Sharks rookie Viel fights Wild player on first shift
Sharks winger Jeffrey Viel started with the right hand, coming in over the top three or four times against Minnesota Wild forward Luke Johnson. Viel then grabbed Johnson’s jersey near the front of the collar to free up his left hand, which he used to connect with a few shots before the linesmen stepped in to break up the scrap.
Viel then got up, spun around, and clapped his hands together before he skated toward the penalty box, hearing the appreciative stick-taps from his teammates.
Not bad for your first shift in the NHL.
“Yeah, it was obviously a huge honor,” to play in an NHL game, Viel said Monday night after the Sharks’ 4-3 shootout win over the Wild. “I think I played pretty good. Obviously had the butterflies for a while but I’m pretty proud of my game.”
Viel, 24, also created a scoring opportunity in his first NHL shift and finished with two hits in 7:28 of ice time, making a bid to be back in the Sharks’ lineup again Wednesday when they wrap up their twogame series with the Wild at SAP Center.
“It’s tough to make a statement on a guy after one game, but I liked what I saw,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. “He’s a guy that can help us. He’s sort of a jell guy. The players are excited for him. Just a good guy that deserves his shot, has put his time in and I’m real happy for him.”
Viel became the third Sharks player to pick up a fighting major in his NHL debut. The others were Jeff
Odgers on Oct. 29, 1991, and Brad Staubitz on Oct. 17, 2008.
Like Odgers and Staubitz, who were also undrafted and had to pay their dues in the minors, Viel didn’t have an easy path to his first NHL game.
Viel earned an AHL contract with the Barracuda in 2018 as he captained Acadie-Bathurst to the Quebec Major Junior title and later the Memorial Cup. After his first season with the Barracuda in which he had 22 points and 94 penalty minutes in 68 games, the Sharks gave him a twoyear, two-way contract.
“Great for him. He’s taken the long road here,” Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson said of Viel. “He’s a hard-working guy that hasn’t quit on his dream
and today he got to experience it. I think he did a great job, even though he was probably a little bit nervous going out there for the warm-up.”
Viel played 54 games with the Barracuda in the shortened AHL season. His 103 penalty minutes were far and away the most on the team, but his 13 goals ranked fourth on the Barracuda.
Boughner said when the Sharks’ braintrust has met to discuss who to recall from the AHL given their needs, Viel’s name was usually mentioned.
“He might not be the guy down on the Barracuda with the best stat line, putting up big numbers in the American League,” Boughner said Tuesday. “But he’s been from what I see when I watch the games is, (he’s) the heart soul of that team and a guy that’s a leader, takes care of people, works hard every day.
“I know the (Barracuda) coaching staff really appreciates him, so it was an easy decision to put him in there and give him a reward.”