If you’re looking at true prospects in the ECHL, the list may be surprisingly longer than you may think.

It also needs to include Nick Pastujov.

Only a few weeks removed from his 24th birthday, the Florida native put it all together in his second pro season with the Kansas City Mavericks. The forward produced at over a point-per-game clip in a big-enough sample size that he’s unquestionably back on the radar of National Hockey League teams.

Pastujov has potted 20 goals and added 27 assists in just 40 games this season, and for the first time, is really showing the kind of sustained production that had been expected of him back in his days of coming up with the United States National Team Development Program (USNTDP). That tenure included a trip to the (U-18) 2016 World Junior Championships, in which he helped Team USA earn a bronze medal. 

“We didn’t do as well on the U-18 tournament—we ended up with bronze there—but I think we set the record for the biggest blowout in the bronze medal game. So we were ready for that gold medal game, we just didn’t get to play in it,” Pastujov told FloHockey via Zoom.

His time with the USNTDP put him on the big stage very early in his amateur career before he ultimately went off to play for the University of Michigan for four years. It also helped get him ahead of the game in terms of what it would take to become a successful pro.

“I think more than anything, that program gave you a structure and it did set the bar for how hard you were going to have to work with how many different things there are to keep an eye on, work on and focus on,” Pastujov said.

“They looked at the game as a whole where you’re learning how to sleep, you’re learning how to train, as well as learning just the fundamentals of the game. Through all of that, getting to focus on a lot of different things at once, it really helped me going into Michigan and then starting my pro career. I’ve looked back a lot at what I learned in the program.”

Before his freshman year with the Wolverines, Pastujov was a seventh-round draft pick for the New York Islanders back in 2016. But an up-and-down stay there ultimately prevented an entry-level contract from ever coming to fruition. He was signed to an American Hockey League contract before the start of the 2020-21 season by their affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Ultimately waived before ever playing a game, the Mavericks were quick to pounce.

After a solid first season, one in which he scored eight goals in 49 games, he’s finally been able to put together that breakout year thanks to lessons learned from the ups and downs of his debut campaign.

“I think it’s really been a process ever since I started in pro hockey,” Pastujov said.

“My first year, I was with Bridgeport, and I lasted about three weeks before they released me, and started with Kansas City. That gave me a look at the AHL pace and the intensity that they had up there, so I got to see that level and then play in the (ECHL) for a little bit where things aren’t as intense, but guys are dialed in,” Pastujov said.

A consistent opportunity at the next level seems like a matter of “when” not “if” for Pastujov, but he did manage to get his first taste of game action at the AHL level this season—a one-game stint with the Ontario Reign at the end of December.

“It was my first game, and I only played less than ten minutes, so it was only a taste, but at that level, there are guys getting ready for the NHL level, so I found the speed was a lot faster and plays happened a lot quicker,” he said. 

“I think it was a huge signal for me that things are trending in the right direction. It’s a process, and success isn’t always linear. There’s a lot of times where I’ve seen over the years where guys are upset about not get called up or guys are pissed to be in the (ECHL), but I’ve found despite everything out of my control, I just try to show up every day, play as hard as I can, and when the call comes, I just want to be ready for it.”