Stars prospect Felhaber making his fifth run at the Memorial Cup
With as many as 20 NHL clubs pursuing his services this season Tye Felhaber admits the free agency process was distracting at times.
The 67’s overage forward finally inked a three-year entry-level deal with the Dallas Stars in early March allowing him to turn is attention fully to the ice and what he’s hoping is a lengthy playoff run in Ottawa this spring.
“It’s definitely a weight off your shoulders,” Felhaber said. “Now you’re just kind of playing and you don’t have that hanging over your head. Obviously the whole season you want to help your team win, but now especially with that off your shoulders, you just want to produce for your team and do anything to help the team win.”
Felhaber finished his fifth OHL season with a team-leading 59 goals and 109 points in 68 games as the 67’s finished with a league-best 50 wins and 106 points. He was a league-best plus-56 and his 109 points ranked third overall.
The Pembroke, Ontario native may have been fielding offers from 20 clubs, but it was the Stars that stood out from the rest.
“I think for them, they’ve got a great team and I think they deserved a lot better than what they’ve had in the past,” Felhaber explained. “They just reached out to me and they had the most interest out of anybody. They believed in me the most as a player and as a person.
“For them to give me that opportunity, its special to me and I know I won’t let them down.”
The 20-year-old was a free agent this season after being passed over in two NHL drafts. He was invited to Toronto’s development camp in 2016, but nothing materialized with the Maple Leafs.
Now Felhaber calls the adversity of being overlooked a positive experience.
“If I got drafted, maybe I wouldn’t have been the player I am today,” said Felhaber. “Seventeen, 18-years-old, you’re still young and it could get to your head. Its easy for me to say that, and obviously I would’ve loved to get drafted, but now I’m just happy its all kind of working out in this 20-year-old season. I knew it was my last shot so I’ve given my team everything I’ve got.
“I think you see a lot of guys that go on the red carpet kind of thing of the whole way up and they face adversity once they go up and I’ve handled that for probably three years, four years, and just to go through that helps me as a player and as a person.”
After scoring 17 goals in 48 games split between the Saginaw Spirit and 67’s in 2016-17, Felhaber reached a personal best 31 goals in 68 game during his first full season in Ottawa last year.
However, the 6-foot, 189-pound winger knew he could produce more offensively.
Felhaber capped off his 2017-18 season with a brief stint in the American Hockey League with the Laval Rocket giving him a taste of pro hockey and where he needed to take his game in order to get to the next level.
“I only kind of started (producing) in the second half of last season. For me, that was kind of a huge confidence boost because after the second half of the season and after playoffs, I just kind of regrouped and said ‘I can be a dominant player in this league’,” said Felhaber. “With the AHL experience, just tried to soak that up and come back here and bring (the experience) to my teammates.
“Got my opportunity, got my chance and coach trusted me, put me out there on a big line, produced and had great success in just trying to work on that full 200-foot game.”
Felhaber only dressed in four games with the Rocket and didn’t register a point with the Montreal Canadiens affiliate, but it was enough of a sample size to learn from.
“It was a really cool experience, but a lot of teaching points and the game is kind of similar to here,” he said. “Obviously stronger, faster and all of that and plays are done quicker, but kind of has a lot of similarities, but you learn stuff off the rim, not having your butt on the boards, just kind of facing the play and skating with the puck and never stopping really just kind of skating with the puck and keep it going.”
Felhaber will likely begin his time with the Stars organization with Texas of the AHL either this spring or next fall.
As he makes one last push to win a Memorial Cup before closing the door on his junior career Felhaber keeps in touch with both Stars assistant general manager, Scott White, and the club’s player development coordinator, Rich Peverley.
The Stars’ message to their new prospect is simple:
“They just kind of said ‘don’t focus on the offensive numbers or anything like that. Just play and do anything to help the team win’ because that’s the most valuable part that they want from me,” said Felhaber. “Obviously I’ll be coming in as a rookie next year so you just want to fit into that lineup, into that group, into that room and just do anything to help that team win.
“Before I go there, I’ve got to help the 67’s win and do anything I can to improve my character.”