ANAHEIM, Calif. — Tyson Hinds’ NHL career is not even a month into its infancy, yet he’s already gained the trust of the Ducks’ coaching staff to be an everyday regular in the lineup for the most important games of the season.
With an injury to captain Radko Gudas and Ian Moore seemingly finding a home on the right wing of the fourth line, the Ducks called up Hinds from the AHL San Diego Gulls and made his NHL debut on April 4.
The left-shot defenseman hasn’t left the lineup since.
“When you look at it, it's pretty crazy, and it's fun for sure,” Hinds said of what the last three weeks have been like for him. “Just trying to go day by day, and try to stay in the present. It helps me focus on the small things, the practices, the games, shift by shift. So just try to stay in the present as much as I can, and that helps me with the stress and everything.”
Hinds is more of a defensive defenseman, so you will not see much offensive output from him. But in Game 3 on Friday night, he picked up his first NHL point as the secondary assist on Mason McTavish’s goal to put the Ducks on the board.
“My job is not to make points here, it’s to defend,” Hinds said. “It's just a bonus to it.”
Hinds began the season in the AHL, as he’s done for the last three seasons. He played in 62 games and only put up 19 points, but his steady presence and ability to kill plays in the defensive zone helped him net a +16 rating.
Despite beginning and spending the majority of the year in San Diego, the Ducks had a close eye on him from the start.
“We saw him in training camp,” head coach Joel Quenneville said. “We really liked the way he moved, the way he skates, the way he sees the play. I think he got better and got more experience down there all year.”
Once he was called up, Hinds suited up for the remaining six games of the Ducks’ regular season schedule. Over those six games, Hinds blocked nine shots and had five takeaways while being on the ice for 63% of the expected goal totals, according to Evolving Hockey.
“He's steady, predictable, reliable, got a good attitude,” Quenneville said. “He wants to grow in his game. You can see it every day. He wants to improve at looking after the game, looking at different things to be aware of.”
In his debut, Hinds was paired with veteran defenseman John Carlson to help ease him into the NHL, but he played the majority of his shifts with Drew Helleson down the stretch and has only played with Helleson in the playoffs.
Luckily for Hinds, he has seasoned veterans sharing the same blue line as him in Carlson, Gudas and Jacob Trouba to help guide him through the everyday process of the NHL. Hinds said that the three of them have been helping him settle in and stay confident through his mistakes.
“I'm grateful for the opportunity, and I'm just trying to do the most out of it, so that I know what I can bring, and start building off small games, small shifts,” Hinds said.
The newly turned 23-year-old, however, understands the magnitude of the current assignment.
It’s long been said that the playoffs are a different beast. And it’s especially true when the inexperienced Ducks have to face the Oilers, who feature superstars such as Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and are looking to return to the Stanley Cup Finals for a third consecutive season.
“Every shift could be a goal for, a goal against,” Hinds said. “It could shift the momentum, and every moment is big in the playoff games, so I just try to do my job and do the best I can.
“I try to play my role, try to help the team win big kills, big blocks out there, play good defensively, and just try to do my job.”
Through three games of this playoff series, Hinds has looked just as calm on the ice as he did in the first six games of his career. It’s helped the Ducks jump out to a 2-1 lead in the series, with the chance to take a commanding 3-1 lead on home ice.
Hinds is just one of the plethora of young Ducks that looks to benefit from the playoff experience. And Quenneville believes he’s handled playoff hockey very well.