MAKING HIS PITCH

McIsaac is a two-way defenseman with elite skating skills and a solid array of shots.

It was almost too good to be true. Following his fantastic season in Halifax, McIsaac had surgery to repair his right shoulder. After missing half of the 2019-20 season due to rehab, he injured his other shoulder on the first shift of his professional debut in Finland, which kept him off the ice for an additional six months.

“When it happened the second time in Finland, I was like, ‘This can’t be real.’ It was like I had just finished rehabbing the first one and now I had dislocated the other one,” he recalled. “I think I handled the second a little better because I knew what was coming.”

Having played a total of 39 games between the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, McIsaac was eager to experience an injury-free campaign. Last year, he ended up appearing in 70 games with the Griffins, the most action he has seen in any single season in his career.

“It was great to play a full season and regain my confidence,” he said. “I think playing that

Last year, McIsaac appeared in 70 games many games helped put my mind at ease. It was nice not to have to worry about the with the Griffins, the shoulders. I could just go out and play and have fun. I got most action he has to play a lot and I felt like I played pretty well all year.” seen in any single Although he had seen action in 10 AHL games season in his career. with the Griffins at the end of 2020-21, he feels like last season was his first true test at playing at the professional level. “It was a fairly big adjustment for me,” he said. “I needed to tighten my overall defensive game, not give as much time and space to guys. After the first 15 games, I felt like I was settling in and I started getting rewarded for my play, which was huge for my confidence.” Indeed, the stats support his assessment of his first full pro season, which saw some measure of fatigue late in the season. After registering three assists in the first 15 games, he tallied five goals and 12 assists over the next 36 games before finishing with four assists in the last 19 games.

McIsaac has represented Canada in international play several times.

“I thought my game took a huge step forward during the middle part of the season,” he said. “My skating is one of my biggest assets. When I use it the right way, skating efficiently, it shows in my play, which builds my confidence and earns the trust of my coaches who put me in a position to succeed.”

McIsaac found it gratifying that the Griffins’ coaching staff gave him the chance to play in all situations, including both the power play and penalty kill. He finished tied for ninth in rookie scoring among AHL defensemen, but he took greater pride in his growth as a defender. “It’s great when you get your name on the scoresheet, but the less you notice me, the better,” he said. “I want to be known as a defensive guy first; the offense will come later.”

Although injuries may have delayed his development, McIsaac remains optimistic about his chances. McIsaac knows it will be “I think I took huge steps a big thrill should he get last year as far as playing with confidence and using the opportunity to play in my skating ability to my the NHL this season. “It advantage,” he said. “I wish there was just one thing that would be nice to get that I could pick and focus on, first one under my belt, but there are all kinds of things that I can do to get more for my family to be better and make the next able to see it,” he said. jump to the big club. “I just hope to start where I left off. I want to keep developing and continue to make progress in my game.” McIsaac knows it will be a big thrill should he get the opportunity to play in the NHL this season. “It would be nice to get that first one under my belt, more for my family to be able to see it,” he said. The only thing better would be if he could play in a game where his uncle was a referee. “It would be cool to share the ice with my uncle,” McIsaac said. “I would love to throw a few digs at him on the way to the penalty box.”

McIsaac finished last season tied for ninth in rookie scoring among AHL defensemen.

McIsaac played most of his junior hockey for the Halifax Mooseheads, the same team for which Colorado Avalanche defenseman Nathan MacKinnon had played four seasons before.

Much has changed in the life of Gus Nyquist during the past decade. • At the age of 33, he has become a respected NHL veteran, considered one of the most consistent and dependable players in the league. • He is in the last season of a four-year contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets, his second team since leaving Detroit after eight seasons. Many of his former Red Wings teammates are now retired. • Six years ago, he watched Nyquist, a horse named in his honor and a fifth-generation descendant of Secretariat, win the 2016 Kentucky Derby. • He is now the father of two beautiful daughters with his wife Danielle, whom he met while attending the University of Maine.

One thing that has not changed is Nyquist’s memory of the 2013 NHL and AHL playoffs. Next spring will mark the 10th anniversary of the Griffins’ remarkable postseason run to the organization’s first Calder Cup championship.

“I feel old – it seems like a long time ago now,” Nyquist chuckled during a recent interview via Zoom from his home in Columbus. “I have a lot of good memories from that year of playing in Grand Rapids and winning the Calder Cup.”

Although Nyquist had spent the majority of the 2012-13 season in Grand Rapids, he finished the year in Detroit with a Red Wings club that was primed for a promising playoff push.

Alas, it was not to be.

“After being up three games to one against Chicago, we ended up losing in the second round. We lost Game 7 in overtime, which I still remember clearly to this day,” said Nyquist, who assisted on the Red Wings’ lone goal in the 2-1 loss, a game-tying, third-period tally by Henrik Zetterberg. “It was a tough exit.”

Nyquist contends the Red Wings were good enough to win it all.

“Obviously, we were heartbroken,” he said. “We felt like we had a good chance to go all the way. We had a great team but we just couldn’t find a way to close out the series. We felt like we played really well and we had our chances, but we were up against another really good team because the Blackhawks went on to win the Cup that year.”

Nyquist has never had fewer than 40 points in a season at the NHL level.

Nyquist played all 82 games last season after shoulder surgery sidelined him for the entire 2020-21 campaign.

The hockey season, however, was not over for Nyquist, nor was it finished for his teammates Joakim Andersson and Danny DeKeyser.

“We were on the bus after that tough loss when Kenny [Holland, Red Wings GM] told us that we were getting on a plane the next night to go to Oklahoma City,” Nyquist recalled. “We flew into Oklahoma, but the game was postponed because of severe weather.”

Tornadoes had hit the Sooner State, but the Barons hockey team had something else to weather. The addition of the battle-tested Red Wings trio gave the Griffins a second wind, helping the visitors erase a 2-1 game deficit by winning the next two games by 4-0 and 3-0 scores.

After a 4-3 loss in Grand Rapids, the Griffins qualified for the Calder Cup Finals by eliminating Oklahoma City with a 5-4 victory in Game 7. “To be able to get another chance to win a championship was really exciting,” Nyquist said. “It was bonus hockey for us and it turned out to be a really good experience to rejoin a great group of guys.”

Nyquist had played a large portion of the season with the Griffins, so it was not like he was unfamiliar with his teammates. In 58 games with Grand Rapids during 2012-13, he had recorded 60 points (23-37— 60), so he felt confident that he could contribute right from the start.

“We found our roles right away and everything kinda clicked,” he said. “That can be a challenge at times, especially when you’re joining a team where everything has been working. Sometimes things don’t work the same with new personnel.”

Nyquist did not need to worry. Teammate Tomas Tatar was the playoff MVP with 16 goals in 24 games, Jan Mursak scored several timely goals, and goaltender Petr Mrazek was practically standing on his head to stop nearly every puck in sight.

But Nyquist also remembers how the team’s veterans – captain Jeff Hoggan, Nathan Paetsch, Brennan Evans and Triston Grant – kept everyone on the same page and managed to temper their emotions from getting too high or too low.