As If The Sharks Needed Any More Reasons To Draft Macklin Celebrini, Draymond Green Wants Them To

The NHL Draft will take place next month at The Sphere in Las Vegas, and there's pretty much no reason that the San Jose Sharks won't take Boston University's Macklin Celebrini with the first pick.

However, if for some bizarre reason, GM Mike Grier and the team's powers that be still needed more convincing look no further than Draymond Green.

Yes, that Draymond Green.

Celebrini's dad, Rick Celebrini, is the Golden State Warriors vice president of player health and performance, and Green has been keeping an eye on his son's burgeoning hockey career.

In an interview with Bleacher Report, Green said that he has also been keeping an eye on what has been happening with the NHL Draft with Celebrini sitting at the top of the board and the Sharks holding the No. 1 pick.

"I have been following (the NHL Draft)," Green said. "I know San Jose Sharks, they should be drafting Mack and he should be coming back to the Bay."

Green said that he has seen Celebrini's highlights and even caught some of his games from this season at BU and even the season before when he was a member of the USHL's Chicago Steel.

"It's been an absolutely incredible experience watching his growth since the time he came here at like 11 or 12 years old and just seeing him put the work in with his father each and every day and the focus that he has for a 17-year-old is unmatched by any 17-year-old I've ever seen," Green said. "So it's been an absolutely incredible experience watching him grow.

While Celebrini himself was a little non-committal about making the jump to the NHL season after the Terriers were knocked out of the Frozen Four by eventual champions Denver, all signs — including Mike Grier's comments upon learning that the Sharks will pick first — seem to indicate that if he wants to go pro, the Sharks are more than happy to have and feel like he's ready.

And while he probably is, it would be interesting to see what would happen if Celebrini — who is on the younger side for an NHL draft pick — played another year in college.

The Sharks could afford to do that because they're not even within sight of their window for making a playoff run of any kind, but perhaps the newer school of thought is that it's better to let younger prospects develop at the NHL level, which we've seen work with other big name prospects in the past, most recently Connor Bedard.

Whatever they choose to do, Celebrini will more than likely be a Shark which will mean a happy Draymond Green… for once.