London Knights’ Liam Foudy makes National Hockey League debut against Tampa Bay Lightning

On Feb. 4, Liam Foudy of the London Knights blew out some candles and made a wish as he celebrated his 20th birthday.

Foudy didn’t even consider asking to play a game in the NHL.

“It definitely wasn’t that,” he chuckled.

After all, if you want a wish to come true, it has to be somewhat realistic.

But thanks to an emergency recall, the electrically fast Knights forward realized a dream that goes back a whole lot longer than his 20th birthday, when he made his National Hockey League debut on Monday, Feb. 10, in Columbus, Ohio, against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Under the agreement between the NHL and the Canadian Hockey League, when a drafted player is assigned to his major junior team by his parent club he must remain with that team until their season ends.

There is, however, a tiny exception.

Under the NHL’s current collective bargaining agreement, a player playing for a team in the CHL can be recalled for “reason of incapacitating injury or illness or by league suspension to its players.”

And with six players unavailable due to injury, Columbus fell into that category.

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Former Knight Josh Anderson, Alexandre Texier and Alexander Wennberg are all hurt. Add injuries to defencemen Ryan Murray and Dean Kukan and the team was out of options.

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Foudy wasn’t able to take the morning skate because his equipment got held up on its way to Columbus and didn’t arrive until noon.

He did get one main piece of advice from Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella before the game, though.

Foudy played just over 10 minutes of the game and recorded two shots on goal. One was a tricky attempt through the legs of a Lightning defenceman that Tampa Bay goalie Curtis McElhinney had to be careful with.

The 18th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Foudy missed the pre-season in 2019 with an upper-body injury. He played in two pre-season games in 2018 and scored once.

Foudy was reassigned to the Knights following the 2-1 OT loss to Tampa Bay.

He was in the lineup and still smiling as London played host to the Guelph Storm less than 24 hours after his professional debut.