Mavrik Bourque calls back La Presse a few minutes after the agreed time. He profusely apologizes, explaining that he had forgotten his scheduled ice session for this Thursday afternoon. An oversight in good faith, we quickly understand over a 25-minute conversation with an affable young man.

“I like it, getting back on the ice pretty quick in the summer,” he blurts out.

The paradox is interesting, because younger, it was quite the opposite for the prospect of the Dallas Stars. His parents operated a farm and his summers were spent working on the farm.

“I was just talking about it with my mom lately,” Bourque says. When I was young, we thought more about the farm than the NHL. I was not in hockey schools in the summer, I spent my time on the farm, “he says.

Life has changed for Bourque, and it must be said that the way his season ended is enough to make you want to put on your skates quickly. Le Plessisvillois spent the entire 2022-2023 financial year with the Dallas school club, the Texas Stars.

When the latter were eliminated in the Calder Cup playoffs, Bourque was among the prospects recalled to fill the role of the “Black Aces”, the reserves in the NHL.

But when he was recalled, Jamie Benn suffered a brain cramp and was suspended, while Evgenii Dadonov suffered an injury. Two attackers fell in battle, advancing everyone in the hierarchy. For Games 4 and 5 of the Western Finals, against Vegas, Bourque participated in the pre-game warm-up as the 13th forward.

“Both times I didn’t expect to play. But you never know, the guys were pretty messed up, he recalls. Before the first of the two games, I was told that I might play. I was asked lots of questions, but I knew nothing. »

Eventually, he followed it all from the bridge, like the other reservists, but knowing that he was the next called in case of injury. “During the season, sometimes you watch the club games upstairs, a guy comes on the bench, you see he’s in pain, and you say to yourself: is he seriously injured? But that never crossed my mind during the playoffs. Yet, it could have been! But I wasn’t really stressed. »

At 21, Bourque now has a full year of AHL experience. In 70 games, in 2022-2023, he registered 20 goals and 27 assists, an interesting production for the beginner that he was.

Here he is at the same point as many others before him. Apart from the exceptional defender Miro Heiskanen, the overwhelming majority of players developed by the organization have spent a full season in the subsidiaries. Roope Hintz played a season and a quarter (91 games) there before being promoted. Jason Robertson played 60 games there. Goalkeeper Jake Oettinger has also been there for 54 games.

“Hintz is a superstar, Robertson too. You watch them play and you think those guys never played in the American League! It’s going in the right direction, but you have to trust the development. You want to climb the mountain fast, but it’s good to face adversity. »

This was also discussed at his end-of-season meeting with management. “They like it when their guys do a year in the American League. Then if you’re ready, you’re ready,” he explains.

But as Depeche Mode rightly observed at the time, it is a competitive world. The Stars have 12 forwards on one-way NHL contracts. Added are Wyatt Johnston, who is coming off a 24-goal season at just 20 years old, and Logan Stankoven, a 2021 2nd-round pick who is heading to the pros this year after two scorching campaigns in the Western Junior League. (WHL).

However, the surplus will not last forever, since the Stars have several attackers in their thirties. Among them, Joe Pavelski, Matt Duchene and Craig Smith will be out of contract at the end of the season.

And above all, the simple fact of having participated in two warm-up sessions reminded him that the NHL is at his fingertips.

“If we had gone back five months, I would have thought: I’m far away. I had ups and downs, it was not going so well. I improved during the season. It’s fun to see that I’m close. I approach this camp knowing very well that the team is packed. But it will be up to me to make my place. »