But there was a more important reason for his good mood.
Van Riemsdyk, who joined the Red Wings by signing a one-year, $1 million contract on July 1, missed training camp to be with his family after his wife, Lauren, gave birth to twins. Complications meant one of the babies needed an extended stay in the hospital.
Suddenly, hockey wasn’t so important anymore.
Fortunately, the issues stabilized to the point where Van Riemsdyk knew his family was in a good enough state for him to join his teammates. He was activated from nonroster status on Saturday and played his first game with the Red Wings two days later after a couple of practices, beginning his 17th NHL season.
And what a debut it was.
“It was pretty fun to be out there,” said Van Riemsdyk, who finished plus-1 in 10:09 of ice time. “I think, obviously, with everything I’ve been through in the last month or so with family stuff, the support I’ve received from my teammates and the organization, and then to have my first game for the team in a building in which I’ve had a lot of history, it was great.
“It’s definitely been an emotional roller coaster. You’re going through stuff at home with your family, your wife, so it’s a lot. So when you love to do something like I do with this, you don’t forget the people who were there for you.”
Count Red Wings coach Todd McLellan among those on that list.
“What is this, his 15th, 16th, 17th season? I don’t even know,” McLellan said. “There’s a lot of numbers there. If you’ve played that long, I do know you’ve got to be committed to the game.
“But what comes first is his family. Our guys all respected that. We knew he needed time. But he’s worked real hard since then.”
On Monday, it paid off.
"You just want to contribute," Van Riemsdyk said. "I'm glad I could.
"It just seemed normal again."
And Van Riemsdyk couldn’t be more grateful that it was.
