Milford’s Thompson eager for NHL debut
The New Jersey Devils want to give Tyce Thompson a few practices to get up to NHL speed before he may make his big-league debut. The Devils play a homeand-home this week against the Buffalo Sabres, featuring Tyce’s big brother Tage, with whom he skated in Bridgeport as usual in the summer.
Don’t think that hasn’t caught Tyce Thompson’s eye.
“I’m waiting to be able to get into the lineup. That decision’s up to management and the coaches,” Tyce Thompson said Thursday in a media availability that the team posted online.
“I know that decision is down the road. If that becomes an opportunity, getting to play against my brother in my first game, it’d be something special. If not, it’s not the end of the world. I’m just looking forward to my first game.”
Thompson signed with the Devils on March 24 at the end of his junior year at Providence College, waiting out quarantine and skating with the team for the first time on Thursday. The Devils play Sunday against Washington, then Tuesday at home against the Sabres and Thursday at Buffalo.
Devils coach Lindy Ruff didn’t want to toss the 21year-old right in.
“I saw some excitement out of him,” Ruff said Thursday. “I didn’t get to see a lot of him, but I think we can see he skates well. He’ll get a feel for how we play. Pretty sure we’ll get him even more involved in practice than he was today.”
Thompson’s father, Brent, has coached the Bridgeport Sound Tigers for all but two years since 2011, so the family has spent a lot of time in the area. The Wonderland of Ice has been their summer on-ice home.
Tage Thompson was UConn’s first NHL firstround draft pick and has become a regular with the Sabres this season; he scored in the closing seconds Thursday night to send their game to overtime before the New York Rangers won it.
Tyce Thompson meanwhile went to Salisbury Prep, spent a year in the USHL, then went to Providence. The Devils picked him in the fourth round of the 2019 NHL draft after a freshman year in which he scored 25 points.
“Obviously I needed some more time to go back to school, put on some weight, get bigger and stronger,” said Thompson, now listed at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds. “I knew I’d go back
after I was drafted for a year or two.”
He had 44 points in 34 games last year before the pandemic cut that season short. He scored a point a game this year, when the Friars were the last team out of the NCAA tournament.
They were on standby in case a team quickly pulled out of the tournament. Two did, but after the cutoff. Thompson signed with New Jersey.
He said the players made him feel welcome on his first day of practice after a week of quarantine, studying video and playing Fortnite.
“It’s every kid’s dream to make it here,” Thompson said. “To know I’m pretty close now and just seeing all the guys, like (Jack) Hughes, P.K. (Subban), (Kyle) Palmieri, all these guys you look up to, watching them play every night, it’s surreal.”