SAN JOSE, CA — Just hours after the Canucks wrapped up training camp in Penticton, a different kind of Vancouver prospect was making his highly anticipated debut some 1600 kilometres away.

North Vancouver’s Macklin Celebrini, drafted first overall by the San Jose Sharks in June, took to the SAP Center ice for the first time Sunday evening. While his Sharks lost 4-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights in the preseason tilt, Celebrini put on a show for the announced crowd of 9,049 with his first goal and an assist.

Centring a line between Klim Kostin and former Canuck Tyler Toffoli, Celebrini’s skill showed up in the details during the first two periods. The 18-year-old phenom was already taking turns quarterbacking the first power play unit, with his ability to spin past defenders and evade stick checks on full display.

His linemate Toffoli is no stranger to playing with talented linemates, and already sees what makes Celebrini special.

“You saw tonight the things that he can do, not only scoring goals and the pass that he made to me, but I thought he did a really good job of staying low in the d-zone and being really responsible,” Toffoli said. “It’s only been one game, but he’s been great all the way throughout camp so far.”

“He just he wants to be the guy. He wants the puck on his stick the whole game and he doesn’t wait around for [the play] to come to him.”

The only people who wanted the puck on Celebrini’s stick more was the San Jose crowd. The energy in the building rose every time he touched the puck, whether it was the cheering on his first breakout of the game, or the ‘oohs and ahhs’ after a neat little spin-o-rama move sent a Knights player the wrong way right before a backhand pass across the crease to Mikael Granlund.

Beyond the fancy footwork and stickhandling, Celebrini was also winning board battles and setting up passing plays through the middle of the ice. Even after taking a heavy hit from Vegas’ Kaeden Korczak, he refused to shy away from going to the dirty areas against a much bigger and heavier Vegas lineup.

But through the first forty minutes, Celebrini’s efforts were almost solely focused on setting up his teammates for chances. But with time running out, his game plan shifted into total takeover. It was only fitting that in the third period, with the Sharks down by three and on the power play, he did just that with a blistering one-timer past Isaiah Saville for the Sharks’ first preseason goal.

Then a minute and a half later, with another Golden Knight in the box, Celebrini evaded the checking defender with his feet before firing a perfect pass onto the stick of Tyler Toffoli for a defleciton to cut the lead to one.

Toffoli wasn’t nearly as surprised that the puck found him as the fans might have been. “We kind of talked about it honestly, before that power play,” Toffoli said.

But despite the success he had on the scoresheet, he wasn’t above critiquing his own play.

“Especially with the type of structure we want to play, I wasn’t good enough [defensively],” Celebrini said. “I feel like as we start playing more together, start reading off each other better, those things will clean up.”

The Sharks are certainly hoping for the same improvements throughout their roster, after five seasons spent in a deep rebuilding process. But with Celebrini leading the charge, the tides already seem to be slowly turning at the Shark Tank.

“Right when you stepped on the ice, just getting in the building for the first time, it was really cool,” Celebrini said post game. “It was pretty loud in there, I really enjoyed that.”

Canucks fans will get their first look at the local superstar when Celebrini and the Sharks make their lone trip to Rogers Arena this season on Dec. 23. The two teams will square off twice in San Jose on Nov. 2 and Feb 6.