to be selected No. 2 by the Chicago Blackhawks in the upcoming NHL draft. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley, File)

FILE - Medicine Hat Tigers' Cayden Lindstrom smiles after being awarded the Canadian Hockey League Top Draft Prospect award at the Canadian Hockey League award ceremonies in Frankenmuth, Mich., June 1, 2024. Lindstrom is expected to be selected No. 3 by the Anaheim Ducks in the upcoming NHL draft. (Duane Burleson/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Grier speaks at a news conference introducing Ryan Warsofsky as the NHL hockey head coach of the San Jose Sharks in San Jose, Calif., Monday, June 17, 2024. The San Jose Sharks hold the first pick and have already indicated an intention to select Celebrini, who is from North Vancouver, but spent time growing up in the Bay Area.(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

FILE - Macklin Celebrini, the expected No. 1 pick in the NHL draft to the San Jose Sharks, speaks with reporters prior to Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, Monday, June 10, 2024. Celebrini sets aside his NBA ties by looking ahead to a hockey career, entering the NHL draft as the presumptive No. 1 pick on Friday, June 28. (AP Photo/Stephen Whyno, File)

Intrigue of NHL draft expected to begin after the Sharks likely select Celebrini with No .1 pick

Intrigue of NHL draft expected to begin after the Sharks likely select Celebrini with No .1 pick

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Beryl strengthened into a hurricane on Saturday as it churned toward the southeast Caribbean, with forecasters warning it was expected to become a dangerous and major storm before reaching Barbados late Sunday or early Monday.

A major hurricane is considered a Category 3 or higher, with winds of at least 111 mph (178 kph). At the moment, Beryl is a Category 1 hurricane, marking the farthest east that a hurricane has formed in the tropical Atlantic in June on record, breaking an old record set in 1933, according to Philip Klotzbach, Colorado State University hurricane researcher.

A hurricane warning was issued for Barbados, and a hurricane watch was in effect for St. Lucia, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, while a tropical storm watch was issued for Martinique, Dominica and Tobago. Hurricane watches were in effect for Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, while a tropical storm watch was issued for Martinique, Dominica and Tobago.

“It’s astonishing to see a forecast for a major (Category 3+) hurricane in June anywhere in the Atlantic, let alone this far east in the deep tropics. #Beryl organizing in a hurry over the warmest waters ever recorded for late June,” Florida-based hurricane expert Michael Lowry posted on X.

Beryl's center is forecast to pass about 26 miles (45 kilometers) south of Barbados, said Sabu Best, director of the island's meteorological service's director.

On Saturday, Beryl was located about 720 miles (1,160 kilometers) east-southeast of Barbados, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph). It was moving west at 22 mph (35 kph).

“Rapid strengthening is now forecast,” the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.

Atmospheric science researcher Tomer Burg noted that Beryl was just a tropical depression with 35 mph winds on Friday.

“This means that according to preliminary data, Beryl already met rapid intensification criteria before even becoming a hurricane,” he wrote on the social media platform X.

Warm waters are fueling Beryl, with ocean heat content in the deep Atlantic the highest on record for this time of year, according to Brian McNoldy, University of Miami tropical meteorology researcher.

Beryl also is the strongest June tropical storm on record that far east in the tropical Atlantic, according to Klotzbach.

“We need to be ready,” Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley said in a public address late Friday. “You and I know when these things happen, it is better to plan for the worst and pray for the best.”

She noted that thousands of people are in Barbados for the Twenty20 World Cup cricket final, with India beating South Africa on Saturday in the capital of Bridgetown. It is considered cricket's biggest event.

Some fans, like Shashank Musku, a 33-year-old physician who lives in Pittsburgh, were rushing to change their flights to leave before the storm.

Musku has never experienced a hurricane: “I don’t plan on being in one, either.”

He and his wife, who were rooting for India, found out about Beryl thanks to a taxi driver who mentioned the storm.

Meanwhile, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said in a public address Saturday that shelters will open Sunday evening as he urged people to prepare. He ordered officials to refuel government vehicles, and asked grocery stores and gas stations to stay open later before the storm.

“There will be such a rush …if you keep limited hours,” he said as he apologized ahead of time for government interruptions on radio stations with storm updates. “Cricket lovers have to bear with us that we’ll have to give information ... this is life and death.”

Beryl is the second named storm in what is predicted to be a busy hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 in the Atlantic. Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Alberto came ashore in northeast Mexico with heavy rains that resulted in four deaths.

Lowry noted that only five named storms on record have formed in the tropical Atlantic east of the Caribbean. Of those, only one hurricane of record has formed east of the Caribbean in June.

Mark Spence, manager of a hostel in Barbados, said in a phone interview that he was calm about the approaching storm.

“It’s the season. You can get a storm any time,” he said. “I’m always prepared. I always have enough food in my house.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts the 2024 hurricane season is likely to be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast calls for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

Beryl is expected to drop up to six inches (15 centimeters) of rain in Barbados and nearby islands, and a high surf warning of waves up to 13 feet (4 meters) was in effect. A storm surge of up to seven feet (2 meters) is also forecast.

The storm is approaching the southeast Caribbean just days after the twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago reported major flooding in the capital, Port-of-Spain, as a result of an unrelated weather event.

Meanwhile, a no-name storm earlier this June dumped more than 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain on parts of South Florida, stranding numerous motorists on flooded streets and pushing water into some homes in low-lying areas.

This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken at 4:50pm EDT shows hurricane Beryl as it strengthens over the Atlantic Ocean and churns toward the southeast Caribbean on Saturday, June 29, 2024. (NOAA via AP)

This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken at 4:20pm EDT shows hurricane Beryl, lower center right, as it strengthens over the Atlantic Ocean and churns toward the southeast Caribbean on Saturday, June 29, 2024. (NOAA via AP)

This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken at 3:10am GMT shows tropical storm Beryl, lower center right, as it strengthens over the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, June 29, 2024. The storm could strengthen into the year's first hurricane before it reaches the Caribbean Sea early next week. (NOAA via AP)