HELTIMAGINÆR

Crosby’s affinity for representing Canada and traveling to Europe contributed to his surprising late commitment, but more than anything, he came to Switzerland to play with San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini, who was named Team Canada’s captain earlier this month before Crosby signed up.

Even after Crosby arrived, Celebrini, against his own requests, retained the captaincy. The player once known as “Sid the Kid” wouldn’t have had it any other way and wanted the new kid to wear the “C.”

“He’s a very nice guy,” said Crosby, himself famous for being nice, of Celebrini. “I liked him right away.”

‘I always wanted to be just like him’

Crosby first played with Celebrini at last spring’s worlds in Stockholm, and though Denmark shocked Canada in the quarterfinals, the players shared a line and enjoyed instant chemistry. Their styles were so similar that they immediately recognized each other’s patterns. It was magical.

The greatest players of this era all showcase certain trademarks. Connor McDavid almost floats above the ice, faster than anyone in the sport’s history. Nathan MacKinnon churns through the ice, his powerful style different than McDavid’s but just as impressive.

Then there is Celebrini, whose game has a guile, a grinder’s delight, a dogged competitiveness. He’s just as likely to skate through a defense as he is to lift an unsuspecting defenseman’s stick behind the net, producing offense from a simple cycle. Watch him closely enough, and you’ll swear you’ve just watched a Crosby shift.

“There probably is a reason for that,” Celebrini said. “I constantly watched highlights and videos of him when I was growing up. For all of my life, I always wanted to be just like him. I would copy everything he was doing. I’d see a highlight of a pass or a play he made, and I’d try to do it. Now, you never actually think about getting to his level. But you try. The more I think about it, I think watching him when I was growing up definitely played a role in the way I play the game. I think it was a huge influence.”

It’s one thing to want to emulate Crosby, but another thing to pull it off. Celebrini appears to be on his way.

“I see why people would compare them,” said Parker Wotherspoon, who plays defense for Team Canada and the Pittsburgh Penguins. “I think Macklin was part of the generation that grew up watching Sid, and you can see it in the way he plays.”

Celebrini’s first NHL season in 2024-25 was sublime, as he won the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year with 63 points in 70 games. His second season was nothing short of extraordinary. Only 19, Celebrini erupted for 45 goals and 115 points for a young Sharks team that flirted with a playoff berth.

It was reminiscent of Crosby’s 120-point binge in his second season with the Penguins at age 19.

“You’ve got to consider how much better he is now,” Crosby said. “From last year until now? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he wasn’t good last year, because he was. He was really good, in fact. He was amazing. But the jump he’s made over the last year, to me, is very clear. He’s a different hockey player now.”

One day at practice last week, they buzzed through drills, looking like twins, both finishing a drill by beating goaltender Jet Greaves to the glove side. Crosby, a center his entire life, defers to Celebrini and plays on the left wing for Team Canada.

The 38-year-old legend sees the parallels in their style.

While Crosby is a great admirer of McDavid’s game, he’s never played on the same line with the Edmonton Oilers superstar. MacKinnon is one of Crosby’s closest friends, and they did play on the same line at the 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025, but Crosby doesn’t necessarily think their games mesh.

Crosby and Celebrini?

“Definitely there are similarities,” Crosby said. “I can see why people would say that.”

In Canada’s win against Norway last week, an opposing defenseman continually slashed Celebrini on the leg with no penalty called. Celebrini thought better of retaliating at first, but eventually, he couldn’t control himself and punched the defender in the chest. Crosby, who has won nearly every NHL award there is to win except for a Lady Byng Trophy, stood a few feet away, looking on approvingly before joining the scrum.

Crosby has learned to balance calm with fire — as has Celebrini. Another Team Canada lifer sees it, too.

“If you’re suggesting that Sid and Macklin have some similarities, I think you’re definitely onto something,” 17-year NHL vet John Tavares said with a laugh. “Everyone has a different style and their own uniqueness. But their styles are so close. There is so much maturity, so much professionalism, and this incredible drive to be the very best with Macklin. And that’s always been Sid, even when he was young. They both have the unteachable skill. Some things, you’re just born with. But they both kind of will themselves to be better than everyone else. It’s pretty clear. They’re both so special, and I think it’s very cool to see them on the same line together. It’s awesome.”

‘He’s made it easy for me’

Celebrini told the Team Canada coaching staff and management that he wanted Crosby to take over the captaincy upon his arrival in Switzerland.

Upon hearing that, Crosby disagreed, saying Celebrini should wear the “C” for the fortnight. Crosby didn’t wish to strip someone of the captaincy, and he wanted Celebrini to know what it felt like to captain Team Canada in a tournament. It surely won’t be the last time, after all.

“We had some back and forth about it,” Celebrini said. “It was my belief that he should be the captain. He’s Sidney Crosby. Just because of who he is, what he’s meant to hockey, what he’s meant to Hockey Canada, and what he’s meant to all of us in the room. But it didn’t work out that way.”

Instead, Crosby has worn the unfamiliar “A” as alternate captain during the tournament. Crosby does most of the talking in the relationship, but make no mistake, he has identified certain leadership traits in Celebrini.

“More than anything, I love how competitive he is,” Crosby said. “That’s what I see when I pay attention to him. He wants to get better every day, and he wants his team to get better every day. He has a passion for those things. To me, that’s leadership.”

Getting to know Crosby has been like a dream for Celebrini, who turns 20 in June.

“Oh, 100 percent,” he said. “It’s been so great, it’s hard to put it into words. Last year at the worlds, we got tighter, spent some time together. I can’t tell you what it means to me just to pick his brain, be around him, get to know him.”

Crosby’s teammates have long marveled at how easygoing he is, how “normal” he behaves. Hockey gods aren’t supposed to be so grounded, but Crosby has always been this way.

Now Celebrini knows it firsthand.

“He’s made it easy for me,” Celebrini said of Crosby’s tutelage. “To be honest, you wouldn’t even know he’s Sidney Crosby. This is the guy who has been the face of the NHL for 20 years, someone I’ve looked up to my entire life. When I started talking with him and getting to know him, I realized what a humble human being he is. It’s made it so incredibly easy to get to know him, to talk with him. And we talk a lot.”

They talk hockey, they talk life. One is 38, and the other is 19, but they seem to understand each other uniquely.

“You can see it,” Tavares said. “You can just see it.”

Everyone can. Team Canada management couldn’t be more delighted to have both Crosby and Celebrini at this tournament — not just because they aid Canada’s odds of winning, but because of the way Crosby’s mentorship of Celerbini could pave the way for future success.

“Not bad,” said Jason Spezza, Canada co-general manager and Penguins assistant general manager. “Not bad at all.”

‘I think it’s important to win something’

Celebrini was under no obligation to play in Switzerland. He had endured a long season, with the compressed NHL season and Olympics keeping him exceptionally busy.

Yet he never thought twice about making the trek.

Why?

“I think it’s important to get Hockey Canada back on the right track,” he said. “Losing at the worlds last year, that was devastating. And the way the Olympics went, well, that was really devastating. I just think we need to get back on track. I think it’s important to win something.”

Such accountability isn’t typical with teenagers, but Celebrini speaks with a passion that makes you believe him.

“He means it,” Crosby said. “This guy is just a competitor. A real competitor. On and off the ice. That’s what separates him in so many ways.”

The Olympic loss stung for Canada, but perhaps it stung Celebrini and Crosby more than anyone. It was Celebrini’s first taste of the Olympics. It may have been Crosby’s last.

Crosby, injured in the quarterfinals, was unable to play in the final two games. As his dream of winning a third gold medal vanished with one Jack Hughes shot, all Crosby could do was watch. McDavid and MacKinnon, smack in the middle of their primes, couldn’t lift Canada without Crosby.

Neither could Celebrini, who was otherwise brilliant in the tournament. No one could have expected a teenager to rise to the occasion on that stage, except that the teenager does expect that of himself. Kind of like Crosby once did.

“Just need to get Canada back on track,” Celebrini explained again.

And so, after settling for silver in February, the duo decided to get back to work internationally just three months later. Whether Crosby is still playing or retired when the Paris Olympics roll around in 2030, he will have Celebrini prepared.

For now, Celebrini is making an impression on everyone. Like Crosby, he’s quiet and more of a natural listener. And like Crosby, he seems to know precisely when it’s appropriate to speak.

“He just loves being a hockey player,” Tavares said. “He wanted to keep playing this season, wants Canada to win. It’s been quite a run for him the last couple of years, last spring until now, everything he’s been through. The trajectory he’s on. You can see that he takes a lot of pride in wearing a Team Canada sweater.

“The kid just wants to win. He feels the responsibility. He knows he’s stepping in for the next 15 or 20 years, that he’s one of the guys who is going to carry that torch for a very long time. He’s the next wave. You can see the pride he has in it, and you can see, more than anything, how much he loves and respects the game of hockey. He’s a true Canadian kid in that way.”