Valk signs NHL deal

Hat product had injury-free season in Utica; it’s his first-ever NHL contract

While big-name prospects get instant contracts in the NHL, Medicine Hat’s Curtis Valk has kept his nose to the grindstone. On Saturday, it paid off. The 24-year-old signed a one-year entry level deal with the Florida Panthers, following his third season as a pro.

“Free agency opened up, I got a call from my agent and then he sent it over in an email so I signed it that morning,” said Valk. Best Canada Day ever? “Yeah, it’s the best one yet, that is.”

From being an undersized wunderkind as a teenager to captaining his hometown Tigers, Valk has a history of quietly exceeding others’ expectations. Following his last WHL season in 2014 when he scored 47 goals and 45 assists, he was given pretty much every piece of hardware the Tigers could come up with at their awards banquet. But tryouts with St. Louis, then Vancouver didn’t turn into an actual NHL deal.

Midway into his first pro season he was on a pointper-game pace with the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings, but a knee injury requiring surgery was a huge setback. He split time in Kalamazoo and the AHL’s Utica Comets in 2015-16, and this past season played 75 games with Utica, the Canucks’ farm team, finishing with 16 goals and 30 assists to be second on the team in points.

“I was healthy all year, didn’t miss any games due to injury so that was good,” said Valk. “Going into the summer I knew it was going to be a big summer for me. I had a pretty good season last year, I knew an NHL contract was a possibility.

“I kind of looked at it the same way even before I had this deal in place; just keep training hard and stay focused over the summer so I can go into camp playing the best hockey I’m capable of, earn a spot on the Florida Panthers.”

At 5-foot-9 and 166 pounds, Valk will need to show his scoring touch to impress the Panthers’ brass. His contract is a two-way deal, meaning he can play either with Florida or their AHL affiliate in Springfield, Mass.

It’s been a much different path to a deal than drafted players, who often sign on their way out of the majorjunior ranks. But Valk’s had no shortage of experience to lean on in uncle and fellow ex-Tiger Kelly Hrudey, who spent two full seasons tending goal in the minors before embarking on a 15-year NHL career.

“I think with my uncle having played in the NHL, he’s given me some good insight into what the pro game’s like and how this all works,” said Valk. “I’ve been fortunate that way, it hasn’t been too big of a shock for me. Any time you can get advice from anybody, it’s huge.”

In the end though, it’s his own mental makeup that’s brought him this far.

“I think I’ve been pretty confident in my abilities, even since my first training camp with the Tigers. Showing what I had, then getting cut at 16, it’s always discouraging getting cut or sent down. You’ve just got to take what you can from that and learn from it.”

What he’s learned is he can still play at a high level, and he’s far from done with the sport.

“It’s definitely a different path from somebody that was drafted: I think the opportunity is still the same though,” he said. “In hockey today, if you play well and prove you deserve to be there, then you’ll get that shot. That’s what I’ve been trying to do, prove I belong there and that I can produce at high levels.”

“I think I’ve been pretty confident in my abilities, even since my first training camp with the Tigers.”

– Curtis Valk