CALGARY, Alberta — Glenn Gawdin made his return to the NHL on Wednesday night against the organization that gave him his start.
Taking on the Flames, who signed him to an entry-level contract in November 2017, when the team that drafted him — the Blues — opted not to, Gawdin made his Rangers debut and appeared in his first NHL game in just over 2 ½ years.
Asked to reflect on his journey to this opportunity with the Blueshirts, the 29-year-old center cited “a lot of emotions.”
“It’s been a few years since I played an NHL game,” Gawdin said before centering the fourth line between Eeli Tolvanen and Jaroslav Chmelar in the Rangers’ 3-1 win over Calgary. “In the back of my mind, I knew if I continued to work, the opportunity might come again. So that’s the mindset that I had is put your head down and keep working.”
With five goals and nine assists through 16 games, Gawdin was tied with Liam Greentree for the Wolf Pack lead in points at the time of the recall.
Wednesday night marked his 14th NHL game across five seasons. In his previous 13 contests, Gawdin recorded just one assist during the 2020-21 season with the Flames.
He said he planned to “keep it simple,” be reliable and play with pace in his first NHL game since March 6, 2024. Logging a game-low 6:27 of ice time, Gawdin won two of six faceoffs.
“Pretty good as of late,” Gawdin said of how his game has been coming along in Hartford. “I think I could say I had a slow start, but I think I found it the last little bit. The team’s also having more success. I think credit to the coaching staff and everybody down there that helped me find my game.”
Mike Sullivan has veered away from using Will Cuylle as his third-line center, an experiment that lasted just three games.
The Rangers head coach reverted to deploying four true centers, utilizing Luke Glendening in Edmonton before recalling Gawdin for Calgary.
Asked if the Cuylle experiment was over, Sullivan said it was “for now.”
Defenseman Sean Durzi participated in the Rangers’ morning skate Wednesday in a red noncontact jersey again.
With an empty-net goal Wednesday night, Tye Kartye has scored in three of the past four games.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
