On Saturday, Jimmy Huntington made his Barracuda debut, notching a objective and an help in a 7-6 win over the Bakersfield Condors, his first regular-season motion in practically a yr.
Within the spring of 2024, the Laval, Quebec, native had a breakout postseason, recording 14 factors (5 targets, 9 assists) in 20 video games with the Hershey Bears throughout a playoff run that noticed the league’s oldest franchise seize its second consecutive Calder Cup and thirteenth in group historical past.
Through the common season, Huntington set profession highs in targets (16), factors (33), plus/minus (+25), power-play targets (4), shorthanded targets (1), and game-winning targets (5).
Within the Calder Cup Finals towards Coachella Valley, he tallied seven factors (one objective, six assists) in six video games, together with two helpers within the series-clinching 5-4 time beyond regulation win.
“The best way I see it, it’s the playoffs. Whenever you play within the playoffs, there’s adversity, proper? There’s stuff that occurs there that doesn’t occur within the common season, and also you develop as a person, as a participant. That’s stuff you may’t purchase in the course of the season,” mentioned Huntington. “I believe that’s when my profession took off. Even the yr earlier than, once I was in Milwaukee, we misplaced within the convention ultimate towards Coachella.”
Coming off one of the best stretch of hockey in his five-year profession, Huntington signed a one-year NHL contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins on July 1, 2024.
In 4 video games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, he collected 4 factors (one objective, three assists) earlier than his season was abruptly ended attributable to a knee harm, a devastating blow to a participant on the ascent.
“Final yr wasn’t the yr I anticipated,” Huntington admitted. “Coming off a championship with Hershey, getting the following alternative to go play within the NHL.”
Huntington went undrafted in 2018 however, after a 90-point season as a 20-year-old within the QMJHL with the Rimouski Océanic, he was signed to a three-year entry-level contract by the Tampa Bay Lightning in March 2019.
That was the primary of a number of instances the Sharks tried to court docket the six-foot, 201-pound ahead. Popping out of junior, then-Common Supervisor Doug Wilson and his son Doug Wilson Jr. went and noticed him play. Even final yr, following his playoff success with Hershey, San Jose made one other try and signal him.
“After I was in Rimouski, the entire Sharks administration, Doug Wilson and his son, got here to see me, and Tampa was there too,” Huntington mentioned. “Even final yr, I nearly signed right here, however I made a decision to go along with Pittsburgh. It’s a bit ironic, generally there are indicators in life. I’m simply joyful to be right here proper now.”
His time with the Lightning wasn’t a linear path. He bounced between their AHL affiliate in Syracuse and ECHL membership in Orlando. On Feb. 1, 2022, he was traded to Nashville for ahead Anthony Richard.
The next season, he signed a one-year AHL contract with Milwaukee and helped the Admirals attain the Convention Finals. After that run, he joined Hershey on one other one-year AHL deal. It wasn’t till the summer season of 2024 that he lastly earned one other NHL contract.
“What NHL groups need are winners,” Huntington mentioned. “That provides one other degree to your résumé, to indicate you have been a part of a group that received. Simply being round that surroundings, that’s what organizations need. They need to win. And also you see it with Washington (Hershey’s NHL affiliate) proper now, they’re doing nicely.”
“He’s a participant that has persevered,” mentioned Barracuda Common Supervisor Joe Will. “He’s at all times had the expertise. When he first turned professional, it was a little bit of a sluggish go as a result of he couldn’t simply depend on his offense, so he needed to be taught the opposite elements of the sport.”
Now a member of the Sharks group, Huntington feels proper at dwelling, with a franchise trying to return to prominence and an AHL group crammed with younger expertise that may profit from his expertise.
“They’ve needed me for a very long time, and it simply seems like dwelling proper now,” mentioned Huntington. “After final yr, enjoying solely 4 video games, I’m able to roll.”
“Being round Hershey, being round a very good Calder Cup-winning group, that basically pays off,” added Will.
If the Barracuda are to have the season they hope for, Huntington will play an enormous function. If all goes nicely, the group will win loads of video games, and he may get his first shot within the NHL.
