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Shane Gersich will make his NHL debut tonight against New York Rangers

By Ian Oland (@ianoland) on March 28, 2018 | 0 Comment

Wednesday during the Capitals morning skate, Shane Gersich lined up on the third line with Lars Eller and Devante Smith-Pelly.

The 21-year-old UND alum will indeed make his NHL debut tonight against the New York Rangers. Gerisch’s family, including his mom, dad and older brother, will all be in attendance for the game.

Here are the full lines via NBC Sports Washington’s Tarik El-Bashir.

Jakub Vrana and Brett Connolly, who have scored the third and fourth most even-strength goals for the Capitals this season, will sit while Jakub Jerabek is the odd man out on D.

When the puck drops tonight, Gersich will become the fifth Caps player to make his NHL debut this season.

Per Cap Friendly, one year of Gersich’s new entry-level contract will automatically elapse due to his signing age. The 10-game slide rule does not apply to him.

If a player who is signed to an entry-level contract and is 18 or 19 years of age (as of September 15 of the signing year), does not play in a minimum of 10 NHL games (including both regular season and playoffs; AHL games do not count), their contract is considered to ‘slide’, or extend, by one year.

During practice Tuesday, Gersich spoke about his feelings heading into the milestone game.

Video: @TarikNBCS

“Obviously it’ll be super exciting and a dream come true for sure,” Gersich said. “You dream about that your whole life and it’s finally here. You’re finally living it. So it’s really exciting.”

Unlike many college free agent signings, Gersich was not thrown into a game the first day he arrived.

“It’s nice to get a few morning skates and practices in and get acclimated to the group,” Gersich said before praising his new teammates. “It’s been great. All the guys have been really good. Great group of guys here. Obviously having Oshie here has been really nice. Just kind of integrating myself into the group. Picking up on the systems and stuff, doing a little video stuff here and there.”

Headline photo: Amanda Bowen

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