Greg Pateryn is a member of the Dallas Stars.
He wears No. 29 and has a stall in the locker room alongside the rest of the defenders. When the Stars have their positional meetings Pateryn is always involved, and he’s always active in practice — particularly as a penalty killer during special teams drills.
But something key is missing from Pateryn’s profile as an NHL player: an actual NHL game this season.
This is hockey’s version of purgatory.
Pateryn is part of the team, and has even taken warmups in more than half of the Stars games, but playing time is a far-fetched concept with the 27-year-old clearly entrenched as the eighth defender in an eight-defender system.
To Pateryn’s credit, he’s handled it better than most would. While Stars depth defenders in the past have moped and been visibly frustrated in the press box in the past, Pateryn hasn’t shown any outward signs of frustration.
“Unfortunately I’ve been in this position before,” Pateryn said. “No one wants to be in this position, but sometimes you’ve just got to stick with it and be patient. And it seems to be how I start the season most times. But I always end up finishing the seasons a lot stronger, so I think it’s something I keep in mind.”
Adding to his potential frustrations, Pateryn never really had a chance to make it in Ken Hitchcock’s top-six defenders out of training camp.
While Hitchcok said it was an open competition, his actions spoke louder than words when Pateryn was only given an opportunity to play in two preseason games, which effectively neutered any chance the right-handed defender had of winning a full-time job. And, to be frank, if Pateryn were were waiver exempt he’d likely be playing for the Texas Stars in the AHL instead of watching NHL games from the press box.
Once again, that could have been a somewhat acceptable excuse for Pateryn to air his frustrations or at least complain to his teammates.
Instead he’s kept it positive when interacting in the locker room.
“Sticking with it is hard some days, but everyone is really good about it. Everyone is really supportive around the rink, they make you feel like you’re part of everything regardless of what’s going on,” Pateryn said. “The guys have been great, so I’m grateful for that, and that’s a huge part of it.”
Pateryn’s teammates have noticed his hard work in a non-playing role. He’s often one of the first players on the ice before and works with goalie coach Jeff Reese to warm up the goalies — a role that used to belong to Adam Cracknell — while he often puts in the extra work after practice to make sure his fitness level is ready for an NHL game.
Stars assistant coach Rick Wilson, who is essentially a defensive coordinator, hasn’t treated Pateryn any differently in meetings or conversations.
“Just keeping me in it, showing me stuff that they show other guys. So when I do get the call, I’m not rusty or anything. I’m kind of sharp on the systems and the positions of everything,” Pateryn said. “They’ve done a good job of keeping me in, and at a certain point it’s on me to stay sharp in practice and be my best on and off the ice.”
And that all could pay off soon for Pateryn.
Stephen Johns was injured in a 5-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday, while Julius Honka and Jamie Oleksiak have both struggled in their last outing. And with a back-to-back against the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames later this week, it could be the ideal situation to get Pateryn into the lineup.
Pateryn said he doesn’t like to speculate how or when he’ll get in the lineup, but said he’ll be ready when the opportunity comes.
“I trust my game, and I know that I’ll be able to play it well when the time comes,” he said.
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