Jakob Pelletier’s NHL debut is a ‘chance to prove himself’ with the Flames

CALGARY — Jakob Pelletier has exhibited confidence at many levels of his hockey life, but it was a Friday afternoon media scrum where we saw the young 21-year-old for what he was: just a kid.

When Pelletier lined up alongside Trevor Lewis and Walker Duehr on the fourth line at practice that morning, the media’s natural inclination was to ask for him at that day’s media availability. He looked as any youngster would look in that situation: nervous. He had never been in front of that many cameras and microphones before. He even asked to restart an answer to a question. What was even more nerve-wracking for him was that he couldn’t tell everyone that he was playing at that time.

All the while, Pelletier’s family in Quebec City had been getting updates throughout the day, adding to the anxiety of sitting on pins and needles for days. Eventually, they were relieved — they even cried — when Pelletier told them Friday afternoon that he had a “99.99 percent chance” he’d play on Saturday afternoon. Once Pelletier’s agent Olivier Fortier gave them the heads up, the family packed their bags.

“It’s been two weeks that he received the call. Those two weeks were really stressful,” Jakob’s older brother, Thomas, told The Athletic over the phone Friday. “We’re really happy right now that he gets the chance to prove himself.”

Exactly two weeks from when Pelletier was called up from the Flames’ farm team, his family got to see him make his debut at the Scotiabank Saddledome in a 6-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday afternoon. It’s an important milestone for Pelletier, but also for the Flames. The 2019 first-round pick is the first player born in the 2000s to play for the team — if you want to feel old. But more importantly, he’s the team’s third first-rounder since 2016 to play an NHL game.

“It’s a dream come true,” Pelletier said postgame.

In only 6:35 of ice time, he had a shot on goal in the slot on Andrei Vasilevskiy — arguably the best goalie in the world, certainly not lower than second — while playing alongside Walker Duehr and Trevor Lewis. Pelletier even got 43 seconds of power-play time where he tried to establish himself as a net-front presence. In the first two shifts of his NHL career, Pelletier had to take faceoffs in lieu of Lewis who had been thrown out by the officials.

“In the A, I took probably five faceoffs the whole year,” Pelletier said.

Even in the short amount of time that he did play — the 48 penalty minutes combined between both teams plus the closeness in the score had a lot to do with that — Pelletier’s teammates were pleased he got his chance.

“He looked great, that whole line looked great, him and Walks and Lew were awesome today,” forward Dillon Dube said postgame. “They played with a lot of speed. They had a lot of chances early on in the game. I think they got us going at the start. They looked awesome. I’m super happy for him. Play at home on a Saturday against a team who won a lot. It’s a special day for sure. His parents got to fly in and watch.

“It gives everyone here a lot of motivation to try and win for him. It’s a pretty special day, makes it feel a lot better for a win. Everyone’s super excited for him.”

Moments before his son stepped onto the ice for his solo lap during pregame warmup, father Mario was already up on his feet. He had been pacing around all morning, stressed out and having barely slept a wink. The six-person Pelletier clan had seats right behind the Flames’ end to see their son play.

“There are no words to describe it,” Mario said.

Mario, along with his wife Nancy, Jakob’s brothers Thomas and Charles-Antoine, Jakob’s girlfriend Maïca and Charles-Antoine’s girlfriend, Laurence, trekked from their native Quebec City to see him play. Not long after Pelletier’s agent gave them the green light Friday afternoon, they drove three hours south from the provincial capital to Montreal’s Trudeau Airport in order for them to make their 9:30 pm Eastern flight, only for it to be delayed until 11: 10 p.m

Because what are another few hours of waiting to see your son make his National Hockey League debut?

“We were really happy to board the plane,” Mario said.

Following their flight and check-in to their hotel at 3:00 am Mountain time, the family, maybe, got three hours of sleep. It was all worth it just to see their son realize his NHL dream after coming a long way.

Here is video of said solo lap pic.twitter.com/BJeJKq6rDJ

— Julian McKenzie (@jkamckenzie) January 21, 2023

“When I saw him at the Saddledome, the closer he got the bigger he got. I just couldn’t believe it was real,” Mario said.

Pelletier’s journey to the big leagues began from his early days in Quebec City where he took up the sport as a three-year-old and took his development very seriously. He knew around the age of five that he wanted to be in the NHL. He’d show up to games an hour and a half before they started. When the family would go to McDonald’s after games, young Jakob would refuse to eat fries and burgers like everyone else in favor of a chicken salad. Jakob was so good as a young player that he spent a season with his older brother Thomas, a goaltender three years his senior, at the novice level.

“I can confirm that nobody touched me during that year because he was my protector,” Thomas said. “He was playing forward but nobody could touch the goalie that year. It was great.”

Then came the major junior days where he was drafted third behind future NHLers Alexis Lafrenière and Samuel Poulin and eventually became a team captain. There was the day he was drafted 26th by the Flames. At his time in the world juniors with Team Canada. Then his AHL days where he produced consistently in a season-and-a-half of play. All that culminated in his call-up to the big leagues two weeks ago.

Even if Pelletier didn’t get to play on the Flames’ five-game road trip against the Avalanche earlier in the week, the 21-year-old has been appreciative of the experience. He’s already connected with fellow Quebecer Jonathan Huberdeau and has started to get a taste of life as an NHLer.

“To go out with the boys, to eat supper and steak and see the bill at the end, you’re like ‘oof’! It’s kind of expensive,” Pelletier said Friday.

Despite Pelletier being thousands of kilometers away from his family, he still keeps up with them over their group chat. Thomas and Jakob will spend hours playing the EA Sports NHL series against each other. But he will spend the postgame hours with his family at dinner before they return to Quebec on Sunday.

“I haven’t seen them in a long time, so it’s good to see them and it’s good for us to enjoy this moment together,” Pelletier said. “They’ve supported me since I was young. Just to play in the NHL in front of them, it’s great.”

(Top photo of Jakob Pelletier: Sergei Belski / USA Today)