In this edition of "From the Archive," we get some thoughts from Jonathan Marchessault and his feelings about coming to Vegas.
ALL JONATHAN MARCHESSAULT ever needed was a chance.
The talented right winger was never a buzzed-about junior. He was never high on any draft radars. In fact, despite playing well for some very successful Quebec Remparts teams in the QMJHL, Marchessault wasn’t drafted at all. His 5-foot-9 frame scared teams away and hurt the youngster’s outlook. “I didn’t even know if I would be able to play pro,” he said. “I wanted to maybe have a career in Europe, so I was just happy to have an AHL/ECHL contract with Hartford my first year (2011-12). When I saw I was successful at that level, I knew that maybe I would have a chance to play in the NHL.”
It was a long, difficult road. Hartford turned into Springfield. After Springfield (and a couple NHL games with Columbus), it was Syracuse. Each AHL stop meant starting over, and every season brought in a new crop of draft picks the NHL organizations were keeping a much closer eye on. But Marchessault kept himself in the conversation by producing. He tied for the team scoring lead in Hartford as a rookie pro, then led Springfield in scoring the year after that. The only year in the AHL that he didn’t lead a team in scoring is when he was traded from Springfield to Syracuse, thus splitting his numbers. “Every year I was doing more than people were expecting, as the underdog,” he said. “So I just keep going like that.”
Eventually Marchessault, now 26, found his way to the Florida Panthers, where he scored 30 goals last season. His previous NHL team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, didn’t want to lose the offensively gifted riser, but they also didn’t have room for him. Having Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Drouin and The Triplets (Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov) can do that. Unfortunately for Marchessault, that meant that his 2015-16 campaign was limited to 45 NHL games, time in the minors and healthy scratches.
So the Panthers took a shot in the summer, and when Jonathan Huberdeau went down right before the season began, Marchessault stepped into the void. “He was huge,” Huberdeau said. “I got hurt and he took my spot with Aleksander Barkov and Jaromir Jagr. As soon as he came in, he was unbelievable. Thirty goals. Nobody expected that, but I know he did. He was confident, and he’s a good guy. I was happy for him.”
But confidence doesn’t buy security. Even though Marchessault led the Panthers in goals, the franchise exposed him in the expansion draft. The Vegas Golden Knights were more than happy to snap him up, and now he’ll be counted on as an offensive driver for a newbie franchise that will be in desperate need of scoring. “That’s my goal,” Marchessault said. “I want to go there and improve every year. I want to have a bigger role, and I think they’re ready to give me that kind of role, but I have to respond.”
Marchessault tied Connor McDavid in goals last season and was one of only 26 NHLers to score 30 or more. (ELIOT J. SCHECHTER/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)
Perhaps the most alluring thing about Marchessault is that ice time seems to be the key to his ascent. He played just 12 minutes a game in Tampa Bay, with middling results. But Florida gave him 17 minutes per contest and he exploded, so first-line minutes in Vegas should benefit both player and team
Marchessault had been informed the day before the expansion draft that Vegas was going to pick him, courtesy of a call from Knights GM George McPhee. That put Marchessault at ease, while giving him a fun secret to keep from his friends, whom he had invited over for an expansion draft party that night. One of the best moments for him was when Vegas confirmed Marc-Andre Fleury would be their marquee netminder. “It’s amazing we can start our first season with a goalie like that,” Marchessault said. “When you have a good goalie, you have a chance to win every night.”
That may be true in a philosophical sense, but most of the hockey world accepts that the Knights will not be favored in many – if any – games. Though opponents shouldn’t assume a trip to Vegas will offer a gimme and look past the Knights to the nightlife. “You gotta be ready when the puck drops,” Marchessault said. “And we’ll be ready.”