FEATURE: Del Mastro Stands Out as Shutdown Defenseman in Third OHL Season

After finishing his third season in the OHL, Blackhawks prospect Ethan Del Mastro showcased his NHL potential by embracing his defensive role and helping the Sarnia Sting compete in the postseason.

Del Mastro and the Sarnia Sting advanced all the way to the conference finals of the OHL playoffs before being eliminated by the London Knights. While they did not advance to the championship, the Blackhawks prospect knew the experience would help him in development and his efforts to earn an NHL roster spot in the years to come.

"I knew obviously, it's a big year and kind of the last year before maybe going off to the pros," Del Mastro said. "So, I think it's something you kind of want to be able to do something, and maybe try to go for a championship and obviously we came up a little short, but I think it was pretty awesome. I think it was a pretty successful year and pretty awesome to be able to do some of the things I was able to do.

The 6-foot-4 defenseman started the season with the Mississauga Steelheads before experiencing his first career trade to Sarnia. Between two teams, he produced career highs in assists (52) and points (59) in 52 games during the regular season and recorded 10 assists through the playoffs. He also ranked sixth on the Sting in points and fourth in assists.

During the season, Del Mastro also made his second appearance in the 2023 IIHF World Junior tournament with Team Canada where he was able to capture a gold medal for the second time in his career. For Blackhawks Assistant General Manager of Player Development Mark Eaton, the alternate captain proved his NHL potential with the way he handled his role as a shutdown defenseman.

"[He's] been put in that kind of shutdown role where he played a ton of minutes for Team Canada," Eaton said. "I think what you saw with him, and Team Canada is kind of more of that style that's going to be expected of him at the at the pro level. He showed that the previous times representing Team Canada, that he plays that role very well, very effectively and embraces it."

Being able to represent his country on a high level was a special moment for the 20 year old, but he also shared it with three other Blackhawks prospects as well, teaming up with Kevin Korchinski, Nolan Allan and Colton Dach.

For him, being able to win with other players in the same NHL system as him made it even more enjoyable, and also showed what the future could be like further down the road for Chicago.

"It was kind of nice already knowing those guys and pretty exciting, I think, kind of future wise for Chicago," Del Mastro said. "Knowing those guys are going to kind of be around with you and kind of work their way up the ranks with you. So, I think it's kind of special and it was pretty awesome to be able to win."

The Blackhawks selected Del Mastro in the fourth round of the 2021 NHL draft where the defenseman had one season in the OHL under his belt.

While the junior league took a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it took a year away from watching players develop on the ice. However, Eaton believes it speaks to the testament of the Blackhawks scouting staff for selecting the Ontario native later on in the draft and seeing his growth through the last two seasons.

"Our scouts did a great job and for us to get him in the fourth round I see that as a steal," Eaton said. "You could certainly see the defensive qualities to his game but the one thing, at least for me watching on video, was that you didn't see how comfortable he was with the puck. That's something that I've grown to appreciate about his game over the last couple of years."

Instead of focusing on where he was selected two years ago, the biggest thing that Del Mastro wanted to focus on more was his game. For him, if he could show the scouts that even though he was picked in the fourth round, he could still make an impact on any team he plays for.

"I think a lot of my motivation is just kind of proving myself after the draft," Del Mastro said. "You want to be able to prove yourself to the NHL team and they don't really care what round you're drafted, I think, unless you're able to prove yourself that's the most important part."