Andrew Neilsen is living the dream. The Red Deer, Alta., native is playing a key role on the Toronto Marlies blue line a little more than a year after the Leafs drafted him in the third round of the 2015 NHL Draft.
“I just feel really honoured to get an opportunity to play pro hockey at 20,” he says. In fact, Neilsen has been playing so well, he’s the club’s top scoring defenceman and has quickly established himself as one of the organization’s best blue line prospects. And though he’s one of the Marlies’ youngest players, in hockey terms, Neilsen is a late bloomer. He played just two seasons with the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League, which is roughly half the apprenticeship most aspiring pros have in junior hockey.
The seed for Neilsen’s success was planted when he worked as a stick boy for his hometown WHL team, the Red Deer Rebels. As a young kid, he befriended future Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf, who played in Red Deer, and who became something of a mentor to him. Around the same time, Colin Fraser was also playing for the Rebels. Fraser would go on to win three Stanley Cups as a depth player for the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings. There were other Red Deer natives who inspired Neilsen, including Minnesota Wild defenceman Matt Dumba and Edmonton Oilers star Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
“Dion Phaneuf was the first guy I really got to know,” Neilsen says, “but all those guys were great role models for me.”
Travis Dermott is 40 days younger than Neilsen. His move to the Marlies has followed a shorter and more conventional path, both metaphorically and geographically. Growing up in Newmarket, Dermott was a blue-chip minor hockey prospect and played a year of Junior A in his hometown. Dermott later played for the Erie Otters, where his teammates included current Maple Leaf Connor Brown and future Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid.
There are subtle differences between thriving in junior hockey and excelling in the AHL, Dermott says. “The speed out here is kind of like you’re playing against every good player from junior,” he explains. “Everyone is skilled and everyone can beat you wide if you’re not doing all the right things. You have to treat every opponent like he’s the best player out there. Guys are just bigger and stronger and you have to account for that.”
Like a few other Marlies this season, Dermott’s opportunity was put on hold due to injury but he is now back in action. The points haven’t come quite as thick and fast for Dermott as they have for Neilsen but he has acquitted himself well despite being one of the youngest players in the AHL.
For the two young defencemen, both just a few months out of their teens, playing for an organization that needs help on the blue line is a golden opportunity. Neilsen sees the optimism all around him — as well as up in the parent club.
“It was really quite an experience back in the development camp in the summer,” says Neilsen of playing with fellow rookie pros Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews, who would soon burst onto the scene with the Leafs. “Being around those guys, they put themselves in a whole different position, and having success makes you want to get up there. That’s what we’re all trying to do.”
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