Teddy Mutryn is up for the challenge

Teddy Mutryn has come a long way in a short time in his hockey career. He knows he has a long way to go.

It’s 5,813 kilometres from Moncton, where he currently skates with the Wildcats of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, to San Jose, California, where he hopes to one day be among Sharks in the National Hockey League.

The six-foot, one-inch,209 pound centre was drafted by the Sharks in the third round of the 2025 NHL entry draft last June, 95th overall. Not bad for a kid who only made hockey his full time occupation “two or three years ago,” he said.

“I was kind of playing every sport I could growing up,” said the 18-year-old native of Norwood, Mass. His dad, Scott, was a quarterback at Boston College and briefly with the New England Patriots; his mom Kathy played lacrosse there and helped her team to a state championship as a high schooler.

“Neither side of the family had any idea what hockey was,” he said. “My dad grew up in Ohio and my mom was from a lacrosse family in Long Island. They settled in the Boston area. In the winter, they were looking for something for us to do and brought us to free skate and threw me on the ice.”

You might say he took to it like a shark to water.

“I kind of fell in love with it,” he said. “I was in a bike helmet and lacrosse pads…it was a gong show to say the least. I would say my earliest memory would be playing in town in house league…being out there having a ball…not being able to stop…”

He certainly doesn’t want to stop now.

He is, as coach Gardiner MacDougall might say, “just getting started.”

He was, for instance, first star in the Wildcats game last weekend, scoring a pretty goal and setting up another in a 4-2 win over the rival Saint John Sea Dogs.

“I would say seventh or eighth grade is when I knew hockey is what I wanted to focus on,” he said. “I stuck with baseball and lacrosse through eighth grade and decided to play baseball through ninth and tenth grade. I love baseball, but it just wasn’t the same as hockey…I like the competitiveness and the physicality of hockey compared to baseball.”

He played three seasons of prep school hockey with St. Sebastian’s Prep School in Needham, Mass. and was part of the U.S. National Development Team program, playing a handful of games with the U17 and U18 teams and playing last season with the Chicago Steel of the USHL. He had already committed to Boston College for this season, but changed his mind when Wildcats general manager and director of hockey operations Taylor MacDougall came calling.

“I kind of decided it was best for me to come back and play another year of junior,” he said. “It just seemed like a phenomenal opportunity for me to get out here with a team that had come from winning a championship. And Gardiner is a phenomenal coach.”

Mutryn says Moncton has lived up to his every expectation so far.

“One hundred percent,” he said enthusiastically. “Especially Gardiner. He’s every bit what he’s talked up to be.”

So is Mutryn, so far. He missed three games with an injury, but is averaging just under a point per game with eight in nine games played. He’s also winning faceoffs at 57 per-cent efficiency.

Scouting reports describe Mutryn as “a very solid two-way player that could slot into basically any system and make an impact” according to his draft profile on the Boston College website. The Elite Prospects NHL draft guide describes him as “a strong straight-line skater witha powerful shot, Mutryn has the prototypical power forward style,” it reads.

“I feel like I still have a lot to work on and a lot to improve on. I’m pretty raw. I’ve only really played and been dedicated to hockey year round for…it’s only my third year doing that. Usually, I would put the skates away for some baseball in the spring and summer.”

This summer, he spent time at the Sharks development camp after the draft and went to rookie camp with the NHL club. He watched the draft at home with some 20 family and friends.

“When my name came up, it was really, really cool,” he said. “It’s something you work your whole life for so far. But it’s just the start. I know I’ve got a long way to go to get there and make an impact.”

Article by Bill Hunt
Photo: Daniel St. Louis