Marc McNulty's return to the Prince George Cougars from the Detroit Red Wings camp came just in time.
He and the rest of the Cougars and their fans who will pack into CN Centre for tonight's home opener can't help but feel like Christmas has arrived three months early. With a new ownership group in place spending big bucks to amp up the entertainment value around the rink and a surge in season ticket sales, the place is going to be packed to watch the Cougars take on the Kelowna Rockets in the first of a two-game weekend set.
That's a nice change for McNulty as he begins his third season playing defence in Prince George, where you could have fired a cannon and not hit anybody in the stands at CN Centre for the better part of the past two seasons.
"We've been hearing stuff about it since the new ownership took over [in May] and I'm glad I don't have to miss it," said McNulty. "We're all pretty excited for it and it's supposed to be a good turnout so hopefully we'll see this building full again. I haven't seen that many people here since I've been here and we're all looking forward to it."
McNulty, 19, played last week for the Red Wings in the eight-team NHL Prospects tournament in Traverse City, Mich., where he helped the team to a 3-1 record and a third-place finish. It was his second NHL camp, having been selected by the Wings in the sixth round of the 2013 draft. Having gotten to know the other Wings prospects at summer camps and at last year's training camp, McNulty felt a lot more comfortable being around the pros. He has until June 1, 2015, to sign with the Wings and avoid free agency.
"I got off to a bit of a slow start but I got better each game," said McNulty. "Obviously this is the last year for me to earn myself a contract and they said just keep working on things and have a good year and make them make the decision to sign me. It comes down to my play now and I'm just looking to have a good year. I had a good year last year and I'm just trying to do the same thing."
McNulty was the Cougars' top defenceman last year and his offensive upside is obvious. He scored 17 goals and totaled 42 points to go with 115 penalty minutes. At six-foot-six, 210 pounds he's added about 15 pounds of muscle over the past year and has increased his skating speed. His big shot, long reach and adept puckhandling skills make him that much more of an offensive threat. As the Cougars' power-play quarterback he could well threaten Dustin Byfuglien's team record of 22 goals for a defenceman.
"It's always nice to contribute offensively but taking care of my own end always comes first," McNulty said. "I going to try to be a two-way guy and we have a good group of forwards this year and that will definitely help us defencemen out in the offensive zone. Last year our team was in the top five for goals-for and in the bottom five for goals-against but everyone's got another year under their belt and everyone is pretty confident now. We have a good d-corps."
Cougars head coach Mark Holick has paired McNulty with 20-year-old Wil Tomchuk, a stay-at-home type, and that combination worked well in a pre-season test against the Edmonton Oil Kings.
"Having practiced [with the Red Wings] and being involved in Traverse City and competing in games you can tell Marc has been at that pace for a little while and his last two days have been real good," said Holick. "If he can bring that to the table here consistently, it certainly can't hurt us.
"He's a big guy and if he can play big and compete, not only will he help us defensively but certainly we expect him to provide offence. I want him to make sure he's tough to play against, protecting our net at all costs and helping our young guys get better."
The knock against McNulty has been his lack of intensity at times, which last season earned him a brief stay in Holick's doghouse.
"Every time we see Marc, we talk about urgency," Jiri Fischer, the Red Wings director of player development, told Brendan Savage of mlive.com. "Urgency in self-committing, the push in self-committing to try and dominate, not just every game but every shift.
"We love the fact that he's six-foot-six. We love the fact that he can skate. Now it's just a matter of wanting to outplay everyone he gets into a battle with on the ice to win the pucks."
The Cougars opened on the road a week ago with a 6-3 win over the Portland Winterhawks and followed that up with a stinky 7-0 loss to the Tri-City Americans. The Cougars played shorthanded 18 times in the two games and the Americans used that to their advantage, scoring five goals on 10 chances.
"We have to protect our net, we gave up 10 goals in two games and that's too many," said Holick. "Our goaltending's got to be better and our defensive play has to be better, and that's everybody.
"The Rockets are division champions, they had 50-some wins last year. They have a lot of returning players, the goaltending's solid, the defence is good and they work like dogs, so we're going to have our hands full. We have to match or exceed their work ethic and stay out of the penalty box."
LOOSE PUCKS: Six of the eight Rockets who attended NHL camps are back with the team. That list includes forwards Tyson Baillie (San Jose), Justin Kirkland (Nashville), and Mitch Wheaton (Detroit); defenceman Dalton Yorke (San Jose); and goalie Jackson Whistle (Vancouver). Still with the NHL teams which drafted them are defenceman Madison Bowey (Washington) and forward Tyrell Goulbourne (Philadelphia)...Tonight's game will be the first in Prince George behind the Rockets bench for head coach Dan Lambert, the replacement for Ryan Huska, who took a job as head coach of the Adirondack Flames, Calgary's AHL affiliate. Lambert played four seasons as a defenceman for the Swift Current Broncos and was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in 1989, the year the Broncos won the Memorial Cup.
