Old soul Tendeck signs with Coyotes
Giants netminder inks NHL entry contract
David Tendeck’s music playlists and birth certificate don’t necessarily match.
“It’s one of the things I’ll miss,” Vancouver Giants coach Michael Dyck said of the netminder moving on from the Western Hockey League club of which he’s been a part for the past four seasons. “He has a thing for Led Zeppelin and Rush. I’d hear (Rush song) Tom Sawyer coming out of the dressing room and I’d know that Tendy was here. Then the other guys would start to show up and the music would change.”
The soft-spoken Tendeck, 20, has always come off older than he is in multiple ways. He’s always poised and mature. It’s easy to guess that’s part of the appeal for the National Hockey League’s Arizona Coyotes, who opted to sign their 2018 sixth-round NHL draft pick to a three-year, entry-level deal on Monday. They had until June 1 to ink him to a deal or they would have lost his rights.
“It’s nice to have some good news,” Dyck said of these COVID-19 pandemic times.
Tendeck might be the best goalie the Giants have ever had. He’s in that conversation with Tyson Sexsmith, who backstopped the team to the 2007 Memorial Cup national championship out of the tournament host spot.
Tendeck sparkled versus the Spokane Chiefs in last spring’s Western Conference final and then again against the Prince Albert Raiders in the WHL championship set. He was one of Vancouver’s three 20-year-olds this past season and posted an 18-131-1 record, a 2.29 goalsagainst average and .920 save percentage.
For his four-year career with Langley-based Giants, Tendeck was 72-54-6-4 with a 2.96 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.
“He’s always been zero maintenance,” Vancouver general manager Barclay Parneta said. “He’s just come and played no matter what. He never complained about anything.
It was a great example for the rest of our guys and especially now with him coming out of it with a contract.
“He’s been the epitome of what we want a Giant to be, through and through.
“I honestly think we’ll see David play in the NHL one day. His temperament and attitude are suited towards being a goaltender. He’s able to work things out in his head. He’s really mature.”
Tendeck was a sixth-round pick by the Giants in the 2014 WHL bantam draft out of North Shore Winter Club. He had been cut from the bantam triple-A team at NSWC his first year, even though he had starred for their pee wee teams in the two seasons prior.
“I’m really, really happy for him,” said Billy Coupland, who coached those pee wee teams at NSWC. “He’s had this quiet confidence in himself and he’s believed in himself when others haven’t always.
“He has the perfect mindset for a goalie. He’s calm, composed, quiet. He has this inner confidence that gives everybody on his team peace. Everybody knows that David is back there and ready to go.”
Tendeck was the last holdover of the struggling Giants teams. As a 17-year-old, he backed up Ryan Kubic in 2016-17. That team finished 34 points out of a playoff spot, coming in at 20-46-3-3.
Goalie coach Paul Fricker and then-general manager Glen Hanlon felt that Tendeck was capable of being a starter. Vancouver traded Kubic, and gave Tendeck the reins; he proceeded to spearhead the Giants to making the playoffs for the first time in four seasons. He was named to the Western Conference second all-star team after fashioning a 25-16-3-2 record, a 3.02 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage.
The Giants lost in seven games in the first round that spring to the Victoria Royals.
Trent Miner had joined Vancouver midway through that campaign. He was a firstround bantam pick, No. 16 overall, in 2016 and incoming coach Dyck made it clear early on last season that he wanted to give ample time to both Miner and Tendeck in the Vancouver goal.
Tendeck could have pushed back. People would have understood, considering what he had done the season before and his draft status with Arizona. He never fought it. The same went for this season, when both he and Miner were looking to impress NHL clubs after the Colorado Avalanche selected Miner in the seventh round last summer.
“I think a lot of Trent’s development can be attributed to David and their relationship,” Dyck said. “It would have been easy for an older player to be self-obsessed.”
Dyck and Parneta both were quick to commend Fricker for the connection he’s created with Tendeck and Miner, 19, who is expected to carry the Vancouver goaltending load next season alongside 17-yearold Drew Sim.
According to capfriendly. com, the Coyotes’ NHL-level goalies Antti Raanta, 30, and Darcy Kuemper, 29, have another season and two seasons, respectively, after this season under contract.
Ivan Prosvetov, 21, a 2018 fourth-rounder who’s spent much of this season with Arizona’s AHL Tucson Roadrunners affiliate, has two years under contract after this one.
Merrick Madsen, 24, a 2013 sixth-rounder who’s been with the ECHL’s Rapid City Rush this season, and Adin Hill, 23, a 2015 third-rounder who has split time between Arizona and Tucson, are both slated to be restricted free agents this off-season.
I honestly think we’ll see David play in the NHL one day . ... He’s really mature.”
Giants GM Barclay Parneta