Just under a year ago, Drew Fortescue was banging on the Madison Square Garden glass alongside his Boston College teammates as Gabe Perreault, a fellow Eagle, took his rookie lap ahead of his NHL debut.
While watching Perreault skate under the pinwheel ceiling, Fortescue allowed himself to think — just a little bit — about how it could be him soon.
On Friday, it was Fortescue’s turn. And, of course, some of his BC teammates made the trip to see it.
“That’s what you dream about,” he said while recalling those few days last April, before the 20-year-old defenseman recorded his first NHL assist in the Rangers’ 6-1 win over the Blackhawks Friday night. “It was awesome [watching Perreault debut last year]. I mean, Gabe is one of our best buddies, so we were all in a hurry to get down there and support him. Ryan Leonard played the night before up in Boston, so we got to go to his first game [with the Capitals]. Then we made the drive down the next day, and it was just a memory.
“Being able to be there and support one of your buddies for his first game is pretty special. And I know some of them are coming down for [the game], so I’m excited to see all of them, and it’ll be pretty cool.”
Fortescue skated in his first professional game in front of what he described as “a lot” of friends and family. You could hear them all when he first took the ice for his rookie lap, and again when his name was announced for his secondary assist on Jonny Brodzinski’s second of his two goals.
Since he signed his entry-level contract last weekend, the Pearl River native has expressed how fortunate he feels to start his career so close to home.
“Once I got to the bench after and I took a stop and kind of looked around and saw everyone,” he said after the game. “I was able to see some of my cousins and family members and my parents in the crowd, definitely was an unbelievable feeling, and a feeling that I’ll never forget.”
Asked why he felt now was the time to put Fortescue in the lineup, head coach Mike Sullivan said he wanted the Rangers rookie to get on the ice a bit with the team’s limited practice time, have some one-on-one time with defense coach David Quinn and watch some film first.
Fortescue, who was the sixth rookie to make his NHL debut this season with the Rangers, ultimately skated on the left of Matthew Robertson on the third defensive pairing.
“I thought he was solid,” Sullivan said of Fortescue. “For the most part, he played the game with composure. He didn’t just throw pucks away. He made some outlet passes. He had good poise. I thought he had a high-panic threshold. He didn’t throw pucks away when he was under pressure, he protected it. He defended well. I think he’s got a good stick, decent mobility. There’s a lot to like about Drew’s game. For such a young kid in his first NHL game, I thought he played really well.”
The Rangers have had six rookies make their NHL debuts this season, including three in the last week alone.
Fortescue joins Adam Sykora, Dylan Garand, Jaroslav Chmelar, Brendan Brisson and Noah Laba. Robertson is also considered a rookie, but the 25-year-old made his debut in the second-to-last game of last season and has skated in 63 of 73 games thus far in 2025-26.
“We’re going to do our best to set them up for success,” Sullivan said of all the youngsters in his lineup. “We’ve got them surrounded with veteran players that we think can help them when they’re on the ice, but these guys are all good players and they bring a lot of energy to the table. A lot of enthusiasm. The mistakes they make will be mistakes of enthusiasm, and we’ll work through those. We’ll work through those.
“We’ll help them get better at it through the experience, and they’re going to make mistakes. That’s just the reality of it. I think it’s an opportunity here for us down the stretch to get these guys some real experience. We’re just trying to do it the right way.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
