In Canada's capital, Ottawa, it's all about politics. At the moment, however, a German is also making sporting headlines: Tim Stützle. The 21-year-old is already the club's best striker - and has already signed a record deal.
Tim Stützle is a talkative conversationalist. He not only answers questions, but actually tells something - if he has the time for it. That was not the case at the beginning of the week. After the Ottawa Senators lost 3-1 at the Boston Bruins, the 21-year-old took a shower before dashing up the stands at TD Garden in a dark suit and white shirt to meet his agent Ben Hankinson.
Almost 20 minutes later he had to go to the team bus that took the team to the airport. Stützle himself - you could tell - would have liked to speak to ntv.de in the catacombs, but members of the press department vehemently pointed to the clock. "I'm sorry," said Stuettle. he was gone
But only for two days. Because on Wednesday, the NHL invited German journalists to a zoom call with the Rhinelander. Of course, the league noticed how well Stützle has been playing since the beginning of the year. 21 games, 28 points. Player of the week with the league-best ten points between February 13th and 19th. The NHL wanted to use this momentum. And so, after the Senators training session, Stützle sat in front of a computer, his hair still slightly tousled, and talked about form, development and his everyday life in Ottawa.
"You always have phases when things are going well. At the moment it's going relatively well, so I'm just trying to keep working on it," he said, looking at his recent strong performances. But it's not just going relatively well for him at the moment. No, the number 18 forward has been in excellent form for almost two months now. For example, his 14 goals since Jan. 1 is the third-best for any NHL player during that period.
And this despite the fact that, as the center of the first line of attack, he always hits the opponent's best attacking lines. "These are big challenges," emphasizes Ottawa coach DJ Smith to ntv.de. "Nevertheless," Smith continued, "I use him in all important game situations. And he justifies the trust every time." Stützle sees the direct duels against the best offensive players in the league as "an incentive to become even better." But he already has "a lot of self-confidence," he adds. And yes, he knew he could be a good player in this league. But of course, according to Stützle, "there is still a lot of room for improvement."
And he still has time to develop his full potential. For one thing, Stützle just turned 21 on January 15th. On the other hand, he prematurely extended the contract in Ottawa by eight years in the summer and is therefore tied to the senators until 2031. Manager Pierre Dorion spoke of "a historic day for the club." Because the new contract with a financial volume of 66.8 million dollars is the highest in the club's history. And that in turn shows how convinced they are in Ottawa of the young man who once stood on ice skates for the first time as a four-year-old in Krefeld.
The collaboration began in early October 2020. When Stützle was selected third in the talent distribution draft by the Canadian capital club, local television said there were "many reasons" for Senators fans to "be excited." That sounded good at first. But for many in the motherland of ice hockey, this then 18-year-old teenager from Tönisvorst was a complete stranger. Because Stützle had not played in a Canadian junior league like many other talents like compatriot Leon Draisaitl, but preferred the German ice hockey league.
At the Mannheimer Adler he did not face people of his own age, but men who were sometimes twice his age. But this experience helped him enormously. That became clear at the end of December 2020, beginning of January 2021 at the Junior World Championships in Edmonton. In contrast to global junior title fights in other sports, the tournament has a high status and is considered a kind of gold scale in Canada.
Led by captain Stützle, Germany reached the quarter-finals for the first time. Stützle scored five goals in five games and prepared five more. And he was the first German to be honored as the "best striker of the tournament" - like ice hockey idol Wayne Gretzky (1978) or Alexander Owetschkin (2005). Now the fans in Ottawa also knew what a gem the Senators had signed.
The German made his NHL debut on his 19th birthday and scored his first goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs a day later. And what a thing. Stützle thundered the puck into the net with a dropkick slapshot. He is now in his third season and, with 25 preliminary round games still to go, has a record of 185 games, 60 goals and 86 assists. Thus, Stützle has better values than Leon Draisaitl at the same time in his career. In his first three NHL seasons, the Cologne native, who worked for the Edmonton Oilers, had 191 games, 50 goals and 87 assists.
Draisaitl has been a superstar in the league since the 2019/20 season at the latest, when he was voted the "Most Valuable Player" (MVP) of the preliminary round - and the benchmark for every German NHL professional. But Stützle does not need to shy away from a comparison. Draisaitl was selected third among the global talents of his year at the 2014 draft - Stützle 2020 as well.
While Draisaitl was sent to the junior league in his first NHL season and started his sophomore year on the second-rate farm team, Stützle has always played in the NHL. Draisaitl has scored the most winning goals (38) in the league since the 2019/20 season - and also the most power play goals (77). His 164 goals, 227 assists and the resulting 391 points are the second-best values.
But Draisaitl has - unfortunately - the problem that he plays with Connor McDavid. The Canadian is not only the Oilers captain, but has also been the best player in the world for quite some time. Anyone attending a club home game will quickly see that around 90 percent of Oilers supporters wear McDavid jerseys. No matter how outstanding Draisaitl may play, he will always remain the number 1b in Edmonton for the majority of fans and media - but that doesn't bother him at all.
Stützle, on the other hand, is well on the way to becoming the face of the senators. He's already their best striker, and he also has the longest contract. The fans love him - and he in turn loves Ottawa. The Senators were last in the Stanley Cup finals in 2007. Since then there hasn't been much to celebrate. Nobody in Ottawa talks about the title. That would be a lot to measure anyway. With a bit of luck, however, it could be possible to reach the playoffs again this year for the first time since 2017. The atmosphere in the city is correspondingly good. With his achievements, Stützle has made a huge contribution to this.
He still doesn't have to go shopping with sunglasses, he says. He can still move freely. But of course there are "always people who want to take photos or have autographs," said Stützle. But for him it was "a huge honor." Because: "Without the fans, I wouldn't be the person I am today - and probably wouldn't have signed such a good contract either."
