Does Celebrini accelerate the Sharks’ rebuild? Plus other post-lottery thoughts
So, does winning the draft lottery and using the No. 1 overall selection next month on center Macklin Celebrini affect the San Jose Sharks’ rebuild? The short answer? Maybe a little bit. General manager Mike Grier confirmed, for all intents and purposes, that he’ll take Celebrini with the No. 1 overall selection at the NHL Draft next month in Las Vegas. However, he continued to stress that he’s not interested in skipping steps when assembling a team that can compete for the long term. It’s just that he’ll soon have a player who can help the Sharks get to that point a bit quicker than some others in this year’s draft would have. “We’ll probably try and stay the same,” Grier said of the rebuild on the Sharks Audio Network just a few minutes after the draft lottery concluded. “But we also have to be cognizant of surrounding Macklin with good veterans and people he can play with and make plays with. It’s a little bit of a juggling act. “But if you look at it maybe a couple years down the road, it probably