Former Junior Hurricanes skater makes history at PNC Arena — by scoring for the Islanders
There was history in the New York Islanders’ only goal Saturday night, and not only for them. It was hometown Carolina Hurricanes history, coming from the wrong side of the ice.
When Kyle MacLean stuffed a rebound behind Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen midway through the first period of Game 1, he became the first former Junior Hurricanes player ever to score a playoff goal against the big club.
The son of current Islanders and former Hurricanes assistant coach John MacLean, Kyle MacLean played in the Junior Hurricanes program for three seasons while his father was behind the bench, leaving as a 15-year-old and returning Saturday as a 24-year-old NHL rookie making his first playoff appearance in a building he knew all too well.
“Watched a lot of games, came to a lot of games in this building,” MacLean said Monday. “I’m familiar as well with some of the staff on the other side and Raleigh and general. So it was cool to play a game in this city and in this building. Probably back in the day I was more of a Hurricanes fan, back when my dad was coaching here, but not so much now.”
Riley Stillman, the son of former Hurricanes player Cory Stillman, was the first Junior Hurricanes player to score against the Hurricanes in the regular season when he scored the first of his career for the Chicago Blackhawks at PNC late in the 2021 season.
Among MacLean’s coaches with the Junior Hurricanes: Current Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour, whose son Skyler was on the same teams as MacLean and is now in the Florida Panthers system. MacLean has come back each summer since to train with that group of friends under Hurricanes strength coach Bill Burniston, even staying in Tripp Tracy’s empty condo one year while the Hurricanes broadcaster was back home in Michigan. (“I still have your earbuds, by the way,” Tracy told MacLean on Monday. “I owe you a pair.”)
“He’s here every summer, training with Skyler and the guys,” Rod Brind’Amour said. “And has been for many years. They’re definitely good friends in the summer. Not so much right now. Didn’t like seeing how he got us last night. A guy who’s just, I saw how hard he worked. Everything he has now, he’s earned it.”
Colin Muldoon, who coached Skyler Brind’Amour and Kyle MacLean as 14-year-olds, said they were among the smallest players on that team, enduring the hardship of playing against much bigger and stronger teenagers. Even amid that frustration, their skill and ability stood out.
“I’ve never said this to anybody in our program and still haven’t, but I told Kyle, ‘It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if you played in the NHL one day,’” Muldoon said. “He had all the instincts and did everything right. He was just small, but it was going to happen. I didn’t think it would take this long. I was blown away he wasn’t drafted.”
After his family left North Carolina, MacLean ended up playing five seasons of junior hockey in Canada before signing as a free agent with the Islanders. Now 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, he was in the middle of his fourth AHL season when he was called up in January and never left, recording four goals and five assists in 32 games. His father also scored in his NHL playoff debut, making them the first father-son combo to do it.
The Hurricanes never made the playoffs during John MacLean’s time with the team, working under Kirk Muller in the heart of the franchise’s decade-long playoff drought. Kyle MacLean finally got a taste of the playoff atmosphere in Raleigh, and left his mark as well.
He might have burned a bridge, though: As a now-established NHLer with another franchise, he may have to find a new place to train after the series is over.
“I haven’t thought of that yet,” MacLean said. “I’ll have to talk to Billy (Burniston). I don’t know if I’ll be back this summer or not. The past couple summers everyone in the organization’s been great to me because I’ve been local, but we’ll see how it goes this offseason.”
