NHL Rookie Notebook: Ducks' Drysdale dominant in NHL debut

Every week throughout the 2020-21 season, we’re highlighting a handful of rookie performances and milestones from around the league.

Senators’ Daccord should be your new favourite player

It’s been quite a week for Ottawa Senators goaltender Joey Daccord. On Sunday night, the 24-year-old was unexpectedly tossed into the starter’s role after an injury took Matt Murray out during warmups.

Thirty-three saves and plenty of drama later, Daccord had his first career NHL win and quickly became everyone’s new favourite player thanks to a joyful, honest, and emotional post-game interview:

Unfortunately, Daccord’s run of starts — he started both Monday and Wednesday night’s matchups against the Canucks — was cut short after he, too, fell to injury. Following Monday’s 3-2 overtime loss, in which Daccord stopped 25 of 28 shots, the Boston native stopped 19 of 21 in Wednesday’s Canucks rematch before going down five minutes into the third period. He looked to be in a lot of pain in the non-contact injury, and had to be helped off the ice. As we learned on Friday, he could be done for the season.

Stützle dazzles with backhand pass

Part of what made Daccord’s post-game interview so wonderful Sunday night was his enthusiastic recalling of rookie teammate Tim Stützle’s incredible pass to set up Drake Batherson:

“That pass from Timmy was — oh my God, I almost fell over.”

Same, Joey.

Stützle had the whole hockey world buzzing with that one. The 19-year-old currently sits second in assists among his Senators teammates, with 12, and second in points among all rookies league-wide, with 18.

Kahkonen’s win streak continues

He only made one appearance since we checked in last Friday, but Kahkonen certainly made it count: He stopped all 31 shots Tuesday against the Arizona Coyotes for his second career shutout and his ninth consecutive victory.

He’s undoubtedly the starter of the future in Minnesota, but what about right now? With Cam Talbot back in fine form, the Wild have themselves a solid tandem and a great goalie battle. Talbot got the bulk of the starts this past week, recording a pair of wins against Arizona, including a shutout, followed by a loss to Colorado in which he made a whopping 50 saves.

Lankinen robs Ekblad with incredible glove save

We’ve had lots of great rookie goaltending stories this season, with the surprise emergence of Chicago Blackhawks netminder Kevin Lankinen leading the way out of the gates and throughout much of the first half of the season.

While Chicago struggled this week with a trio of losses, Lankinen’s skill was on full display Monday night with this elite save against Florida Panthers star Aaron Ekblad:

Ducks’ Drysdale dominant in NHL debut

The Anaheim Ducks have a bright future ahead of them with playmakers like Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras coming up big like they did Thursday night.

Suiting up for his NHL debut against the Coyotes Thursday, Drysdale wasted no time in making a strong first impression.

First, he got the Ducks on the board with his first career NHL goal at the 12-minute mark of the second period. (The goal was initially credited to Max Jones, but quickly corrected.)

Then, 2:29 later, the defenceman helped set up a gorgeous goal by Zegras. It was Zegras’s first career goal, and Drysdale’s secondary assist marked his first career helper.

Drysdale, former OHL Erie Otter and sixth overall selection of last fall’s draft, is known for his elite skating and strong puck movement and that was on full display Thursday.

At 18 years and 344 days, he’s the youngest player in Ducks franchise history to record two points in his debut, and is just the third 18-year-old defender to put up multiple points in his first outing (Petr Svoboda did it in Montreal in 1984, and Ray Bourque was the first to do so in 1979 with Boston). He’s also the fourth 18-year-old defenceman ever to score in his NHL debut.

Zegras, who hails from Bedford, N.Y., was selected by the Ducks ninth overall in 2019 and now has 11 games under his belt. He and Drysdale, from Toronto, have long been opponents on the international stage but now, lucky for the Ducks, are already finding chemistry when flying together.

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