How a change in mindset led Driedger to the NHL
When Chris Driedger was drafted by the Senators in the 3rd round of the 2012 entry draft, chances are he did not think he would have to wait until 2019 for his first NHL start. When he did get the opportunity on November the 30th, he took the chance and ran with it, and he hasn't looked back since. In an interview with Kevin Woodley in NHL's “Unmasked” series, he talks about the breakout season, and what it took for him to get there.
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After not getting a qualifying offer from the Senators after the 2017-18 season, Driedger found himself an unrestricted free agent. He ended up signing with the Springfield Thunderbirds, the Panthers AHL affiliate, but with an ECHL clause. He started the 2018-19 season with the Manchester Monarchs in the ECHL, but was called up after 12 games, and played well enough with Springfield to earn himself an NHL contract with Florida. When he was called up to the NHL this season, Driedger was ready. But he wasn't ready by accident.
When Chris Driedger signed the contract with Springfield in 2018, he told Kevin Woodley something changed:
"Something did change, but it was more my mindset than anything technical… I always put in a lot of work over the years and worked on my technical game a lot, worked on a lot of things, but I don't think my buy-in was quite where it needed to be."
Another factor in the success story was Springfield's goalie coach Leo Luongo. Not only from a technical standpoint, but Luongo also played a role in making every practice matter: "We pushed each other to not let up on any little detail in practice," Luongo said.
Now, Driedger always battles
"Not that I wouldn't try, but if you show extra battle on rebounds and not give up after a couple backdoor passes in a row, if they see a guy battling, making sprawling saves, coaches know this guy is fighting to keep the puck out of the net, and that's good. That mindset going into practice is the single biggest difference in my game and my day to day versus my time in Ottawa," he told Woodley.
Driedger's long and interesting journey to the NHL has certain similarities to Jordan Binnington's road that got a fairytale ending when he won the Stanley Cup with the Blues last season. And although Driedger hasn't gotten the chance to play for the cup yet, chances are we haven't seen the last of the netminder. Eight years after being drafted to the league, it looks like Chris Driedger, through hard work, has established himself as an NHL goaltender.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 16, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| Tage Thompson | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Jack Quinn | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Zach Benson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jake Evans | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Ivan Demidov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Konsta Helenius | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zach Metsa | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Arber Xhekaj | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Bowen Byram | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Michael Matheson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ryan McLeod | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Norris | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||