I don't know about the first regular season game, but he looked great in a preseason game against Iowa.
He definitely stood out defensively on a game where they got got beat down pretty badly and allowed like 7 goals or something. But I think the more impressive thing about Del Mastro in that game was his puck confidence, which seemed to carry over from the juniors very well. He looked very comfortable carrying the puck and using his reach to shield the puck and he was able to make some solid plays. Nothing crazy, but something that's nice to see from a defensive dman.
I'm a big fan of Del Mastro too and I believe he will be a very solid defensive dman for the Blackhawks. His foot speed might not be optimal, but I think it's good enough and with him it's only a matter of adjusting to the speed of NHL and learning how to utilize his strengths properly.
Thanks man!!
These are precisely what I saw in the preseason game up with the big club too. To the tee. He looked to have some pucks carrying ability here and there and he made savvy fast passes. You combine that with his defense and that's going to be awesome. Needs to work on his footspeed a little and we're good.
He's a favorite of mine so I'm rooting for him a lot.