Ducks’ Colangelo Adjusting to Different Role in NHL

It’s been a bit of an unorthodox journey to the NHL for Sam Colangelo. The 2020 second-round pick played two seasons in the USHL and four seasons of college hockey (three with Northeastern and one with Western Michigan) before making his way to the San Diego Gulls in the AHL on an amateur tryout (ATO). Four AHL games and four points later, Colangelo signed his entry-level contract (ELC).

"It’s a dream come true,” Colangelo said after his first practice with the Ducks following his ELC finalization last April. “I’m really excited to be here. Can’t really put into words what this means to me and my family. Just really, really excited to be here and get this going.”

Colangelo played three games for the Ducks before the season ended, scoring his first NHL goal in his NHL debut against the Calgary Flames. This past offseason, he worked out back home in Massachusetts with Jon Hutcheon, co-owner of Elev802 Boston.

"I'd skated with him for a long time before it was even Elev802 and it was great," Colangelo said. "I have a really close relationship with him and it's mini rinks, so I get a lot of puck touches. Working on a lot of different things in tight and getting tuned up for the season."

Colangelo also spent a month in Florida during the offseason, participating in the Soflo summer hockey league with several other players in the Ducks organization.

Because he was a collegiate hockey player, Colangelo entered this season as the oldest player on the Ducks' rookie camp roster despite it being his first rookie camp. He skated on a line with Cutter Gauthier in both of the rookie faceoff tournament games that they played in and the pair showed how much their brief experience at the NHL level had already helped.

Colangelo spent most of preseason playing on a line with Nikita Nesterenko and Jansen Harkins. The trio was rarely separated throughout the exhibition games with all three among the final cuts for training camp.

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The message from the coaching staff and the Ducks' front office was for Colangelo to keep doing what he was doing. “They thought—and I thought—that I had a pretty good camp," Colangelo said. "I wasn't sure it was going to happen. (I) thought there was going to be a chance I could make the team. It didn't work out, but I just tried to stick with the mindset that I developed when I transferred to Western—just getting better every day. The coaching staff at Western really transformed my mentality and my mindset into just getting better every day and I think when I got sent down, it was tough for a day or two. You want to make the big club, but just go down there and try to keep working and get back up here."

Colangelo did just that, putting up 15 points in 14 games for the Gulls before receiving a call-up on Nov. 17. He was named the Gulls' Player of the Month for October and was presented with a custom watch.

"It was a nice watch," Colangelo said with a grin. "I'll take it. It was a good month. We didn't have the best start down there as a team, but I think I played well individually and I was able to find the back of the net a few times, so that helped. I'll take a free watch, so it was good.“

While he was getting top-6 minutes in a scoring role in the AHL, it's been almost a complete 180-turn for Colangelo during his brief time in the NHL. He's had to have more of a rough-and-tumble identity as part of the fourth line alongside Ross Johnston and Harkins, who is also back with the Ducks.

“He brings a lot," Harkins said. "He's a great player. He's a big body, skates well, good skill. I think we've had some really good chemistry so far this year, so just a little familiarity. With our line––Sammy's a big boy––just get to the net and I think we can kind of use each other well out there."

"I think we played together probably 80 to 90 percent of the games down there in San Diego and we developed pretty good chemistry," Colangelo said. "We were off to a really good start offensively. Here, we're in a bit of a different role. Just being able to know where he's going to be on the ice and read off of him. I know his tendencies, I think he's gotten to learn mine. It's a huge sense of familiarity."

“He's an interesting player because he can score (and) he's had a history of scoring," Ducks head coach Greg Cronin said of Colangelo. "I think he was a top-five or six goalscorer in college. When he went from Northeastern to Western Michigan, I think there was an element of a rebrand there in terms of his habits. Pat Ferschweiler has done a really good job in Western Michigan developing the players there. He coached in the NHL for a while, so I think he understands which skills transfer to the NHL level.

"And I think that Sammy did a really good job buying into what Pat and his staff were teaching him there in terms of being harder on pucks, not being a one-dimensional scorer. He can skate and our adage is if you're getting hits and getting sticks into battles, then you're skating. If you're not on that spreadsheet, you're probably not skating fast enough. He's a player who can connect himself to those stats symbolically. I think that's just a reflection of his ability to get up and down the ice and finish his checks, which isn't in the same bubble as a goalscorer, but he knows he has to do that to play in the lineup."

I think it's a bit of a different role that I played down (in San Diego) versus what I played (in Anaheim) so far," Colangelo said. "Down there, I'm playing a lot more. But I think just trying to work on the things that'll help me here, even while playing in a top-6 role, I think I've gotten better at those things.

Due to injuries, Colangelo will likely continue to get an extended look, whether that's in his current role as a bottom-6 forward or an elevation to a bigger role. With Trevor Zegras currently out due to a lower-body injury, Colangelo slotted into the second power play unit.

"Just play my game and work hard," Colangelo said was the message from the coaching staff upon being recalled to the Ducks. "I think I proved to myself and them last year that I could play here. I just want to keep working every day to prove that I belong here and try to stay."

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