Macklin Celebrini will remain as captain for Team Canada and Sidney Crosby will be an alternate captain at the world hockey championship in Switzerland.
Macklin Celebrini will remain captain for Canada at the Men’s Worlds. In question only because Sidney Crosby joined the team late. Sid will be an assistant. This was a decision lead by the players.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) May 14, 2026
Celebrini, 19, is the youngest-ever Canada captain and the youngest on the team’s roster for the worlds, which open Friday in Zurich and Fribourg.
In only his second NHL season, the centre set a record for the San Jose Sharks with 115 points for 45 goals and 70 assists in 82 regular-season games.
Celebrini finished fourth in the league and was a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award along with established stars Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Only two teenagers have reached the 50-point mark faster in a season than Celebrini, two of the greatest players in NHL history: Crosby and Wayne Gretzky.
Celebrini’s performances earned him a place on a Canada team that took silver at this year’s Milan Cortina Olympics..
Celebrini and Crosby are joined by two other alternate captains, John Tavares of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ryan O’Reilly of the Nashville Predators.
The last-minute addition of Crosby for his fourth appearance at the tournament is a boost for Canada, which is hoping to rebound from a disappointing fifth-place finish last year.
Celebrini, the top pick in the 2024 NHL draft, was at the 2025 tournament on a team that included Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon, but the Canadians were stunned 2-1 by Denmark in the quarterfinals.
Canada last won the men’s worlds in 2023.
