It’s been 1,214 days since Lassi Thomson last played in an NHL game, but that will change on Monday night in New York, as the Finnish defender checks into the lineup for the Ottawa Senators, who are missing Jake Sanderson, Nick Jensen, and Dennis Gilbert due to injury.
“I mean, it’s a pretty awesome opportunity,” said a beaming Thomson after taking morning skate on Monday. “Being around the boys now for the last almost two weeks, and seeing the group in the locker room after they win games, it’s pretty awesome to be checking in right now. And obviously in New York, never played here before, it’s a pretty cool moment for me.”
Since Thomson’s last appearance in the NHL (a road win over Anaheim on Nov. 25, 2022), he has been waived three times, claimed off waivers twice, spent a season back in Sweden, and played more than 150 games in the AHL. The former first-round pick’s 14 goals this season with Belleville leads all AHL defencemen.
Thomson skated alongside countryman Nikolas Matinpalo at morning skate on the third pair. He said Matinpalo had been helping him through the travel but kept his advice to his new partner simple.
“Nothing special, I think I’ll just try to enjoy the moment, obviously it’s been over three years [since] the last time I played in the NHL,” said Thomson. “So just try to enjoy the moment, and try to have fun, obviously it’s been a good year in Belleville for myself, so it’s a good opportunity.”
Thomson joins a red-hot Senators team that has won eight of 12 games since the Olympic break and sits four points out of the second wild card spot in the East, with two games in hand on the New York Islanders.
“Nothing changes for us, we stay focused on how we want to play and our identity, and play as a team, right now we have everybody going, we have all lines playing a lot, so we’ve got to keep pushing,” said Claude Giroux.
“I think we don’t need to do anything special out there, just play our game and be consistent in how we’re playing the game, and I think we’ve been doing that, giving ourselves a chance to win pretty much every game, so we’ve just got to keep playing like that.”
“Can’t look past anything but tonight, tonight’s effort, tonight’s game,” said Brady Tkachuk. “Always fun coming into this building and playing, they’ve got some high-end talent over there, and any game’s a difficult game, so tonight will present its own challenges, but that’s what’s exciting, getting ready to go for tonight.”
