LATEST | NHL makes a release regarding Aidan Celebrini: High-level quality prospect in the sixth round?

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Felip Gosselin
August 13, 2023 (8:40 PM)

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The Canucks chose the homegrown product Aiden Celebrini from the AJHL's Brooks Bandits with the 171st pick of this year's draft.

It seems he's the name on everyone's lips after the team's summer development camp, as many releases have been centred around him. Son of a former Canuck employee Rick Celebrini (2014-2018), and brother of the expected 1st Overall pick in 2024 (Macklin). Aiden is starting to make a name for himself.

The NHL released yet another article on the prospect, and Mike Komisarek praised the young man's commitment, maturity and eagerness to learn:

"Character and passion," Komisarek said. "You see a kid like that, constantly having a smile on his face, every interaction excited to see you. Some prospects kind of shy away, and you're almost pursuing them, trying to build that relationship, build that trust, so you do have their ear. If it's not a two-way street, if you're constantly having to feed them nuggets, it's never going to work."

Known and described as an excellent defensive defenseman, Celibrini hopes to perfect his two-way game once he joins Boston University alongside his brother and the Canucks' top pick in 2023, Tom Willander:

''Celebrini has the two main tools of the defensive defenceman � mobility and physicality. He closes down the space of attackers in the neutral zone and engages them quickly in the defensive zone. He's aware. He scans for threats and denies lanes with his stick and defends the net front with his frame. ''

-EliteProspects 2023 NHL Draft Guide

At this point, Celibrini has all the tools to develop into the modern-day defensive d-man, much like Akito Hirose. Excellent shutdown defender who plays a fast-paced game and excels at breaking the puck out.

For once, it's nice to see the Canucks picking a home-grown product and see that he could potentially make it to the line-up one day.