Warriors’ Rick Celebrini talked to Brent Burns, then moved to San Jose

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 30: Brent Burns (88) of the San Jose Sharks skates on the ice during warmups before the game against the Philadelphia Flyers at the SAP Center in San Jose, California on Thursday, December 30, 2021. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

SAN JOSE – Former San Jose Sharks defenseman Brent Burns reportedly helped Rick Celebrini finalize her decision to move her family from Vancouver to the Bay Area after accepting a position with Golden State Warriors six years ago.

Celebrini was hired by the Warriors as director of sports medicine and performance in 2018 after Chelsea Lane, then head of physical performance and sports medicine, left to join the Atlanta Hawks.

But before he and his wife Robyn moved their family to Northern California, Celebrini wanted to make sure his two oldest boys, Aiden and Macklin, could continue their hockey development in a proper setting.

Enter Burns, whose silence gave Celebrini some peace of mind. After all, Burns’ youngest son, Jagger, was already in the Jr. Sharks program.

“The kids were born and raised in Canada until six years ago when I accepted this position with the Warriors,” Rick Celebrini said Thursday night on ABC7’s “After the Game.”

“So we packed up and headed out as a family. Part of the decision making was to make sure there was a good hockey program here for the boys to continue their development. I talked to Brent Burns at the time and some of the (Sharks) players and they assured me it was a great program here for the guys to go on.”

The Celebrini family then rented a house in San Jose, near Sharks Ice, “and there the boys spent a developmental year before going to Minnesota.”

In the 2019-2020 season, Macklin had 101 points, including 54 goals, in 61 games for the 14U AAA Jr. Sharks, and Aiden, a right defenseman, had 20 points in 56 games for the 15U AAA Jr. Sharks. Sharks. Aiden also had 22 points in nine games for Willow Glen High School.

Both Aiden and Macklin, now 19 and 18 respectively, went on to play at Shattuck St. Mary’s for two more seasons. For starters, Macklin joined the 14U AAA team from the Faribault, Minnesota school, and Aiden played on the 15U AAA team.

Both then committed to Boston University after visiting the school during the 2022 NBA Finals when the Warriors played the Celtics.

Aiden was a third-round pick by the Vancouver Canucks last year, and Macklin is expected to go first overall to the Sharks at the NHL draft later this month in Las Vegas.

“It’s exciting. You have a range of emotions,” Rick Celebrini said of Macklin, likely the No. 1 pick. 1 in the draft. “It’s surreal, it’s hard to believe sometimes, and yet, it’s just around the corner and we’re so excited. It was also exhausting.”

Macklin Celebrini was in South Florida where he met with the media and spoke with Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid before Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Just before that, he was in Buffalo, New York, for the NHL scouting combine, where he also met with reporters and interviewed eight teams.

“Just all the claims on Macklin and then secondly on our family. Just different interviews and questions and requests,” Rick Celebrini said. “So for a 17-year-old kid to see what he’s been through and how he’s acted and behaved, that’s probably what makes me the proudest right now.”

Celebrini’s youngest brother, RJ, plays youth hockey in the Bay Area.

“We have an 11-year-old kid, kind of an aspiring hockey player,” Rick Celebrini said. “Growing up in Canada, you’re so immersed in it. Everywhere you look, there’s hockey. You really can’t get away from it.”