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More Than One Road To Glory - Feb. 15, 2016 - Vol. 69, Issue. 12 – Ken Campbell

OF THE TOP 10 ROOKIE SCORERS through early 2016, four started the season as teenagers. That number would be one more if not for Connor McDavid fracturing his clavicle after only 13 games and being out of the lineup until after the all-star break. The inclination, of course, is to look at what guys like Max Domi and Jack Eichel are doing and assume they’re going to continue their charmed careers with stardom – or perhaps superstardom – waiting around the corner. And we should, because they’ve given no reason for people to think otherwise.

But what about a guy like Kerby Rychel of the Columbus Blue Jackets? He’s nowhere to be found among the top 10. If you’re looking for Rychel these days, the place you’re most likely to find him is somewhere on the I-71 between Cleveland and Columbus. This season alone, the 21-year-old has been sent down and called up 10 times for the Jackets. There was a day in October when he was called up and made the two-hour drive to Columbus for the morning skate only to be sent right back to Cleveland that afternoon. When he woke up the next morning, he learned he’d been called up again and was on a flight to Chicago to join the Blue Jackets for their game that night.

The kid can’t even buy any green bananas because he doesn’t know how long he’s going to be in one place. The worst part of it, he says, is when he gets called up while he’s on the road with the Lake Erie Monsters, because then the amount of clothing he has with him becomes an issue. That and the fact the difference between playing in the AHL and the NHL represents $855,000 in salary. As of mid-January, Rychel had played 19 NHL games and had yet to score a goal, though he had eight assists. But the same player who played his first game in the OHL days before his 16th birthday and was a first-round pick of Columbus is still finding his way. Like so many other teams, the Blue Jackets have placed their farm team close to them so they could do just what they’re doing with Rychel. When you have a salary cap and every penny counts, shuttling players between the minors and the NHL can save valuable cap space.

For all we know, Rychel could still be a rookie next season, depending on how things play out. He played five games with them last season and, if he doesn’t appear in 25 this season, he’ll be a rookie again in 2016-17. His deployment has led to some tension, to be sure. It was reported he asked for a trade before the season, a la Jonathan Drouin, because his development was being stunted. Which might seem odd, since Kerby’s father Warren, the GM and part owner of the Windsor Spitfires, spent five years bouncing between the minors and the NHL before becoming a full-time player.

“BOUNTIFUL SUCCESS AS A ROOKIE OR LACK OF IT TO START A CAREER IS NOT ALWAYS A PORTENT OF THINGS TO COME

So what does it all mean? What can we draw from Rychel and say, Artemi Panarin, a player three years older who wasn’t even drafted and is now a candidate for the Calder Trophy after spending the better part of six seasons in the KHL? What it means is rookies come in all shapes and sizes, as do their roads to the NHL. The temptation might be to assume Panarin will have the better career than Rychel based on the body of work so far, but that would dismiss what the Blue Jackets saw in Rychel when they drafted him. Is Rychel a shoo-in for fulltime NHL employment? No, but everything about him suggests once he gets there and is fully prepared, he’ll be a very productive player.

Bountiful success in one’s rookie season or lack of it to start a career is not necessarily a portent of things to come. Of the 70 players who won the Calder Trophy between its inception in 1936-37 to 2003-04, only 29 are in the Hall of Fame or will likely be inducted when they become eligible. Gordie Howe didn’t win the Calder. Neither did Jean Beliveau, Jacques Plante, Guy Lafleur, Bobby or Brett Hull or Jaromir Jagr. In fact, of the top 10 scorers of all-time, Mario Lemieux is the only one who was named to the top of his rookie class. (Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier were ruled ineligible in 1979-80 because they had already played a season in the World Hockey Association. Otherwise, Gretzky would have won over Ray Bourque.)

Conversely, you have to be a family member or a hockey history nerd to have heard of Jack Gelineau, Pentti Lund or Brit Selby. They were guys who, like Andrew Raycroft after them, were in situations where they could have outstanding rookie seasons, only to be followed by middling careers.

It may be difficult to accept sometimes, but players such as Kerby Rychel have to remember it when they’re on the bus between Cleveland and Grand Rapids or making that two-hour drive back to Cleveland from Columbus. Just because a young player takes a more scenic route doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t arrive at the same destination

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