Driedger brings depth to hometown team

LAS VEGAS — Chris Driedger is quick to admit he was a little bit surprised to see the number for Roberto Luongo pop up on his phone on the day of the NHL trade deadline.

The veteran netminder had just been reassigned to the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League by the Florida Panthers, but this wasn’t a social call from Luongo, the Hall of Fame goalie who is now a special advisor to general manager Bill Zito.

Driedger was on the move again, this time to his hometown as the Winnipeg Jets had acquired him as goaltending insurance in a deal for Kaapo Kahkonen.

“It came as a surprise,” Driedger said in an interview earlier this week. “It was kind of a whirlwind, for sure. It took me a minute to process and then, it was exciting. To come back to Winnipeg and come back home. An exciting opportunity, too.”

Driedger had been up with the Panthers after Spencer Knight was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, but when Florida acquired Vitek Vanecek from the San Jose Sharks, the organization decided to pivot and moved him for Kahkonen to be the third guy on the goalie depth chart.

After spending a few days back home in his parent’s basement, Driedger moved into his own place.

When was the last time Driedger lived at home?

“Summer of 2016, maybe 2017. It’s been a minute, but it’s good to be back. It’s a familiar city and I have a lot of good memories in Winnipeg. Some of my oldest friends are still there.”

Upon his arrival, Driedger appeared in five games with the Manitoba Moose, who were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Thursday.

With Jets backup Eric Comrie on baby watch, Driedger was recalled by the Jets to serve as the backup netminder on this three-game road trip, which continued on Thursday in a game that was ongoing at press time.

By his own admission, Driedger’s journey has been an interesting one.

“I grew up in Whyte Ridge and a friend of mine, a hockey player, we were in Grade 1, maybe six years old or something like that,” said Driedger. “I would go over to his place at lunch and I would have a baseball glove and a goalie stick and he would shoot on me. I told my parents that I wanted to play hockey. I went out there and I didn’t really contribute much offensively. One day they put me in net and I was a little bit more of a contributor than I was with the player stick out there.

“They said ‘you know what, maybe we’ll just stick this kid in net’ and then the rest is history from there. I enjoyed it because I wasn’t bringing too much to the table as a forward.”

In minor hockey, Driedger suited up for the Fort Garry/Fort Rouge Twins and Winnipeg Monarchs.

“I actually put all of the logos on the new mask that I just got to pay some respects to my old squads back in the day,” said Driedger, who then described some of the other elements he added to the art work. “A couple of landmarks from around the city. I’ve got the Golden Boy, Louis Riel, the legislature, the (Human Rights) Museum and I’ve got the Dale Hawerchuk statue on there. I kind of went for it. Let’s make this cool and very Winnipeg.”

Driedger left home to join the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League at 16 and the adjustment wasn’t easy.

“It was tough at the start, you’re 16 and you’re playing against 20-year-olds,” said Driedger, who played 22 games that rookie season. “I didn’t play much and I was probably the worst goalie in the league that year. I barely played, but looking back, it was the best thing for me.”

But after a strong season with the Calgary Hitmen, Driedger was chosen in the third round (76th overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft by the Ottawa Senators.

At the end of his third season with the Hitmen, Driedger turned pro and that’s where things got even more interesting.

After 44 games in the ECHL and another nine in the American Hockey League, Driedger made his NHL debut for the Senators, coming on in relief against the New York Rangers on Mar. 26 of 2015.

Since then, he’s bounced around a bit, but his perseverance allowed him to put 67 NHL games on his resumé to go along with various pit stops in the AHL and ECHL.

“Trust me, there were plenty of times when I was wondering (what the future might bring),” said Driedger. “It’s all part of the journey. I took the scenic route to the NHL, you could say. It’s been a long road and it definitely made getting to the NHL a heck of a lot sweeter, having been down and playing some games in the ECHL and in the AHL, too. It makes you appreciate everything. I try not to take myself too seriously.”

Driedger, 30, spent part of two strong seasons with the Panthers as the backup to Sergei Bobrovsky and put up impressive numbers — posting a 2.05 goals-against average and .938 save percentage in 12 games in 2019-20 and a 2.07 goals-against average and .927 save percentage in 23 games the following season.

That was enough to catch the attention of the Seattle Kraken, who signed him to a three-year deal worth US$10.5 million to share the crease with Philipp Grubauer.

“Being up on the stage there, when they announced who they were signing and who was getting picked from each team was pretty cool,” said Driedger. “They did it right, too. It was the middle of July, a beautiful day, on the water, with 300 boats out on Lake Union (Wash.), everyone was going nuts. It was pretty fun. Those are fond memories for me.”

At the end of the first season with the Kraken, Driedger was asked to play for Canada at the IIHF Men’s World Championship and he was between the pipes for the gold medal game when he tore his ACL so badly that his career was at risk.

But Driedger worked his way back. And while he’s been limited to two NHL games since, last spring he led the Coachella Valley Firebirds (the top affiliate of the Kraken) to Game 7 of the Calder Cup final before losing to the Hershey Bears.

“To be the guy, to play a bunch of games and make a really serious playoff run was something I hadn’t really had the chance to be a part of during my pro career,” said Driedger. “A lot of fun. It was great. Competing for a championship is pretty special.”

Jets defenceman Haydn Fleury played against Driedger in the WHL and was teammates with him on the Kraken.

“He’s a really good person who likes to have fun and keeps it light,” said Fleury. “He works hard. You can tell he doesn’t take it for granted.”

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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