Zach Dean showed up to the practice rink at Centene Community Ice Center with no expectations, just another day of skating and preparation in the every day life of being in the NHL.
Until the unexpected happened: he saw his name among the regular line combinations.
Dean, 21, will make his NHL debut for the Blues (36-30-3) on Thursday when they open a two-game trip against the Ottawa Senators (28-35-4).
Dean, the 30th pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, was acquired from the Vegas Golden Knights for Ivan Barbashev on Feb. 27, 2023. Barbashev went on to help the Golden Knights win a Stanley Cup, his second after winning with the Blues in 2019, and Dean will step onto the ice at Canadian Tire Center on Thursday night making his solo lap in pregame warmups.
"It was pretty crazy coming in and finding that out this morning," Dean said after practice on Wednesday. "Obviously it's not until tomorrow so I get a little time to think about it, but just overall, I'm super pumped and excited."
The Blues recalled Dean, who had 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in 47 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds of the American Hockey League, on March 11 prior to their game against the Boston Bruins. He's practiced and been a healthy scratch in the five games since being called up but until Tuesday's 4-3 loss against the Colorado Avalanche, the Blues had been winning and didn't want to change lineups yet. And Dean understood why.
"Oh yeah for sure," Dean said. "I was just happy to get the call to come up here and be around the guys, see how everything works. It being my first call-up, I think I'm just taking everything in, I'm enjoying each day."
Dean skated on a line centering Alexey Toropchenko and Nathan Walker.
"I'm just going to play my game and just embrace the moment," Dean said. "It's your first game, it only happens once, so just kind of go in there and enjoy it and obviously play my game."
It works out great for Dean, who grew up in Newfoundland but played his junior hockey for four years with the Gatineau Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, a short 15-minute drive to the north.
"I lived 10 minutes from there, my girlfriend's from Ottawa," Dean said. "All her family, my billets from last year, coaches, everyone that's still kind of around that area, it's pretty cool that I'm going to get to play my first game there for sure."
Dean had yet to inform his parents, Trent and Kendra Dean, of the recent developments of finding out, but he is hopeful they can make the flight in from Newfoundland.
"Yeah hopefully. It'll be exciting to have everyone there," Dean said. "It would be a flight. From Newfoundland, there's normally not a lot of direct flights anywhere. Where I've been, it's usually kind of they've got to make one or two stops along the way."
Dean will be the most recent Blue to make his NHL debut. Zack Bolduc, the 17th pick in the 2021 draft, Dean's competitor when Bolduc played with the Quebec Remparts in junior hockey and Thunderbirds teammate, made his debut with the Blues Feb. 22 against the New York Islanders.
"For sure, it's an exciting day," Bolduc said. "It happens once in a life. Just enjoy it and for sure it's a huge day, stressful day, but you've got to enjoy it as much as you can because it only happens one time.
"We've been playing together as first-year pros. Fun to be here for his first game, so really excited for him. It's special. We played against each other for the past four years. Now we're together for first-year pros. He's going to play well. I played my first game 13, 14 games ago. Getting more comfortable, but I'm just excited for him and he just has to enjoy it as much as you can."
Blues interim coach Drew Bannister felt it was time.
"I think that's a good plan here," Bannister said. "He's been sitting around here for a while and we want to give him an opportunity to come up and play. It gives us an opportunity to put fresh legs in the lineup. From what I know about 'Deaner', he skates well, he plays with a lot of pace. Where he plays tomorrow night, I think it's going to help our club, but getting fresh legs into the lineup, it's an important game for us. We want to make sure we're rested and ready to go."
After sitting and watching, Dean is ready for action.
"Since I got drafted and you kind of get to be around a lot of the guys and obviously now, it's regular season and you see how they act and how they play, I think it helped me a lot," Dean said. "Now coming in, getting to be in the lineup after being here for a week, some skates, just being around seeing how everything works. I think it'll be a lot easier on me. I'm sure I'll get a little bit nervous, but overall I'm just super excited."
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