With all but three NHL teams playing their first game of the season at this point, The Journey takes a closer look at some of the rookie debuts this week and how the prospects fared in their openers.

Nolan Patrick – Philadelphia Flyers

The second overall pick in the NHL draft from this summer started his career as Philadelphia’s second line center, with a challenging west coast back-to-back, against San Jose and Los Angeles first up on the calendar. The Flyers have eased the 19-year-old in slowly, playing him thirteen minutes in his debut and upping his total to 14 minutes the following night.

Although he is yet to record a point in two games, Patrick has put four shots on goal and has added seven face-off wins through two games. As we generally see with skilled rookies, nearly 20 percent of the forwards ice time to this point has been with the man advantage, as Patrick played nearly five minutes on the power play in the Flyers second game of the season. However, it doesn’t appear that the Philadelphia’s coaching staff is going out of their way at even strength to shelter Patrick, as only 31% percent of his 5-on-5 zone starts to this point have been in the offensive zone. Don’t be surprised if the young pivot buries the first of his career in his next few games.

Jake DeBrusk – Boston Bruins

DeBrusk posted one of the more memorable debuts this season thus far, whether it was the former first rounder showing off his trademark speed or scoring his emotional first NHL goal with his family in attendance, it was a good night for the 20-year-old.

After a full campaign at the AHL level last year putting up an admirable 49 points, DeBrusk was one to watch coming into camp, where he made the most of his preseason, earning a spot with the Bruins to start the season. The young forward filled up the stat sheet in his debut scoring his first NHL goal and adding an assist in the Bruins 4-3 win over the Stanley Cup runner-up from a season ago, the Nashville Predators. In addition to his two points, DeBrusk recorded four shots and posted a plus-six shot differential while on the ice. The talent is there, and as long as the deployment is favorable DeBrusk has an opportunity to be an offensive difference maker for Boston moving forward.

Alex DeBrincat – Chicago Blackhawks

After putting up three consecutive seasons of 100-plus points in the OHL, DeBrincat was an easy choice as the player who could help to replace some of the offense that was lost in the Artemi Panarin trade and Marian Hossa’s quasi-retirement. Chicago was firing on all cylinders in their 2017-18 opener, trouncing the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins 10-1.

DeBrincat found himself on Artem Anismov’s wing, opposite veteran Patrick Sharp. The rookie winger got in on the scoring action, picking up his first career NHL point on a Sharp goal late in the first period. For DeBrincat owners, there was some reason to be excited just based off the talented forward’s deployment. Likely playing more minutes than would have been expected in a rookie debut, DeBrincat clocked nearly 18 minutes of time on ice, the third most of any Blackhawks forward. He was not sheltered during those minutes, starting less than half of his shifts in the offensive zone. Certainly no one is expecting Chicago’s offensive explosion to continue to the tune of two goals per game, but for fantasy owners, hopefully DeBrincat’s time spent on ice will. If it does, it will lead to relevant points numbers as early as this year.

Andreas Borgman – Toronto Maple Leafs

Coming into the season, much of the talk surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs was about their young forwards, and for good reason. Not much was mentioned about the 22-year-old Swedish bruiser who would be filling a third pairing role for Toronto to start the year.

Borgman plays a rough and tumble style, and will likely be most valuable to fantasy owners moving forward in leagues that put an emphasis on hits and penalty minutes, as the young defenseman will pile up a good amount of both. He got off to a good start on Wednesday night, with a minor penalty, and a crushing open ice hit on Winnipeg forward Mark Scheifele. In addition to his peripheral stats, Borgman also added his first NHL point, a secondary assist on Auston Matthews third period goal. Playing on a pair with current partner Connor Carrick, Borgman is not likely to see big minutes, but his style of play could lead him to be favorite of Leafs fans moving forward.

Charlie McAvoy – Boston Bruins

Ok, technically this is cheating since the Bruins star defenseman played six games in the playoffs last season. However, Thursday night was the Boston University product’s regular season opener and it was certainly relevant, so were going to go with it.

McAvoy wasted no time making an impact, picking up his first regular season point, a primary assist on David Pastrnak’s opening goal eight minutes into the season. The blueliner later picked up a goal late in the second period to put Boston up 3-1. The 2016 first rounder added two shots, six penalty minutes, and a hit to the stat sheet, all while playing 22 total minutes with four of those coming on the man advantage. I’m not saying that McAvoy will match the points number that Zach Werenski hit last season, but he will have nearly as much of an impact for Boston. Extra points to those in multi-category leagues, as the rearguard will continue to be a stat sheet stuffer.  

Give Kevin a follow @kleblanchockey for NHL prospect talk and happenings.