This is far from Seneca’s first rookie moment this season as he continues to navigate the NHL both on and off the ice. On the ice, he has taken the league by storm, currently ranking second in the NHL in rookie scoring and first in rookie goalscoring.
Away from the ice, he is now living alone in a house that is habitually visited by his housemate Sam Colangelo, who is currently in the AHL with the San Diego Gulls. Seneca doesn’t have a car right now (she’s on the way), so she has a circle of teammates for whom she plays passenger princess when she needs a ride to practice or a game.
Seneke is the youngest player on the Ducks, but he has a group of similar-aged teammates. He began the season with 21-year-old Cutter Gauthier and 22-year-old Mason McTavish, and has since been moved to a line with Gauthier and 20-year-old Leo Carlson. Seneke has been staying with Carlsson on road trips.
“It’s good, can’t complain,” Seneke said. “He doesn’t snore.”
“It’s been fun,” Carlsson said. “Great guy. Somewhat similar, but (also) not really. It works out fine. He doesn’t bother me at all, I don’t bother him. But we also talk a lot, so it’s been nice.”
Karlsson said the two of them don’t talk much about hockey in their room and when Seneke was asked what they talk about instead he couldn’t stop laughing.
“We’re young,” Seneke said. “I guess just normal kid stuff. Sports. Not much about hockey, to be honest.”
Although Seneca is not yet old enough to legally drink alcohol in the country he plays in, he is playing a grown man’s game. A somewhat ineffective rookie faceoff showing, followed by a vanilla performance in the preseason, raised questions about whether Seneca was ready for full-time NHL duty. But he quickly put those doubts to rest with a goal in his NHL debut and a multi-point outing in his second game.
“He did a lot of good things today,” Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville said after Seneca’s debut. “I think he had a lot of things to offer. Strong in puck areas and maintained some possession. I still think there are some good things he’s going to bring to our team’s game. We can use him in a lot of different ways and in different areas as the game goes on. It was a good start for him.”
The pain is definitely increasing. From time to time, Seneca will try a move that works in juniors, but is thrown out the window in the NHL. Take his turnover against the Dallas Stars, which led to a goal. Late in one shift, Seneca attempted to pass the puck past defenseman Miro Heiskanen instead of taking the puck deep. Heiskanen gave the puck away with ease, with Tyler Seguin eventually receiving an outlet pass and scoring to give the Stars a 3–2 lead.
Seneca missed a few innings and was even demoted to the third line for a while, but was returned to his normal line up later in the game, helping score two goals in a 7–5 win.
“Draws the power play, makes a big play on that power play,” Chris Kreider said after that game. “Apologized to the group, and then went out and got one for us. Was instrumental in getting one for us. He’s very mature. Congratulations to him for doing that, it was amazing to see.”
“I know it’s kind of a tough game, especially at that time of the game,” Seneke said. “(The coaching staff) basically told me ‘We know you know.’ Missed some shifts there. I’m glad he had the confidence in me to bring me back for the third match.
The flip side of Seneca attempting such moves that may have Quenneville tearing his remaining hair out is that when those moves pop, they have helped set up optimal scoring chances. A clean series of moves from Deck to avoid pressure from both Brett Howden and Shea Theodore nearly led to the overtime winner during Saturday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Seneca has also been a fore-checking force and is improving his work around the boards. Areas where he was often dropped on the ice or pushed aside without much of a push are becoming places where he is taking on defenders and making plays.
“I think his overall game is becoming more consistent as far as how we play on our end,” Quenneville said. “Situationally aware, how you use your stick, how you get into the shooting lane. The offensive side of things, he’s got that, so get out of the way and let him go.”
The Ducks’ overtime victory on November 17 was capped by Seneca freezing all three Utah Mammoth skaters and goaltender Karel Vejmelka before firing a pass to wide-open Olen Zellweger for the game-winning tally.
“It was great composure on that play, great game recognition,” Quenneville said. “He had the goalie coming at him, two guys coming at him down the barrel. He watches the game, you’re sitting there and looking at the goalie and you’re thinking, ‘I’ve got to shoot this thing.’ Then, he had the mental ability to make a beautiful pass, and (it) ended up being a good play.
“(He has) a lot of skills,” Kreider said. “Speed, confidence, desire to make plays. Desire to get better and make an impact. Off the ice, pretty goofy kid, fun to be around. Enjoy coming to the rink. He definitely brings a lot of energy.”
“I think he continues to get better,” Frank Vatrano said. “Playing in this league at the age of 19 is no easy task, and I know he has the courage and confidence to do it. For him, just keep growing and taking it day by day. You can’t look too far ahead. There will be ups and downs throughout the season, but we have a good group here now and we’re here to help the young guys in any way we can.”
While there were expectations that Seneke might be on a load management plan this season, as Karlsson was during his rookie season, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek revealed on the Ducks stream that Seneke’s testing was more advanced than expected and his ‘modified’ load management plan setup does not force him to miss any games.
“He’ll tell us how it’s all going to happen,” Quenneville said. He’s a big kid, he’s a strong kid. We’ll see how he handles it. I don’t know how much ice time that’s going to be on a game-to-game basis, I would say he’s going to be (at) the numbers he’s playing at right now. I think we’re probably playing a little more aggressively with our top players in those games. Every game is different, but I don’t expect him to play close to 19 minutes on a game-to-game basis. But, we will see. He will let us know.”
“You can see, especially what the more experienced guys do out there,” Seneca said of taking care of his body during an abbreviated schedule with lots of traveling. “You can learn little things just by watching.”
“The journey is long, staying in a hotel is very long. It’s something you’re not used to, because most of the times in OHL, you come back by bus during the day. But, they are good hotels, it’s not too hard.”
Many Ducks veterans were asked which players they learned from when they were first coming into the league, such as Seneca. Names like Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, Sami Salo, Ryan McDonagh, Brad Richards, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Zdeno Chara were drafted.
Although the team probably doesn’t have any veteran players with that caliber, there are still a lot of valuable resources that Seneca can get from this Ducks team. There’s also a lot of knowledge about the coaching staff, which includes three former head coaches behind Quenneville himself.
After each Ducks home goal, their goal song, ‘Coming for You’ by The Offspring, plays over the Honda Center speakers. This is followed by a goal song personally chosen by the goalscorer. When Seneca scored against the New Jersey Devils on November 2, it turned out to be Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘manchild’. This was not Seneca’s work. He had not even chosen any target song. But now it’s his, and it perfectly encapsulates the Gumby-esque teen voice that feels like it’s been modified.
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