Pete DeBoer: Thornton Told Me Celebrini Was "the Best Player in the League" - Full Interview

What did Joe Thornton tell Team Canada about Macklin Celebrini? Ex-San Jose Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer — now head coach of the New York Islanders, and the only coach to take the Sharks to a Stanley Cup Final (2016) — joins the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast for one of our best interviews yet.

DeBoer reveals exactly when Team Canada knew Macklin Celebrini was making the Olympic team, and Joe Thornton's scouting report that sealed it: "Not only is he ready, he's the best player in the league right now." He tells the story of a 16-year-old Thornton dropping the gloves in junior, the meeting where he told Jumbo that Joe Pavelski would be captain, and Thornton's ultimate leadership moment in Game 7 vs. Vegas. Plus: the sushi dinner where Pavelski told him he was retiring, how DeBoer went 9-0 in Game 7s, turning Brent Burns back into a Norris-winning defenseman, coaching Celebrini and Matthew Schaefer, his dream defensive shutdown line (Marc-Edouard Vlasic was "on a different planet"), how his law degree shows up behind the bench, his 40-year friendship with Paul Maurice, and the night he met Muhammad Ali at his high school prom.

Hosted by Zubair Jeewanjee, Sheng Peng, Keegan McNally, and Dan Boyle — the most trusted voice in San Jose Sharks hockey. .

See the full episode here: youtube.com/watch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

Bring Hockey Back — sanjosehockeynow10

BladeTech — sanjosehockeynow10

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

FOLLOW SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW

Website: sanjosehockeynow.com (sanjosehockeynow.com)

Instagram: /sanjosehockeynow

X/Twitter: x.com/Sheng_Peng

Podcast: Spotify, Apple & Bleav

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Coaching Joe Thornton — "I Love the Person Even More"
03:01 The 16-Year-Old Jumbo Fight Story
04:48 Telling Thornton That Pavelski Would Be Captain
07:30 Game 7 vs. Vegas: Thornton's Ultimate Leadership Moment
11:32 How DeBoer Is 9-0 in Game 7s
14:48 When Team Canada Knew Celebrini Was an Olympian
15:52 Thornton: Celebrini Is "the Best Player in the League"
21:11 The Sushi Dinner Where Pavelski Said He Was Retiring
29:12 How DeBoer Adapts His System to Each Roster
32:10 Turning Brent Burns Back Into a Defenseman
36:21 Coaching Celebrini & Schaefer: Generational Players
41:06 DeBoer's Dream Defensive Shutdown Line
44:44 How His Law Degree Shows Up Behind the Bench
46:16 40 Years of Friendship With Paul Maurice
51:07 Meeting Muhammad Ali on Prom Night
55:57 "The Tank Is Buzzing Again"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━