After going through a similar transition last season, Darren Raddysh knows first hand that transitioning from the AHL to NHL brings it's own challenges.
The stars of the Tampa Bay Lightning have led the way, with Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov all finding their rhythm in the second half of the season.
The 6-3 victory against New Jersey before the All-star break gave them wins in eight of their last nine games. After giving up 3.48 goals per game in the first half of the season, the Lightning held their opponents to 2.33 goals in the month of January. The difference between two and three goals is often a win vs a loss. As the team inches closer to the playoffs, they are working for every point they can get.
When the roster was hit with injuries to Mikhail Sergachev, Haydn Fleury, Erik Cernak and Tanner Jeannot, the Lightning had to rely on players from AHL Syracuse. In years past, the Lightning locker room was stacked with veteran players. For players in Syracuse, that meant cracking the roster was incredibly difficult and oftentimes, very short term.
This season has proven to be different. Forward Mitchell Chaffee drew into the lineup one day after he was recalled from AHL Syracuse. He scored his first NHL goal that night against Arizona. To make matters even sweeter, his Crunch teammates Max Crozier and Emil Lilleberg recorded the two assists on the play. Lilleberg in particular has made an impact with the physicality he brings to the game.
After a rocky first half of the season, the youthful energy the rookies bring to the room has been welcomed.
“Three of those guys I played with last year, you know they’re all energetic guys and we got along pretty well,” said defenseman Darren Raddysh. “To see them get a chance to come up here, it kind of felt like we were back in Syracuse a little bit playing together.”
Transitioning from the AHL to NHL brings it's own challenges. After going through a similar transition last season, Raddysh has taken on the responsibility of helping some of the rookies get adjusted.
“The schedules are a little bit different. You usually play Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Friday, Saturday, Wednesday, so you have few days off in between games and you can get your body ready for each of those games. Here it's tough when you're playing every other night and back-to-backs in different cities. I think that's probably the biggest change when you come up from playing in the AHL.”
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Raddysh credits Victor Hedman, Mikhail Sergachev and Ross Colton for helping him feel comfortable throughout the transition last year. Now he’s sharing what he learned in the process.
“You have to do all the right things, all the time.. and you’ve got to make sure you're putting yourself in good positions when you're out there on the ice.“
“I think one of the biggest things is if a coach sees you want to work hard, and you have the will to try and do anything, they'll notice that. Then when you do get your chance, you'll be ready for anything that comes.”
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