Adam Edstrom was notified at the end of warm-ups that he would be playing from his teammate Nick Bonino.
New York City, N.Y: Adam Edstrom not only was a last-minute lineup addition for the New York Rangers, he scored in his first NHL game.
In doing so, he became the first rookie skater since Lias Anderson in 2018 to score in a debut at Madison Square Garden.
Edstrom was added to the roster from the Rangers AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, in the afternoon and took the ice for warm-ups before the game. It was a precautionary move.
During the line rushes the units appeared to be the same as they were on Tuesday. No rookie lap. No special nod. No Adam Edstrom.
That was until the 23-year-old was notified he would be making his NHL debut when the team left the rehearsal skate. That message wasn't delivered by head coach Peter Laviolette, who stated, "No that was Bones [Nick Bonino] giving him the heads up."
The 15th unique forward skater for the Rangers this season said, "Bones came up to me at the end of warmups and said 'I'm not going to play today' so I was a bit shocked because I didn't do any reps."
Laviolette wonders if it helped Edstrom stay in the moment, "I mean, that's tough. Maybe it's good too. You think about it all day. And you think about it too much. It was a game-time decision, and he came into play and played well."
This season is his first full year with the Hartford Wolf Pack. He played in 3 regular season games and 5 Calder Cup playoff matches last season (2022-2023), and 21 games this season for the 3rd best team in the American league.
Edstrom acknowledged his familiarity with his AHL-turned-NHL linemates, "I got to play with [Jonny] Brodzinski who I played in the American league with and [Will] Cuylle who I also knew from before, so they were good to me."
Even with 9 powerplays throughout the game, the Swedish native skated in 9:39 of game action in his national league introduction.
With 3 seconds remaining in the contest, Barclay Goodrow found Edstrom skating to the net, where he'd send the Garden into a frenzy with a last-second score.
For the 2019 161st overall draft pick, the moment had not soaked in yet following the game, " It's a dream come true making my NHL debut... [It was] amazing, I really can't understand it at this point, I kind of blacked out."
Whether it is Louis Domingue hearing his name chanted by 18,000, Jonny Brodzinski earning a long-term stay with the big club, or Adam Edstrom scoring in his last-minute NHL debut, the Wolf Pack have left their mark on a championship-aspiring 2023-2024 Rangers team.
MORE FROM THN:
Chris Kreider Scores His Way Into History As Responsive Rangers Handle The Ducks 5-1
Chris Kreider Ties Adam Graves For Third In Goals In Rangers History