DETROIT — There are still plenty of days when Mason Kucenski looks around the Red Wings locker room, takes notice of players he used to watch on television or read about, and all of this doesn't seem real.
Kucenski is the Red Wings' emergency backup goaltender (EBUG). All 32 teams are now required to have one in the new collective bargaining agreement, a goaltender with no previous NHL game experience (and fewer than 80 games pro experience total), but who is there at practice every day, both home and away.
The job may not be for everybody, but for Kucenski it's a dream come true. He's living the life of an NHL player, basically, though he's not on the roster and likely will never get to play in a game.
It doesn't matter. Kucenski is there in the locker room. He's on the ice, with the Wings, facing their shots. He's on the team plane, on the bus. It's a unique experience Kucenski is relishing and enjoying every moment, he can.
"A great experience so far," said Kucenski, 24, who played collegiately at St. Lawrence (New York) from 2023-26. "It's a lifetime goal of mine to be in the NHL. It's all just surreal."
Kucenski has played hockey since he was about 5 years old, and it was right from the start that he knew he wanted to be a goaltender.
"I just fell in love with it right away," Kucenski said.
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The NHL was obviously the dream, but Kucenski was never drafted and the hockey dream looked crushed once his senior season at St. Lawrence ended. But Kucenski received a call from Brian Daccord, the Wings' director of goaltending and scouting development, early in the summer, and the dream suddenly was revitalized.
The NHL wanted to get away from the old system of amateurs supplied from the local area, who maybe had some pro experience, and could play if both goaltenders on a team's roster suddenly were hurt, or sick, or unavailable to play for some reason.
Now, the team's EBUG isn't officially on the roster but he's part of the team, being there every day.
"It was a quick yes from me," said Kucenski, a native of Gill, Massachusetts, after Daccord explained what the role would entail and if Kucenski would be interested. "It kind of just rolled on from there."
Kucenski also interviewed with Michael Leighton, the Wings' goaltending coach, and Dwayne Blais, the player development consultant, and the fit, from everybody's angle, was perfect.
Understandably, there was some uneasiness from Kucenski walking into the Wings' locker room, not knowing how he'd be received, not knowing anyone, and just the uncertainty of the position.
But Kucenski was accepted as a part of the team from the first practice.
" All the guys have been great to me so far and they've all taken me in," Kucenski said. "They've really been nice to me, showing me how to navigate the NHL."
Kucenski has worked with goaltenders John Gibson and Daniil Tarasov, picked their brains, and watched closely how the two veterans prepare and train every day. On the road, Kucenski is now going to dinners with Wings players, bantering in the locker room, and has gotten increasingly comfortable as the weeks have progressed.
"It was definitely a jump for me at first, but with these guys it was easy," Kucenski said.
Coach Todd McLellan likes the idea of a full-time EBUG. In the last couple of weeks, Gibson and Tarasov were dinged with shots during practice and needed a moment to recover. But with Kucenski available, the EBUG skated right in and the practice and drills continued with no lapse in time.
The soft-spoken Kucenski, McLellan said, also has fit into the team culture well.
"We really don't even notice him, and I mean that in a really respectful way," McLellan said. "He's just quiet. He puts his gear on, he goes and does his work. The guys like him. It's not an easy job. The odds of him getting into a game are very minimal, so guys fire pucks a little bit different than they do maybe against the guys who are in the game. He’s often the first to take them at the beginning of practice and after practice, but he's in the NHL.
"Good for him."
Kucenski understands the odds of him ever seeing a minute in the NHL are slim, to none. But the NHL has a great history of EBUG's jumping into a game and saving a team a particular night, foremost being Scott Foster (Chicago, March 2018, seven saves in the third period) and David Ayres (Carolina, played half a game while defeating Toronto) in recent years.
Kucenski understands it's unlikely, but it's another reason for him to take every practice and day as seriously as he can, just in case he's ever called upon.
"You never know what could happen," Kucenski said. "But an easy way for me to get momentum is by getting out on the ice early and staying out later. It's easy to know that you’re probably going to get some good shots from the guys at the beginning of practice, then you kind of cool down a little bit before getting right back after it at the end of practice.
"But it's all just a mentality you have to have, to be ready."
tkulfan@detroitnews.com
@tkulfan
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Mason Kucenski living a dream as Red Wings' emergency goaltender