The biggest takeaway from this 2023-24 season for the Chicago Blackhawks has been what the progression of the young players on the roster has looked like. Where are players like Connor Bedard, Kevin Korchinski, Alex Vlasic, Lukas Reichel and Philipp Kurashev getting better? Along the way, we’ve seen ups and downs for all of these young lineup-regulars, but for the most part the arrow has been pointing up all season. Also along the way, a number of young players have been up and down from the Rockford IceHogs, including guys like Wyatt Kaiser, Isaak Phillips, and Louis Crevier, and evaluating their progress this season while playing both in Chicago and Rockford has been incredibly important. On Friday night, another name got added to the list as defenseman Ethan Del Mastro was called up from the IceHogs to make his NHL debut with the Blackhawks.
A fourth-round pick in the 2021 NHL draft, Del Mastro has been an under-the-radar prospect as he progressed through the Blackhawks system early in his development. In the 2022 World Junior Championships, Del Mastro put himself squarely on the Blackhawks prospect map when he was an injury replacement for Team Canada and eventually made his way into the Canadian roster and wasn’t taken out mid-way through the tournament. Del Mastro would help Canada win Gold in that 2023 tournament and do it again in 2023, alongside fellow Blackhawks prospect teammates Colton Dach, Kevin Korchinski, and future top-overall draft pick Connor Bedard.
While billed as a “defensive defenseman,” Del Mastro has the skillset to factor into both the offensive and defensive aspects of the game and that has been on full display while playing his rookie season in the AHL with the Rockford IceHogs. In 66 games this season, Del Mastro has put up seven goals and 37 points and was named an AHL All-Star. He is the leading scorer among IceHogs defensemen and fourth in the AHL for scoring by rookie defensemen. His growing two-way abilities, paired with his stature at 6’4″ and 205 pounds, have put him in the conversation for one of the expected open roster spots on Chicago’s blue-line next season.
In his debut on Friday night, Del Mastro played 18:35 minutes of ice-time, recorded one hit, and had a 56.41 Corsi-For% when on the ice and a 56.52 Shots-For% advantage.
While he wasn’t making flashy plays or had that true “Welcome to the NHL” highlight moment, Del Mastro played a simple game and kept everything in front of him. Something that a rookie defenseman, making his NHL debut in the 79th game of the regular season, needs to do in this kind of game is be unnoticeable. That’s a good thing for tonight. As his career progresses, there will be more opportunity for Del Mastro to make those kinds of impacts for the Blackhawks on a nightly basis.
After the game, Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson had similar praise for the 21-year-old defenseman, “His best period was his third period. He looked confident on the offensive blue-line. Like anything, it was a fast turnaround for him and it’s tough for a young defenseman to come in but he looked confident and fine.”
Connor Murphy, making his return to the lineup for the first time since January, was paired with Del Mastro for his NHL debut. Following the game, Murphy said of his rookie defensive partner, “He’s great. For a big guy, he seems to have good handles on the puck and good instincts to use his body. I thought he had a great first game. I can imagine it’s not easy coming in at the end of the season like that and playing against a playoff team.”
As far as looking into the future for Del Mastro, Richardson said he feels his game will translate well to the NHL level, “I think he has good instincts with the puck. Moving forward, getting back quicker, getting pucks and executing getting them out right and that will be the hard part for any young guy coming up, but especially a defenseman…He is strong though the neutral zone and in the offensive zone and I think that is something he can transition pretty easily up here.”
Del Mastro will likely stick in the lineup for the Blackhawks on Sunday evening when they play their final home game of the season, taking on the Carolina Hurricanes at 5:00 p.m. CT at the United Center.
