Stepan helps Stuetzle settle in with Senators

The first assist in Tim Stuetzle’s goal of establishing himself in the National Hockey League goes to Derek Stepan.

Before finally hitting the ice for the first time with the Ottawa Senators Sunday, Stuetzle and Stepan were in COVID-19 quarantine in a hotel for a week.

Stepan, 30, and a 10-year NHL veteran, passed on advice wherever he could as they worked out and ate together.

When both took part in their first practice, Stepan served as a centre for Stuetzle and Evgenii Dadonov.

“I got to know him a little bit,” Stepan said in a Zoom call. “He’s a good kid. I was joking with my wife that I’ve got three little ones at home and I adopted a German 18-year-old.”

Stuetzle labelled Sunday as an “unbelievable day” and has appreciated everything and anything Stepan can pass along.

As impressive as he was in leading Germany at the world junior championships in Edmonton, Stuetzle recognizes he’s at a different level now.

Accordingly, he’s a sponge, soaking up whatever he can find in order to ease the adjustment into the NHL.

“He’s like a great mentor,” he said of Stepan. “He really helped me a lot during quarantine. He’s a great guy and a great leader and I think an unbelievable player, as well. Hopefully, I learn a lot from him.”

It is an intriguing development, considering that Stepan has only been with the franchise for two weeks, after being acquired in a trade from the Arizona Coyotes for a second round draft pick on Dec. 27. He’s also in the final year of his existing contract and is a potential candidate to be moved again at the trade deadline.

Stuetzle, meanwhile, is one of the chief building blocks in the Senators dream of one day battling for the Stanley Cup.

“I think it’s really important that the young pieces in the organization are going to be the core pieces and to make sure they are doing things, in my eyes, that are the right way,” said Stepan.

“I’m not saying I have a crystal ball and I have exactly the right answers, but I do have a lot of tools that I can pass on that I was given when I was younger. That’s something that’s important to me and that’s part of me and my NHL career.”

Stuetzle, who turns 19 on Friday, when the Senators open the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs, certainly isn’t getting ahead of himself.

He acknowledges having some early nerves before he settled into his first workout.

“I think my confidence is pretty good, but in the end, it’s totally different to be on the ice with NHL guys,” he said. “The boys did their best to get the nerves away from me and I felt good. I felt very comfortable on the ice with them.”

Stuetzle is aware of the great expectations and enthusiasm surrounding him, but he also recognizes that he hasn’t accomplished anything yet at the highest level of hockey.

“I hope I’m going to have a good training camp and play a good season,” he said. “It’s great to get everyone so excited, but first of all I have to prove it by playing good hockey. That’s the first step.”

Senators coach D.J. Smith is taking a go-slow approach with the rookie, careful not to overwhelm him with too many details at the outset.