By Jack Sponagle, The Hockey News Intern
We’ve seen many memorable NHL debuts over the years. Derek Stepan scored a hat trick in his debut with the New York Rangers, Auston Matthews found the net four times in an overtime loss in his first game and Al Hill had five points (two goals and three assists) in his debut with the Philadelphia Flyers back in 1977, which is still an NHL record.
However, what those three players all have in common is that their NHL debut happened early in the regular season. In Stepan and Matthews’ case, it was the first game of the year. Hill had his record-setting game in February.
Many NHL players did not lace up their skates for the first time on opening night. Some had to wait until the last few games of the season or even the playoffs to showcase their big-league talents.
Lane Hutson
Hutson set a franchise record this season for most points by a rookie defenseman in Montreal Canadiens history, and he looks like a lock to win this year’s Calder Trophy as the league’s most impressive rookie.
This time last year, the 62nd pick in the 2022 draft was making his NHL debut. Following Boston University’s defeat in the Frozen Four, Hutson played his first NHL game in an overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings. Hutson played two games at the end of last season, registering two assists.
Matty Beniers
Beniers won the Calder Trophy in 2022-23 after scoring 24 goals and 57 points in 80 games. But Beniers made his NHL debut when he played in the final 10 games of the 2021-22 season, putting up three goals and nine points.
Beniers was the first draft pick in Kraken franchise history when he was chosen second overall in the 2021 draft. He made his NHL debut on April 12, 2022, against Calgary, and managed a primary assist on a Ryan Donato goal in a 5-3 loss. He scored his first career goal against New Jersey on April 16, 2022.
Ryan Poehling
Before Ivan Demidov, Poehling’s debut had Habs fans talking. The Canadiens played the Toronto Maple Leafs in their final game of the 2018-19 season.
Poehling scored his first career goal in the first period. He would go on to score in the second and third periods to complete his hat trick before adding the shootout winner. This made him the first Habs player to score three goals in his NHL debut since 1943.
Cale Makar
Before Makar won the Norris Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy in 2022, he was a standout collegiate defenseman for UMass Amherst. Following his last game with the Minutemen, he signed a three-year deal with the Avalanche on April 14, 2019.
The next day, he made his debut for Colorado in Game 3 of their playoff series against Calgary. Makar connected on a drop pass from Nathan MacKinnon and scored his first career goal. He became the seventh player and first defenseman to do so in the playoffs.
Johnny Gaudreau
Another NCAA standout to get his first shot in the NHL in the springtime was the late, great Johnny Gaudreau. His cut-short 10-year NHL career began when he suited up for the Flames’ final game of the 2013-14 season.
He signed his entry-level deal on the same day he was awarded the Hobey Baker Award. He debuted against the Vancouver Canucks and scored the Flames’ only goal on his first shot.
Esa Tikkanen
Tikkanen made his NHL debut during the 1985 playoffs, getting into three games and failing to register a point with three shots on net and two penalty minutes. He was included by Oilers coach Glen Sather in Games 2, 3 and 4 in a 4-1 series victory against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Tikkanen’s brief playoff appearance was enough to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup before his regular-season debut the following year. Tikkanen ended his career with five Stanley Cups.
Jarome Iginla
Iginla became the first 18-year-old to play a game for Calgary since 1983 when he took to the ice against Chicago during the 1996 playoffs.
The morning after Iginla’s Kamloops Blazers were ousted from the WHL playoffs, Iginla flew to Calgary to make his debut. He put up a goal and an assist in his first two games. Iginla made his debut wearing the No. 24, not the iconic No. 12 that hangs from the Saddledome rafters.
Brett Hull
The NHL’s fifth-highest all-time goal-scorer made his debut in the playoffs with Calgary during Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final against Montreal in 1986. Hull had just posted a 52-goal, 84-point season with the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The Canadian-born American citizen played two playoff games in 1986 and went pointless.
Mark Stone
Long before Stone roused debates about the long-term injured reserve being used as a way to subvert the salary cap, he was lighting the WHL on fire with a 41-goal, 123-point season with the Brandon Wheat Kings during in the 2011-12 season.
On April 21, 2012, Stone was added to the Ottawa Senators’ lineup for Game 5 against the New York Rangers in the first round. Stone assisted on Jason Spezza’s game-winning goal.
Mike Richter
The final inclusion is the only goalie to be featured on this list. Richter played 666 games with the Rangers from 1989-90 to 2002-03. But his maiden voyage in the NHL came in the 1989 playoffs, when New York faced the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 4 of the Patrick Division semifinal. Richter allowed four goals on 30 shots in the game, which saw the Penguins come out on top.
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