There aren’t a lot of sixth round picks who go on to have an impact on the NHL team that drafted them. And when a sixth round pick suffers a brutal injury that breaks his thigh bone, sees him leave the ice on a stretcher, and misses a year of critical development time, the odds against him go from heavy to astronomical.

Fortunately, Chris DiDomenico is used to long odds.

Born in Woodbridge, Ontario, the logical development route for a player like DiDomenico would seem to be the OHL. Unfortunately for DiDomenico, the OHL didn’t want him; he was passed over twice in the OHL Draft, and entering his NHL draft year was reduced to attending the training camp of the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL on a tryout basis. The Sea Dogs weren’t exactly the ideal destination for any junior player; they’d gone 15-47-8 as an expansion team the year before DiDomenico tried out with them. Even so, there weren’t a lot of opportunities for DiDomenico, but Sea Dogs scout Al Mason (who had recommended to his previous employers in Mississauga that they draft DiDomenico) was a fan of the player:

“Determination, dedication, intensity, a tremendous amount of drive and will to succeed,” Mason recalls about his early observations of DiDomenico. “He didn’t have much size and lacked good foot speed, but the determination and the drive were there and so was the will to succeed, and he’d pay the price to succeed. I think you have to see the fire in a kid’s eyes.”

DiDomenico made the team. In fact, he did a good deal more than make the team: he was far and away their best player. In 70 games with the Sea Dogs, DiDomenico led the team in goals (25), assists (50) and points (75), chiming in on more than one-third of the team’s offence. The next best scorer, Ryan Sparling, managed only 53 points.

The Sea Dogs were still a mess, of course, winning only 20 games and finishing the year with a minus-128 goal differential. DiDomenico was a very respectable minus-14 on the season (the only other forward to play a full season with the team was Sparling, who finished minus-43). It was enough to finally get DiDomenico some attention; he was named to the QMJHL all-rookie team (along with better known forwards Jakub Voracek and Michael Frolik) and was selected in the 2007 Draft, going 164th overall to Toronto.

But as impressive as DiDomenico’s first QMJHL season was, he had more in him. Once again, DiDomenico played in all 70 games for the vastly improved Sea Dogs, and once again he led the team in scoring, blowing away his totals from the previous season by recording 39 goals, 56 assists and 95 points to go along with a plus-17 rating. He played in all situations, scoring 13 goals with the man advantage, three short-handed, and 23 at even-strength. He added eight goals and 19 points over 14 playoff contests.

Maple Leafs Hot Stove put together a great scouting report on the suddenly prominent player, which showed that his gaudy point totals were only part of the story:

Chris is described as a gifted, all-around player who is physical, defensively sound and offensively dangerous. He has a certain “feistyness” about him that makes him very tough to play against as he can really get under his opponent’s skin. He’s a very vocal player who’s not afraid to drop the gloves or come to the aid of his teammates. The one knock against Chris comes with his skating ability and his size, which may hinder his offensive potential at the pro level.

2008-09 started well. After getting into a preseason game with the Leafs against the Penguins, DiDomenico was sent back to the QMJHL. He suffered the first injury of his career in November, a sprained ankle that caused him to miss the ADT Canada-Russia Challenge game, but he still played very well and was named to Canada’s entry at the 2009 World Junior Championships. He played a supporting role, recording seven points and a plus-4 rating over six games en route to a gold medal. A day after the win, DiDomenico was traded from the Sea Dogs to the Drummondville Voltigeurs. He struggled to score after joining Drummondville, slowing to a point-per-game pace, but recaptured his form in the playoffs, where he managed 35 points over 15 games.

Before the playoffs, DiDomenico signed a three-year, entry level deal with the Maple Leafs, and had Brian Burke praise his grit:

“Chris is a skilled offensive player that plays with a lot of grit. He has shown the ability to compete and produce at a high level and we’re looking forward to his further growth and development in our organization.”

The Voltigeurs steamrolled their opposition through the first three rounds of the playoffs, sweeping all of Lewiston, Montreal and Rimouski before meeting the powerful Shawinigan Cataractes in the finals. Just five minutes into the third game of the series, DiDomenico went smashing into the boards with horrific consequences:

DiDomenico had been a force throughout the playoffs, but his season ended on that play as he tried to win a race to an iced puck. Instead, he broke his femur and shattered his kneecap on the play and was sidelined for nearly a year. As DiDomenico was carted away on a stretcher in what must have been incredible pain, he said over and over “I want the game” to his teammates, who went on to win the series in seven games.

Head coach Guy Boucher described what DiDomenico brought to the team:

“Chris took over games. He didn’t just create goals. He killed penalties. Played every big situation. We lost our best player.”

Not only did the Voltigeurs lose their best player, but DiDomenico lost his chance to make a professional debut – he had been slated to join the Toronto Marlies once his junior season ended. Worse than that however, the young forward basically had to learn how to walk again, spending two hours a day rehabbing his injury. Remarkably, he found a silver lining:

“I take everything as a positive. I got a chance to put on some upper-body weight. It was a bad thing to happen, but it happened in a good way. I was always a small kid, so this gave me a little extra time to beef up on top.”

DiDomenico played his first game since the injury a month ago, on February 17. He scored a goal and added two assists in his first game back, and in 12 games he has managed seven goals and 22 points along with a plus-18 rating. Six of those goals were recorded at even strength. If he’d been healthy all season and played at that pace, he would have easily shattered his previous career highs.

It’s an incredible accomplishment for a player coming off a potentially career-ending injury, and one DiDomenico fully earned by pushing himself to rehab the injury, and by working on his upper body strength over the summer. He has yet to make the daunting leap from junior to professional hockey, and the same question marks of skating and size still exist. He does boast incredible scoring talent, and perhaps more importantly, incredible character. He’s not a guy to bet against.

I’ve had half an eye on DiDomenico for a while, but I hadn’t looked into the details until I was prompted by reader Taylor Jenkin, who I’d like to thank for the suggestion.