Daws, Late Bloomer to Early Arrival | PROSPECT WATCH

Nico Daws is a late bloomer who arrived early in the NHL.
The contradiction is not lost on those close to the Devils goaltending prospect, but they are also not shocked at the 20-year-old's dramatic NHL debut.
"Not surprised," remarked George Burnett, his former junior coach, after Daws' first NHL win, in
overtime Saturday over the Buffalo Sabres
.
"And I'm not surprised because what I've seen him do the last two years to get to where he is now pretty quickly."

Burnett is referring to Daws's transformation after he returned home from the 2018-19 season and made a commitment to be better.
That year Burnett's club, the Guelph Storm, rampaged through the Ontario Hockey League, winning the league title. Daws, an 18-year-old backup in his NHL draft year, showed well at times, going undefeated in his last 10 starts. But he was on the bench during the playoff run and subsequent Memorial Cup because Burnett went with Anthony Popovich, who provided the club with solid goaltending.
"He felt sorry for himself for maybe two weeks," recalled Steve Daws, "but then he realized that if (his final year of junior hockey) is going to different, he had to change.
That change was a commitment to drop weight and develop the look of a lean, sinewy athlete. Daws, at a shade under 6-foot-4, had the required frame but was probably 20 pounds, maybe 25, too heavy to maximize his physical attributes. By the standards of a regular 18-year-old, he was fine but by the standards of a young man hoping to be taken in the 2019 NHL Draft, he was holding himself back.
"The extra weight I was carrying wasn't good weight," Nico said back in the spring, "(and) I also knew that my window of opportunity was closing."
Burnett also had a frank chat with his goalie. When training camp arrived in late August 2019, Daws had done the required work and the off-ice results were obvious.
"George threw him an XL shirt, and Nico threw it back to him," recalled Steve. "It didn't fit anymore. Too big."
But on the ice, Daws was huge, unbeatable many nights. He almost singlehandedly made the Storm competitive despite heavy graduation losses that included soon-to-be Montreal Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki and their leading scorer, Nate Schnarr, another Devils prospect.
"We kept hearing (the Storm) were supposed to be dead last," recalled Steve Daws "…but Nico just ran with the opportunity."
Steve Daws' son also made Team Canada at the World Junior, helping them win a gold medal, and won the OHL's goaltender of the year award. At about the same time, he landed in the Devils crosshairs at the draft table. The club scooped him in the third round (84th overall) a year ago.

Though general manager Tom Fitzgerald made a point at his media availability last year to say how happy the club was at getting Daws, it would have been difficult to imagine recording his first NHL just a year after the selection.
"I thought maybe," opined Steve Daws, "after the injuries (to Mackenzie Blackwood and Jonathan Bernier) that he could get a chance in the back-to-backs that are coming up."
But even before the back-to-backs, that opportunity came last weekend, which set off a chain reaction in the Daws household in Burlington, a suburban community near Toronto and Hamilton, to fulfill the travel protocols to get to Newark.
"The whole organization was great to us," said Steve, in reference to the help and guidance the Devils office provided to follow testing protocols before hopping on a plane in time for Nico's debut. Once there, the widely circulated video of Stefani Daws, Nico's mom, being mic'd for the broadcast was arranged.

"We were just trying to keep it together," remembered Steve, who sat to his wife's left. Stefani's sister and brother-in-law were on the other side and a frequent presence in the camera frame.
"You just sort of tell yourself not to (overreact) and to make sure you clap when you're supposed to."
Despite the unexpected opportunity early on, the road to the NHL is almost never a straight line. A 5-3 loss to the Calgary Flames in Daws' next start, which saw him replaced 13 minutes into the first period, provides a sobering reminder of the work ahead to become a full-time NHLer.
Still, you only get one chance to make a good first impression and it is hard to imagine making a better one than Daws did on Saturday night after stopping 24 of 25 shots.

"He's done the work," points out Steve, "…we knew, especially after training camp and the exit interview that Nico had that he was (off to a good start).
"I think he is giving himself a chance to have a good, long career."