The Sharks win the 2024 Draft Lottery!

It's official! The San Jose Sharks have won the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery and the right to select superstar in the making Macklin Celebrini with the 1st overall pick.

The results of the 2024 Draft Lottery were made official on ESPN and Sportsnet just now with Sharks winning the lottery with 18.5% odds.

For those not in the know, Celebrini is the consensus #1 draft choice heading into this summer's draft and for good reason. The 17 year old native of North Vancouver, BC won the Hobey Baker Award as the NCAA's MVP this past season, becoming the youngest player to ever do so. He was an absolute stud for Boston University this season, despite being nearly five years younger than some of his opponents. He's the 4th freshman to win the Hobey Baker, joining the likes of Paul Kariya, Jack Eichel and Adam Fantilli.

Celebrini's older brother Aiden Celebrini was drafted by his hometown Vancouver Canucks in the 6th round of last year's draft. Macklin and Aiden have both made it no secret that they're fans of the Canucks, so it'll be interesting to see if the two brothers create a bit of a rivalry now that they're likely to play in different NHL locales.

Incidentally, ESPN insider John Buccigross may have accidentally leaked the lottery result earlier today when he posted a photo online that showed the Sharks as the lotto winners.

Buccigross Tweeted out this photo earlier today and quickly deleted it:

You see it?

Look a little closer:

While the Sharks did indeed end up wining the Draft Lottery, things didn't play out in real-life exactly how they're portrayed in Buccigross' photo. Maybe this was a bit of a premature photo sent out from Buccigross while the tech team was rehearsing or running simulations?

In any case, the Sharks have won and all signs point to Celebrini joining him after the Draft. Which, is fantastic because the young man spent part of his childhood in the Bay Area when he Father was employed as a medical trainer by the NBA's Golden State Warriors. In a way, this will be sort of a homecoming for the Celebrini family.