Gabe Vilardi Makes Splash in NHL Debut

At last, Kings fans can breath a sigh of relief. Gabe Vilardi, the former first round draft pick, has made his long-anticipated NHL debut and it simply could not have gone better. Vilardi beat a NHL record by scoring just ten seconds into his first NHL shift. Vilardi broke the previous record by five seconds that Toronto’s Gus Bodnar set back in 1943. Vilardi also added a primary assist for an impressive two-point debut.

In order to take a look at this monumentos event, we need to go back a bit. Vilardi’s young career almost never started in the first place. The twenty-year-old forward has been dealing with a persistent back injury since he was seventeen.

After an injury-shortened OHL season with the Windsor Spitfires, Vilardi was drafted in the eleventh overall in the 2017 NHL entry draft. Vilardi was known as a strong two-way forward that would be able to make an immediate impact on whatever team he joined. Needless to say, Kings fans were excited to have him in their system.

However, his injury issues persisted; he missed his first rookie camp and had another injury-shortened 2017-2018 OHL season. Kings fans were disappointed, but optimistic: Vilardi signed an entry level contract with the Kings in March, 2018. Fans remained hopeful that he would be able to play a full season. However, this was not the case; Vilardi was limited to a four game conditioning stint with the Kings’ AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. This was heartbreaking for Vilardi and Kings fans alike as many NHL experts began to question if he would ever be able to play at the NHL level.

November 2019 brought hope for Vilardi: he began to skate and practice with the Ontario Reign. On November 22, 2019, he played his first hockey game in almost a year with the Reign. After a number of “trial” games with limited ice-time, Vilardi scored his first profesional goal on December 4.

After his first AHL goal, Vilardi continued to excel with the Reign. After Kings center Jeff Carter suffered a lower-body injury, his 25 points (9+16=25) in 32 games earned him an opportunity to play with the parent club.

On February 20, 2020, Vilardi was recalled by the Los Angeles Kings. The question of wether or not he would ever play in the NHL was finally answered. On the same day of his recall, Vilardi made his NHL debut against the Florida Panthers. It was not long before he proved that he was ready to play at the NHL level. He scored his first goal on his first shot, just 10 seconds into his first shift.

Vilardi’s goal shattered the previous record for fastest first goal and he was not done yet. He also added a primary assist on teammate Martin Frk’s goal in a 5-4 LA victory. In his debut, he proved many NHL experts wrong and provided Kings fans a glimpse of a bright future.