It was some 80 days ago that the Ottawa Senators made their highly anticipated selections in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.
At 3rd overall, they took a talented German forward by the name of Tim Stuetzle. While he had been playing in relative obscurity in Germany, almost everyone agreed he was one of the most talented players in the Draft. Then at 5th overall, they went with the rapidly climbing American defenceman, Jake Sanderson. There were strong calls for the Senators to take another forward with that pick but Ottawa felt like they were getting the best defenceman in the Draft.
And since that night in early-October, Sens fans have spent just about every waking moment discussing those two selections and trying to project exactly what type of players they might be. Based primarily on fancy YouTube montages and the scouting reports of others, there was a general consensus the Senators got a couple of good ones.
While we’ve had the opportunity to see what Jake Sanderson is all about in his early season games at UND, yesterday we finally got to see to Tim Stuetzle live.
In what was his first competitive game in months and first action since hand surgery eight weeks ago, Tim Stuetzle dazzled for the undermanned German side.
Playing an absurd 26 minutes on a team with just nine forwards available, Stuetzle was a presence every time he touched the ice.
He’s the kind of player that just loves having the puck on his stick and when it’s there, things happen. On his first shift of the game, he stole the puck and made a slick cross-ice pass to set up a scoring chance. It ended up being a fairly regular occurrence on the night but when you’ve been waiting more than two months to see it in real time, it was a breathtaking moment.
While Germany was mostly outclassed by the Finns over the course of sixty minutes, Stuetzle did his best to drag his team into the fight and briefly, had them within striking distance.
The skill required to get that one-timer off. I mean, my goodness.
There were plenty of things about Stuetzle’s game that jumped out on the night, which is often the case with a world-class player, but maybe the most surprising element was his willingness to engage physically. Granted this is against players in his age group but he was a physical force on the puck. And certainly didn’t shy away from traffic at any point of the game.
The other thing that was noticeable although maybe a little unfamiliar, was the way the TSN broadcast spent the night raving about a Senator prospect. With both Stuetzle and Jake Sanderson, the TSN crew couldn’t stop talking about how good they are right now and how good they’ll be for the Ottawa Senators in the not too distant future.
#OttawaRising, as the ol’ saying goes.
Stuetzle finished the game with a goal, an assist, a bunch of controlled zone entries and more than 26 minutes of ice time. Not a bad night, I guess.
You can watch the extended highlights here.
Tim Stuetzle’s Team Germany takes on Team Canada at 6:00 PM tonight.
