The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the best teams in the NHL, and their fans won't let anyone forget that. Of course, the team's players have experience, and very rarely do we see a rookie drafted outside of the first round get ice time.
However, due to recent roster changes that have the leaves searching for talent to bring to their team, center Jacob Quillan debuted with the Leafs in their Saturday night tilt against the division-rival Ottawa Senators.
Quillan did make an impression during his first game, but it may not have been a good one, as the rookie was injured in that game. The Nova Scotia native would earn his “welcome to the NHL” moment after taking a knee-on-knee hit from Sens forward Nick Cousins.
In the clip posted to Instagram by Bleacher Report, Quillan can be seen skating across the ice before meeting Cousins at center ice. The two would collide knee-on-knee, causing quite a commotion on the ice in Ottawa.
“Stuff happens like that, just gotta keep going,” Quillan said in his media interview following the 2-1 loss. The forward was not forced to leave the game following the scary hit as most players would have been.
Quillan is just 22 years old now and has yet to score a point in an NHL game. It does seem like the rookie will get his first point sooner rather than later now that he has gotten his “welcome to the NHL” moment off his back.
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