Nate Prosser: An underdog story to get behind
When historians look back at the week of January 24th, 2021, they’ll most likely bring up the rise of GameStop’s stock price thanks to Reddit and Nate Prosser’s debut in a Flyers uniform. On Thursday, January 28th, 2021, Nate Prosser played in his first game with the orange and black and recorded a goal, 3 blocked shots, 1 hit, and beautiful performance on the penalty kill. That might not seem impressive to some since Nate Prosser is an 11-year NHL vet with over 350 games played in his career, but he hadn’t played in an NHL game since January 17th, 2019. For a bit of context, the last time that Prosser played in an NHL game, Scott Gordon was the head coach of the Flyers, the Eagles hadn’t passed on DK Metcalf, and we hadn’t been introduced to Baby Yoda as a society. Nate Prosser spent the entire 2019-20 season on the Phantoms and recorded one goal in 59 games played so it’s incredible that he scored a goal and had an overall solid performance at 34 years old in his first NHL game in over two years.
The story of Nate Prosser’s career embodies the underdog spirit that has been beloved and champion for many years in the City of Philadelphia. Nate Prosser played his junior hockey for the Sioux Falls Stampede of the USHL where he’d go on to score 61 points in 150 games, which is around league average for a defenseman in that league. He went undrafted after juniors so he would go on to play four years at Colorado College where he’d record 64 points in 137 games. After his senior season, Nate would sign with his hometown team the Minnesota Wild, and would make his NHL debut on April 5th, 2010 against the Edmonton Oilers. In total, he’d play in 378 games and record 50 points in 10 years with the Minnesota Wild. In both 2014 and 2017, Prosser signed with the St. Louis Blue in the offseason, get waived later in the season, and was claimed by the Minnesota Wild both times. In the summer of 2019, he signed a two-year, two-way contract with the Flyers, which is a signing that would eventually lead him to one of the coolest stories of the NHL season.
Photo: Philadelphia Inquirer
On and off the ice, Nate Prosser is that type of guy that you root for as it’s hard to find anyone with negative sentiment towards him. After Prosser’s debut, Michael Raffl called him “an absolute legend in the locker room” and assistant GM Brent Flahr said, “He’s a real character guy who comes to play and comes to battle.”. There’s no telling how the rest of Nate Prosser’s time in the orange and black will go, but the one thing known for sure is that he’ll have my support and a section of the fanbase’s support hoping that he can continue to be an asset for the team in the locker room and on the ice.
Featured image – Twitter @JHallNBCS
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Categorized:Flyers