Hurricanes’ Brett Pesce eager to play again after ‘bummer’ of missing 2020 playoffs
Rod Brind’Amour had a lot on his mind on the night of Feb. 22, 2020.
It was before the coronavirus pandemic caused the world to all but stop. There was still hockey being played, and the Carolina Hurricanes were in Toronto facing the Maple Leafs.
Brind’Amour, the Canes coach, watched as starting goalie James Reimer left with an injury. Then, goalie Petr Mrazek. Suddenly, in an OMG moment, a 42-year-old emergency backup goalie named David Ayres was entering the game for the Canes.
But Brind’Amour was facing another serious, pressing matter that night. Defenseman Brett Pesce had left the game with a shoulder injury, after a seemingly innocuous play.
“Just an innocent play. My shoulder came out,” Pesce said Wednesday on a media call. “I dislocated it two years ago and opted not to have surgery and just rehab it and just hope it would hold up.”
It didn’t hold up. The Canes already had lost defenseman Dougie Hamilton in January to a broken leg. Now, Pesce.
Although the Canes won the game with Ayres the unexpected hero in net, Pesce needed surgery. Later, when the Canes prepared for the NHL postseason, Mrazek, Reimer and Hamilton all were good to go. But not Pesce.
For Pesce, that stung, deeply. It only added to his eagerness to get back on the ice this year.
“Really excited to be back with everybody,” Pesce said. “It was a long anticipated wait for me, especially getting a extra few months off.”
Pesce said he had planned to rejoin the team in the Toronto bubble had the Canes been able to beat the Boston Bruins in the best-of-seven first-round series in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. But that was not to be with the Bruins winning in five games.
“It was a bummer,” Pesce said. “Missing the playoffs took a toll on me even more so, because when you have an opportunity to compete for the Stanley Cup, that’s why everyone plays the game. So that hurt.”
And Brind’Amour and the Canes, too. Pesce’s game might seem a bit understated, and he might not draw the NHL-wide attention of a Hamilton or Jaccob Slavin, but his grittiness and solid, effective play hardly go unnoticed by his coaches or teammates.
“People, I think, take ‘Pesc’ for granted about how good he is,” forward Jordan Martinook said on the media call. “His offensive game is starting to show, too. Being able to jump into the play and create offense is probably something people don’t think about when they think of ‘Pesc,’ but it’s definitely come a long way in the two years I’ve been here.”
Pesce, who played 61 games last season before the injury, was averaging almost 22 minutes a game in ice time and his average of 3:16 shorthanded time per game led the team. That’s where he’s most valuable. But he had four goals and 14 assists and a plus-7 rating.
“He’s an elite defender to me,” Brind’Amour said. “When you don’t have him, you notice it. He does such a good job at what he does. There’s offense there, too. He’s a real smart player.”
Off the ice, Martinook said Pesce is “one of the guys who keeps it light and has fun.”
“He’s always smiling when he comes to the rink,” Martinook said. “You’ll get that kind of New York side to him where he gets in your face and chirps. That’s why everybody draws to him. He’s happy but he can throw jabs with the best of them. He’s just smooth and steady and that’s how he is in the room, too.”
Pesce paired with Skjei in camp
In the Canes’ first three practices of training camp, Pesce has been paired with Brady Skjei. A right-handed shooter, Pesce gives Brind’Amour a solid second D pairing behind Slavin and Hamilton.
Pesce, a Tarrytown, New York, native, was injured two days before Skjei was traded to the Canes from the New York Rangers and it was one of the reasons for the move. But he likes the fit with Skjei, who also is 26 and at 6-3 and 210 pounds has similar size to Pesce.
“He’s such a great skater,” Pesce said. “His (defensive) gaps are so good. When you have a D-man like that it kind of makes everything easier for you.”
Brind’Amour said Wednesday he likes the “vibe” of the team in camp. One question about the Canes entering this season will be how soon they can be a Stanley Cup contender?
Pesce has the answer.
“I think it’s right now,” he said.” I think we’ve proven the past few years we’re a threat to any team in the league. We’re only getting better, and our young studs are getting older and will only improve.”
Canes on three NBCSN telecasts
NBC Sports on Wednesday announced its full regular season telecast schedule for the 2020-21 season and the Canes will be shown three times: March 30 at Chicago (7:30 p.m.), April 4 against Dallas at PNC Arena (7 p.m.) and April 26 at Dallas (7:30 p.m.).
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 7:14 PM.
