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.
Based on line rushes this morning, Shane Gersich set to make his NHL debut tonight #CapsRangers pic.twitter.com/Z22gxtL7jR
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 28, 2018
Here are the full lines via NBC Sports Washington’s Tarik El-Bashir.
#Caps lines vs. #Rangers:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Burakovsky-Backstrom-Oshie
Gersich-Eller-DSP
Stephenson-Beagle-Chiasson
Out: Connolly and VranaOrlov-Niskanen
Kempny-Carlson
Orpik-Djoos
Out: JerabekHoltby
Grubauer or Copley— Tarik El-Bashir⌨️🎙🏒 (@TarikNBCS) March 28, 2018
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.
Gersich will become the fifth player to make his NHL debut for the #Caps this season, joining Walker, Djoos, Bowey and Boyd. #CapsRangers
— Tarik El-Bashir⌨️🎙🏒 (@TarikNBCS) March 28, 2018
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.
We had an inkling yesterday that Shane Gersich was getting really close to making his NHL debut. So we asked him to describe his emotions and about how the college-to-pros adjustment has gone so far. #Caps #CapsRangers pic.twitter.com/8tOWJ6f6Ug
— Tarik El-Bashir⌨️🎙🏒 (@TarikNBCS) March 28, 2018
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
Share On