Miro, Miro
Daniil Miromanov could hardly contain his excitement, when asked Tuesday morning about making his season debut against his former team.
"It's been a long summer," he admitted. "You know, it's not the training camp that I wanted, but I'm super, super excited.
"Another day here, another day in the NHL. It's a blessing."
His workload had been limited throughout the preseason after he picked up a knock, but Miromanov is expected to slot in Tuesday alongside old friend MacKenzie Weegar, who will shift to the left side to accommodate Miromanov's spot on the right.
For Weegar, that's just fine.
"Miro and I have had some good success playing together in the past, so I'm looking forward to getting him a little kick start, getting him back playing," he said. "I know he's excited, which makes me excited, gives me another little boost.
"I think for him, he's always going to have a jump against an old team that he's played against."
For head coach Ryan Huska, having a versatile defender like Weegar allows for more lineup options, noting his veteran defender is probably the best on his roster at switching positions in a pinch, when called upon.
"It is an advantage, not everybody can do it; MacKenzie, he actually likes playing on the left side," Huska explained. "I think he's the one guy on our team that is comfortable bouncing back and forth, because you have to kind of re-program your brain a little bit when you're asked to play in your off-side
"I think Mackenzie, he does a really good job of handling it the right way. So he knows how to keep his game simple on that side, he's been effective before, we're looking for him to be that way tonight."
Miromanov, who began his NHL journey with the Golden Knights before being dealt North in the Noah Hanifin trade in March of 2024, chipped in with two goals and seven points over his 44 games of work a season ago.
But both he and Huska figure there's a bit of untapped offensive potential within him, and Miromanov is eager to be aggressive at both ends of the rink in his season debut.
"I had a lot of conversations with (Huska) here, in the camp and during the summer," the defenceman explained. "(It's) just going out there and executing, bringing the best effort every single game and playing to my strengths; being hard in front of the net.
"I'd like to shoot more this year than I did last year, because it's kind of one of my strengths. We need the volume, we need more goals, and so that's what I've been trying to focus on."
