It's been a long journey to the NHL for Max Sasson.
Sasson's younger years don't look much like a future NHLer. In what would have been his draft year, Sasson was a depth player in his first year in the USHL, putting up just 17 points in 62 games for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. Unsurprisingly, that didn't catch the attention of NHL scouts and he went undrafted.
Sasson spent two more years in the USHL, finally breaking out as a 20-year-old with 49 points in 48 games. That at least got him to college hockey, making his NCAA debut at the age of 21 with Western Michigan University.
Sasson thrived in college hockey, where his two-way game built on speed seemed to be a perfect fit. In his sophomore year, he put up 42 points in 38 games and caught the eye of the Canucks, who signed him to an entry-level contract.
That same game that made Sasson a standout in college hockey worked in the AHL too, as he was one of the Abbotsford Canucks' top players last season with 42 points in 56 games.
Now, at the age of 24, Sasson is set to make his NHL debut on Saturday against the Ottawa Senators.
"It's just a ton of emotions and I'm sure it'll sink in even more," said Sasson after practice on Friday. "I'm just thinking about all the days at the rink growing up and how much it means to my family and friends and everyone that followed me throughout my career."
Sasson said he called his dad right away, calling him "my biggest fan."
"He started screaming, started crying," said Sasson. "It was a pretty special phone call. It's his first game too, it feels like. He's been there the whole way."
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
With few reporters on the road right now, there was no one reporting the lines for Friday's practice or Saturday's game day skate. We can make some educated guesses, however, as to how the Canucks will lineup.
Here are the projected lines, subject to change based on warm-up:
Sasson skated in a white jersey at Friday's practice, as did his fellow Abbotsford Canucks call-ups Aatu Räty and Arshdeep Bains. It seems likely that will be the fourth line for the Canucks on Saturday.
That means Nils Höglander gets bumped up. For the moment, I've made the assumption that he'll be moved to the third line with Danton Heinen and Teddy Blueger, but he was skating in a blue jersey on Friday, as was Elias Pettersson, so it's possible that head coach Rick Tocchet has shaken up the lines even further.
If that's the case, it's possible that the top line will be Höglander, Pettersson, and Kiefer Sherwood, with Jake DeBrusk moved to the third line with Heinen and Blueger. We'll have to wait and see.
It seems that Vincent Desharnais still isn't ready to play, so Noah Juulsen is still on the third pairing with Erik Brännström.
UPDATE: Surprisingly, even though Carson Soucy and Tyler Myers were paired together for the pre-game warm-up, by game time it was Brännström on the second pairing with Myers, with Soucy paired with Juulsen. That's a major development, since Rick Tocchet had strongly suggested he would keep that pair together for now.
One thing is clear, the Canucks starting goaltender will be Kevin Lankinen.
Ottawa Senators projected lines
In what should be a surprise to no one, Senators head coach Travis Green has activated the line blender.
What is a surprise is that Adam Gaudette has more goals than any Canuck. The former Canuck has eight goals in 18 games, out-scoring every current Canucks player.
He's not alone on the Senators. Tim Stützle, Drake Batherson, and Josh Norris also have eight goals, while Brady Tkachuk has nine. Scoring falls off quite a bit after that group, however, with Claude Giroux scoring five goals and no one else on the team with more than two.
Here are the Senators' projected lines, courtesy of Sportsnet's Alex Adams:
Brady Tkachuk - Shane Pinto - Ridly Greig
Claude Giroux - Tim Stützle - Drake Batherson
David Perron - Josh Norris - Michael Amadio
Nick Cousins - Adam Gaudette - Zack MacEwen
Jake Sanderson - Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot - Nick Jensen
Tyler Kleven - Travis Hamonic
Linus Ullmark
Anton Forsberg
There's another familiar face besides Gaudette on the Green-coached Senators: Zach MacEwen, who was once heralded as an example of the Canucks' AHL development.
Oh yeah, and Travis Hamonic.
The Senators' starting goaltender will be Linus Ullmark, who has struggled in the tougher defensive environment in Ottawa compared to with the Boston Bruins. Ullmark has an .887 save percentage this season.
