When you’re a grinder and you’re on a team with Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov leading the offense, the last thing you need to worry about is scoring goals.
And that’s why New Haven, Conn., native Adam Erne didn’t seem the least bit concerned when he went 17 games without putting a puck in the net for the Tampa Bay Lightning early in 2019.
The important number for Erne, a 23-year-old left wing, might be 5, as in plus-5, which happened to be better than that of Stamkos or another veteran, J.T. Miller.
As of late February, Erne already had played in a career-high 45 games for the Lightning and appeared to be on the brink of establishing himself as a regular. Does he consider this a breakthrough season?
“It’s good to be here from start to finish,’’ he said recently. “Obviously it’s been different the last two years. … I came up halfway through.
“I think it’s a good experience to get a full season.’’
Erne plays with a physical edge but has done a good job controlling his penalty minutes, which stood at just 33 (and 17 of those were in one game) heading into the final quarter of the season.
“I feel like I’m playing really well right now,’’ he said. “I’m confident in my game. And I’m sure that the points will come soon.’’
A 2013 second-round draft pick (33rd overall) of the Lightning, Erne served notice he had some real upside while playing for the Quebec Remparts junior team. In the 2014-15 postseason, he registered 21 goals in 22 games and was named recipient of the Guy Lafleur Trophy for playoff MVP.
Adam’s dad, Erik (a former goalie who played with Chris Drury and Ted Drury), got him into hockey, lacing on a pair of skates for him when he was barely 2 years old.
“He had me skating before I could walk,’’ Adam said with a laugh. “Hockey is all I ever played. I fell in love with it and it’s all I ever wanted to do.’’
New Haven is still home to the Erne family.
“I still go back there every summer,’’ he said. “That’s where I grew up. It was a long road (in hockey). I left home when I was 15 (to play for the Indiana Ice of the United States Hockey League). But New Haven is still home. It’s still where I go back to.’’
He joined the Remparts at age 16.
“Quebec was awesome,’’ he said.
The Lafleur honor was about as good as it gets.
“It was fun; it was a really good experience going all the way to the QMJHL finals,’’ he said. “We lost in Game 7 (4-3 to Rimouski). It was a heck of a run. We were hosting; we still got to go to the tournament (where Quebec lost in the semifinals).’’
It’s no secret when you score 21 postseason goals at any level, it’s going to have a positive effect on your career. “Well, we were playing against young guys — it was my last year of junior,’’ he explained. “We kind of stacked up for the Memorial Cup, so we had a really good run. I was just happy to have a good impact on that run.’’
For a kid from Connecticut to get drafted in the second round was a fairly big deal, considering other Nutmeg State stars such as Jonathan Quick (72nd) and Cam Atkinson (157th) were taken much later in their respective draft years.
“It was really fun,’’ Erne recalled of his draft day. “It’s a time you get to share with your family. You think about all the sacrifices they made while I was growing up. That’s the payoff. They get to be there and see it first-hand, so it was a lot of fun.’’
Erne patiently played for the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL until the phone finally rang one day in January 2017. Shortly after, the 6-foot-1, 210-pound Erne made his NHL debut.
“I was in Syracuse and they told me I was going to be playing,’’ he said. “It was my dream come true.’’
Playing on a steady basis for the best team in hockey has to be pretty rewarding, too, right? “It’s awesome,’’ he said. “Sometimes it’s the luck of the draw who you get drafted to. To be able to work my way into this lineup is awesome, and I’m just happy to be a part of it.
“It feels like we have something good right now and we just want to keep it going.’’
Of Erne’s six goals this season, three of them are game-winners.
Like the rest of New England, Connecticut seems to turning out more and more NHL players these days.
“There weren’t that many when I was that age (about 10 years ago),’’ he said. “That’s one of the reasons I left (to go to Indiana) to play at a higher level.
“But it’s a really good thing if they can start to develop more players out of that area.’’
