Casey Mittelstadt will readily admit he had some growing up to do as a Buffalo Sabre.
Mittelstadt was the eighth overall pick in 2017 and signed his contract to go pro after just one season at the University of Minnesota. He went straight to the NHL at the end of that college season and then played a full season with the Sabres, who were in town for a Monday night tilt at the Garden.
It was a difficult entry into a world’s best league and, looking back, he concedes he may have come out a little too early.
“Obviously you look back and if it doesn’t go exactly as you want, you probably would have changed things. I think everyone would say when they were young that they made some mistakes that they wish they would have done differently,” said Mittelstadt after the B’s morning skate on Monday. “I think a year and a half in was when I realized you’ve got to take this game very, very seriously. I wish I had realized that earlier, but I’m at the stage in my life now where it’s my No. 1 priority. To be honest, I look back at my time in Buff with a lot of really good memories. I had a real good chance to grow as a player. Like I said, it was a rocky start. But I thought I found my game there the last few years up until being traded. Lot of great friends and a lot of great memories, so I look back on it with a very positive review.”
Indeed, it looked like he had turned a corner in Buffalo. In 2022-23, he had his best season as a pro, posting 15-44-59 totals in 82 games and was well on his way to similar numbers last season when the Colorado Avalanche, a team with Stanley Cup designs, was impressed enough to send defenseman Bowen Byram, the fourth overall pick in 2019, to Buffalo for him.
But it took a hard lesson through which many hockey players endure, as well as a once in a century occurrence, to give him the perspective to examine his path.
“I got sent into the minors about 20 games into my second (full) year,” said Mittelstadt. “Up until that point, I was always a really hard worker as a kid. But you’ve got to learn as you get older and try to get back to that. I don’t know if there was one particular thing. We had Covid and had a long break and that was a lot of time to reflect and maybe change some of the things that I was doing.”
In the end, Colorado ended up not being the happily-ever-after landing spot for him. Despite being productive in the Avs’ playoff run last year (3-6-9 totals in 11 playoff games), Colorado management wasn’t sold on his performance this season as they made a major overhaul to their roster spurred by the Mikko Rantanen situation and their quest to further bolster the center position. After dealing Rantanen to Carolina for Martin Necas, Colorado obtained both Brock Nelson from the Islanders and Charlie Coyle from the Bruins for Mittelstadt, prospect William Zellers and a second round pick, solidifying the center spot.
He’s got two more years left on his contract at $5.75 million per season and it remains to be seen if he’s still a Bruin when the team sees the other side of this rebuild/retool. In four games going into Monday’s tilt against his old Sabres team, he’s shown his skill, especially on the power play, notching a point in his first three games as a Bruin (1-2-3) before Saturday’s team-wide debacle against the Lightning.
Mittelstadt is hopeful he can be a difference-maker.
“Obviously it’s a new team, a new place and a new system. There are some degrees I think I can play better and some that I like that I’m doing,” said Mittelstadt. “We’re going to compete hard, compete to win every night. I feel like I fit in in the room with the guys. I like the culture that they have and that they’re going to continue to build so I think I can be a really good piece for them and a really good piece in this room.”
He’s also looking forward to becoming a more permanent Boston resident.
“You want to make it work where you are. That’s where you’re loyalty is,” said Mittelstadt. “It’s definitely going to be a little bit of a grind in the last month in the hotel and whatnot. But I’m definitely looking forward to settling down and figuring out where we are and what we’re doing.”…
Marat Khusnutdinov has shown jump in his first four game with the B’s. Playing with Elias Lindholm and Jakub Lauko, he’s got two goal, which matches his total through 57 games with the Minnesota Wild this year while playing down in the lineup.
“It’s been a small sample size, but I do think that because of his skating ability, his quickness on pucks, he’s made some plays offensively that have caught our eye. I’m sure they’ve caught everyone’s eye. Good on him,” said interim coach Joe Sacco. “I do think there’s some upside there. I don’t see him in that fourth line role, particularly. I think he’s going to be more of a top-nine forward at some point depending on who he’s playing with. There’s something there to work with, for sure.”…
At the moment there has been no move to make any call-ups from Providence, though the club will probably bring an extra body or two for the long road trip that begins Thursday in Vegas. The organization saw some early returns on the Brandon Carlo trade on Sunday with center Fraser Minten’s four-point game (hat trick, assist) down in Providence. He’s already played 19 NHL games with Toronto (2-2-4) and wouldn’t be out of place. But the B’s went into Monday’s game in 24th place in the 32-team league. It may be wiser to keep the players the club considers prospects, like Minten, down in Providence with a playoff-bound team. We’ll see.