Mason McTavish Is Hockey’s Well-Travelled Prospect

Just think about being on the other facet of the globe, only to have your beard trimmer conk out on you. What’s a boy-person to do? Well, if you’re Mason McTavish, you just take some of your signing reward income and you replace it. When you can uncover the time, of class.

What with all the vacation and the scoring and the jet lag, it just wasn’t a huge priority. “I have to go out and get a person,” said McTavish, rubbing his chin in the bowels of FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton soon after a a few-help performance on a Saturday afternoon, “because this is having out of hand.”

You will have to excuse him if he’s a minor frazzled. You would be as well if you were being on your eighth task in your third continent and fourth country in 10 months. Usually when a dude performs for that quite a few groups so immediately, it is ample to prompt a sea of red flags, but for McTavish, that could not be further from the fact. It is the polar opposite, essentially. McTavish has been a Duck, Gull, Pete and Bulldog, amid other factors, because it would seem all people wishes him to engage in for them. Now that he’s uncovered a property, at the very least for the relaxation of this season, with the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs, that beard trimmer is upcoming to be ticked off the to-do list.

Judging by the way the 3rd overall choose in 2021 and the Anaheim Ducks’ leading prospect has been playing, there’s a very good probability that new gadget will get operate right until mid-April, then if items go according to program, not again right up until sometime all-around Canada Day, a pair of times immediately after the Memorial Cup finishes.

The Bulldogs ended up one particular of the CHL’s prime groups when they gave up two players and 6 draft picks – like a conditional pick in 2025 that will be used on a kid who is currently playing on an underneath-13 crew someplace – to get McTavish as a rental from the Peterborough Petes in January. With McTavish in the lineup, they might extremely nicely be a juggernaut. “I feel he’s the very best participant in junior hockey,” mentioned Bulldogs president and GM Steve Staios, who pulled the trigger on the offer. “I go back again to the (2019 OHL) draft. He was the prime participant on our board. I have usually been fond of him as a participant.”

There seems to be a bit of that appreciate for McTavish likely about. In fact, the pandemic, Olympics and McTavish’s play have conspired to see him have on 8 diverse uniforms because previous time. At a charge of about $500 to get each individual of individuals sweaters framed, McTavish probably can not afford to be substantially extra preferred than he presently is – and then there is also the matter of acquiring wall room for all of them.

It all started out last period when the pandemic wiped out the OHL marketing campaign, so McTavish, who was born in Switzerland in 2003 when his father performed there, joined Olten of the next-tier Swiss League, then left in late April to assistance manual Canada to an under-18 worlds gold medal.

Then, things turned a blur. The Ducks drafted him No. 3 in general, then gave him a nine-activity audition, mixed with a 3-match tour with their AHL farm staff in San Diego. The Ducks then returned McTavish to OHL Peterborough, a disappointment to which he responded by scoring a hat trick in his 1st recreation back in junior. The day McTavish was returned to Peterborough, Staios put in a phone to Petes GM Mike Oke to express his fascination in obtaining McTavish.

Then it was on to Canada’s group for the truncated World Junior Championship, and by the time he was dealt to Hamilton at the OHL trade deadline, it was presently determined that McTavish was likely to become the youngest player on Canada’s Olympic staff in Beijing. He performed a few game titles for Hamilton, then remaining for the Olympics, returning to Hamilton in late February. On his return, it took McTavish all of 35 seconds to rating his to start with objective. In his first 6 online games all round with the Bulldogs, he piled up 15 factors.

“It sucks simply because that is in which I want to perform, in the NHL.” McTavish stated. “But I imagine it was the suitable transfer at the time. I have developed a lot additional and received a good deal more offensive touches in the ‘O’ zone and more option to play on the power engage in on the flank. These are the factors that are going to
get me to be a much better participant in the long run.”

The Ducks could have saved McTavish up all this year and performed him on the wing, and it probable would have turned out all proper. He would have practised with and performed versus the very best gamers in the entire world, and he almost certainly would have taken seriously very good notes from Ryan Getzlaf. But like McTavish himself, the Ducks perspective him as a middle when he’s ready to participate in in the ideal league in the earth. What type of player will he be? What effect will he have? Nicely, now, that’s a minimal extra vexing, not due to the fact there is any question that he’ll be an effects participant, but because he does so a lot of factors perfectly that it is tough to pigeon-hole him to 1 template. For his section, McTavish admires the way J.T. Miller and Bo Horvat enjoy the sport, though a large amount of observers see him as the heir apparent to Getzlaf or potentially Anze Kopitar. We all know how they like their huge two-way pivots in the Pacific Division.

“I like the individual a lot more than nearly anything,” explained Bulldogs coach Jay McKee. “He’s a wonderful child. He loves the activity. He’s a seriously good teammate, and he’s seriously clicked with the men here. On the ice, he’s an elite talent. His shot is a difficult NHL shot. It is not just an NHL shot, it’s a hard NHL shot. Eyesight, playmaking, he’s definitely the comprehensive package of a player. He’s obtained it all. He’s obtained contend, defensive accountability. Everything is way higher than regular. He’s a whole-package deal player.”

At 6-foot-1 and 207 kilos, McTavish is a really massive fire hydrant, albeit just one with a top-quality ability to get all-around the ice. Nobody is expecting McTavish to be a hockey nomad next year, mainly because, barring a complete catastrophe, he’ll be in Anaheim for fantastic. Following this season and the WJC this summer, there will be absolutely nothing still left for him to accomplish at this amount. And he’s so shut to remaining prepared. When hockey persons discuss about 19-year-old prospects, typically the 1st caveat they have is that the participant has to get much better. No person is expressing Mason McTavish has to get more robust.

The Bulldogs went 10-1- when McTavish was away at the Olympics, prompting McKee to notify McTavish on his return that he may be in a position to discover a spot for him on the fourth line. McTavish quickly went on a tear, including a person game where he assisted on the additional time-winner on a set play. Soon after the Bulldogs won the attract, defenseman Nathan Staios (certainly, Steve’s son) took it back again deep into the Hamilton zone, though defenseman Colton Kammerer altered through the ‘D’ doorway, with McTavish sneaking out the other facet of the bench.

Staios made a pass to McTavish that despatched him on a breakaway, which was saved just before McTavish gathered up the puck, took it all-around the internet and fought off a defender ahead of feeding it to Staios, who scored. It was a 20-next clip of the strengths in McTavish’s activity. And it was a obvious indicator that when the recreation is on the line, the Bulldogs know precisely on whose adhere they want the puck.

“He was introduced in for a reason,” McKee mentioned, “to check out to assistance us do one thing unique. He’s a person who just would make fellas all around him greater. If you inquire any of these children, all people is thrilled to enjoy with him. He raises the tempo of the shift, he raises the tempo in observe, and he’s bought a ton of beneficial vitality.”

By the time the Ducks get McTavish next season, they’ll have an particularly experienced, NHL-completely ready player. Enjoying with all these players and personalities and for 8 diverse coaches more than the previous year has permitted McTavish to extract an awful good deal of expertise out of the individuals who have surrounded him. He’s played and excelled at just about every single level of elite hockey, and he has created a mark everywhere you go he’s been. And that is added to what was previously a large amount of maturity and worldly experience. “When I occur to the rink, I’m very experienced and like to dial it in,” McTavish mentioned. “But absent from the rink, I’m just like each other male, I like to have enjoyment. When I’m at the rink, I want to produce and get superior. I just really like to participate in hockey, and each time I’m out there, I just want to acquire and compete and do the very best for myself and the crew I’m taking part in for.”

And there are eight teams, 8 coaches and dozens of teammates above the past 12 months who would gladly
attest to that.