Chase Bradley makes NHL debut with Colorado Avalanche

Bradley becomes the eighth Husky to reach the NHL and the third in the last two seasons.

In his first professional season, Chase Bradley made his NHL debut with the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night. He’s just the the eighth UConn player to reach the league, joining Todd Krygier, Cole Schneider, Tage Thompson, Max Letunov, Adam Huska, Yan Kuznetsov and Ruslan Iskhakov.

Bradley played 7:02 minutes on the fourth line, recording one hit in a 1-1 tie for the Avalanche. He learned he’d join the NHL team on Wednesday night and immediately called his parents, who flew in for the game.

“I was up all night but I’ll get a good nap in before the game and that’ll work,” he told the media pregame. “Business like usual but try to soak it up. It’s the first game.”

Originally a seventh round pick of the Detroit Red Wings, Bradley signed with the Avalanche after becoming a free agent in July. Before getting the call-up, he put up three goals and one assist in 17 games with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles.

During his three-year career at UConn, Bradley established himself as one of the best players in the program’s Hockey East Era despite a modest line of 25 goals and 26 assists. As a freshman, he scored the empty-netter vs. Boston University that secured Mike Cavanaugh’s first playoff win and started the Huskies’ run to the Hockey East final. The next season, Bradley became the first men’s player to light the lamp at Toscano Family Ice Forum.

With Colorado dealing with injuries, Bradley has a chance to stick around. While Krygier played 543 games in the NHL and Thompson is up to 388, the other five have combined for just 12 career contests — with Huska, Iskhakov and Kuznetsov all appearing just once.

Bradley might not be the only Husky to make his NHL debut this season. Marc Gatcomb has impressed with seven goals and two assists in 18 games with the Bridgeport Islanders while Wyatt Newpower has been on the cusp of a call-up for years.

Andrew Lucas, Ryan Tverberg, Justin Pearson and Roman Kinal have all spent time in the AHL as well this season.