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powerplayunit · 3 years ago

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Evgeni Malkin and the chip on his shoulder that led him to greatness.

Jan 7, 2023

Evgeni Malkin learned some hard lessons well before he became an NHL superstar. He learned quite a few after becoming one, too.

Malkin, one of the greatest Russian-born players ever, was not a must-see prodigy from one of his country’s hotbeds for talent. Though he took to the sport at a young age, he went relatively unnoticed abroad until his 2004 draft-eligible year — and even then, despite ultimately becoming the second player selected in that draft, he was clearly behind longtime rival Alexander Ovechkin.

“We liked what we knew of him,” said Craig Patrick, the former Pittsburgh Penguins general manager who selected Malkin after the Washington Capitals took Ovechkin in 2004. “We’d done our homework on Malkin, and I even told someone that he might end up being the best player in that draft. I believed it, with his size and skill, and I always liked the idea of a centerman being somebody you built around.

“But even while we were scouting him, you had the idea that a lot of teams were unsure about Malkin,” Patrick said. “You looked at him and liked his size. You watched him play, and he dominated. But I remember thinking we thought we had a franchise player if he fell to us, and that wasn’t a consensus opinion.”

It didn’t matter what other NHL clubs thought of Malkin. With Ovechkin, a white-hot hyped prospect being a lock at No. 1, Patrick wasn’t about to let a 6-foot-3, 190-plus-pound center with a playmaker’s vision and a goal-scorer’s touch get past the Penguins.

“I’m lucky,” said Malkin, the No. 26 player on The Athletic’s list of the top 100 players in post-1967 expansion NHL history. “Pittsburgh is the perfect place for me.”

Pittsburgh and Malkin’s hometown of Magnitogorsk share an industrial heritage and blue-collar DNA. Even Pittsburgh’s usually gray skies and brown waterways reminded him of home. That the Penguins were owned by Mario Lemieux, a star whose brightness reached even Magnitogorsk, only endeared his future club more to Malkin.

If only he could get to Pittsburgh.

And that’s the first lesson of Malkin’s story: To get what you want, you’ve got to take control.

Malkin doesn’t much care to talk about the details surrounding his clandestine escape from his Russian national team in the summer of 2006. That’s because in leaving that squad behind — literally sneaking away from teammates at night during training camp so he could board a plane to a country that would grant him a travel visa to Canada — Malkin also had to suddenly abandon his family and friends.

His family was small, consisting of his parents and brother. His friends were few, a byproduct of growing up in a small town. Still, Malkin was 20 when he left everything he knew behind to chase an NHL dream. He did know, on some level, that being forced to break free of Russia’s grip on his career and life would forever change his relationship with his home country.

But he had no choice.

After the Penguins drafted Malkin in 2004, front-office personnel from Metallurg, Magnitogorsk’s prized hockey club, made a surprise visit to Malkin’s house. Under the guise of congratulations and celebrations, they pressured him into signing an extension to stay with his hometown squad. His departure, they said, would ruin Metallurg.

Malkin was 18. He was torn between beginning his dream of playing in the NHL and, as it was explained to him, being the downfall of a civic treasure.

Metallurg personnel refused to leave Malkin’s house until he signed an extension. That extension delayed his NHL debut by two full years.

It’s no coincidence that when Malkin finally was granted the chance to play for the Penguins, he scored in his first game. Then, he scored in his next five games.

“Never seen anything like it,” Sidney Crosby said of his then-new teammate’s historic burst onto the NHL scene. “I think that was the first real sign we all had how special Geno would be.”

Malkin went through so much to reach the NHL. His agent, J.P. Barry, hatched the plan for him to sneak away from the Russian national team during a training camp outside of Russia, a voyage that took Malkin to Toronto, Los Angeles and, finally, Pittsburgh. The whirlwind adventure dragged his emotions between excitement, fear and regret.

“My dream was to play in the NHL,” Malkin said. “This was not how I wished to get there.”

But even after a Calder Trophy and a sophomore season in which he finished second — to Ovechkin — in the Hart and Art Ross Trophy races, Malkin still had to lean on something he learned as a child to help him get to a point no Russian-born NHL player had gone before.

And that’s the second lesson of Malkin’s story: Pain comes before pleasure.

One day during a practice for his youth team in Magnitogorsk, Malkin fell hard onto the ice. His wrist was fractured. This happened a couple of days before a big travel tournament, which Malkin had eagerly anticipated because he felt his team could win. He had never won a championship to that point, and he wanted that first title.

His coach wanted Malkin to play, even in a limited capacity. So did Malkin’s dad, who believed his son could still help the team despite his right forearm being in a cast.

Malkin’s mother said no. And because she ruled the roost, that was that.

Except it wasn’t.

Young Evgeni Malkin, with the help of his father, persuaded his mother to let him travel with the team for moral support. She obliged, never knowing that Malkin had stashed his gear in one of the vans transporting players to the tournament. Without media coverage of any kind, there was no way for Malkin’s mother to monitor the weekend tournament. She simply believed her son had gone to cheer on his mates.

To her surprise, he returned home a few days later in tears — and with a mutilated cast. Malkin had played, cutting the cast at his wrist so he could better handle the stick. But his tears weren’t from physical agony, but rather because none of it — the sketchy plan by him and his dad, the betrayal of his mother’s wishes, the struggle to play with one healthy arm — had been worth it.

“We didn’t win,” Malkin said. “I played my best, but I was not in my best condition. But I could play (and) I should play great if I can play. I was not my best and we lost. I can’t forget even now.”

By his third NHL season, Malkin was in the conversation as one of the world’s best hockey players. Also in that group were the two men who would forever overshadow him: Ovechkin and Crosby. Even though Malkin won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer in the 2008-09 season, all eyes were on Ovechkin and Crosby for the first Penguins-Capitals showdown of the stars’ era in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Malkin was seen as a supporting character, even though he scored an overtime goal in Game 5 in Washington that proved pivotal to winning the series. The Penguins won in Game 7, also in Washington, and returned to the Eastern Conference finals, which they’d won the previous season in a series where Malkin injured his ribs.

The pain of those injured ribs is not what haunted Malkin in the summer of 2008. It was how that injury limited him for the remainder of the 2008 Eastern finals and in the Stanley Cup Final, which the Penguins lost to the Red Wings. He used that memory — a nagging feeling that he somehow had let down not only his teammates and the city of Pittsburgh, but everybody who knew him — as motivation throughout the 2008-09 season.

Even his Penguins teammates didn’t know what was about to happen.

“I was ready,” Malkin said. “I had something to prove.”

Believe it or not, the Penguins were vulnerable to an upset by a Hurricanes team they would ultimately sweep in the 2009 Eastern finals. Pittsburgh had come off a couple of emotional series wins against the Flyers and Capitals — the franchise’s two fiercest rivals — and was looking ahead to a rematch with the Red Wings in the Cup Final.

“I thought we could get them,” said Jim Rutherford, who was the Hurricanes’ general manager at the time. “(The Penguins) might have been a more talented team than us, but I thought we could get at least one of those early games in Pittsburgh, and then make it a long series.

“I still think I was right. Malkin just wouldn’t allow it.”

In the first game, at Pittsburgh’s old Civic Arena, Malkin scored and set up a goal in the Penguins’ 3-2 victory. It was Game 2, though, that will forever be remembered as what Crosby called “The Geno Game.”

Or, as former Penguins winger Bill Guerin said: “You never think a series is over after Game 2, but it was over after Game 2. Nobody was stopping Malkin, and everybody knew it.”

The signature goal of the historic season is the stuff of legend in Pittsburgh.

Malkin blew open a tight game as part of a three-goal, one-assist performance that announced to the hockey world that he would be the one administering the pain this time.

The faceoff was in the left circle, the prime spot for Malkin to win a draw. When the puck went forward, it looked in real time as though Malkin had been beaten cleanly. He hadn’t.

“(Malkin) pushed it forward, got it behind the goal, swooped around and then he turns around and lifts a backhand,” said Max Talbot, Malkin’s right winger throughout that postseason. “The guys on both teams were stunned — all except Geno.”

“I had no clue he was going to try it,” said Talbot, who had the best view of anyone on the goal that is now affectionately known as “The Geno.”

“I remember thinking, ‘We lost the faceoff,’” said Ruslan Fedotenko, the left winger on Malkin’s line during the Penguins’ 2009 Cup run. “It was only after he scored that I realized what Geno had done.”

For coach Dan Bylsma, time seemed to stand still. He needed to watch a replay to realize what had just happened.

“The degree of difficulty of that entire play is off the charts,” Bylsma said. “To try it — forget doing it, but to try it — in an Eastern Conference final takes confidence that I would have never had, and I don’t think you’ll find many players that would even think about it.”

Added Crosby: “No, I don’t think I would. But that’s Geno. Man, he was awesome in that series; that whole playoffs, really.”

Malkin described the goal as “not too great.” Really.

“Everybody sees spin-o-rama and I score, but my job was to push the puck to Max and then I go to the net,” he said. “The puck went too deep and I have to get it — then, you know, it’s, like, ‘I do it myself.’

“After I spin around, the puck was on my stick good and it was time to shoot. That’s it! So people tell me about that goal, but I don’t know — I think I scored better ones. It’s not my best, but everybody loves it.”

“Not my best,” he says, but the goal in Game 2, which the Penguins won, is what Malkin considers “my most important.” The performance in that series — six goals, three assists in a four-game sweep — “was maybe my best hockey,” he said.

“But I play good against Detroit, too,” Malkin said. “I had to. I owed the team because we lost the year before.

“When you don’t win, it’s hell. When you get close and lose, everything you feel is empty, everything hurts. But pain, you know, can be good. It teaches you.”

With two goals and six assists in a seven-game classic against the Red Wings, Malkin helped steer the Penguins to the Stanley Cup. He was voted the Conn Smythe winner, becoming the first Russian-born player to win that award.

And he finally won a championship.

“I’m lucky, maybe, my first championship is the Stanley Cup,” he said. “You always love your first.”

Two more Stanley Cup titles later, as well as the Hart Trophy for the 2011-12 season, and Malkin is among only a handful of players to have won the Calder (for rookie of the year), Hart (for MVP), Ross (for the single-season points title), Smythe (for playoffs MVP), Ted Lindsay (for player-voted MVP) and the Stanley Cup.

None of those awards, nor his multiple Cup wins, was enough to earn Malkin a spot on the NHL’s 2017 list of the 100 best players of all time. The slight crushed him, bringing back feelings from his youth that he would never be seen as a great hockey player because the greatest Russian hockey players came from Moscow or Saint Petersburg, not places like Magnitogorsk. He also couldn’t help thinking back to all the talk early in his career about how the NHL belonged to Ovechkin and Crosby, even if Malkin was right there with them in terms of production and achievement.

“It hurt me deeply,” Malkin said. “What must I do to be seen as one of the best players? I think I am.”

Sergei Gonchar is one of Malkin’s closest friends. He’s also Malkin’s former teammate with the Penguins and with the Russian national team. He’s admittedly biased, but…

“I have Geno in the top three of Russian players,” Gonchar said. “There’s Alex, and I think Geno is a better overall player, and there’s Sergei Fedorov, and Geno might be better than him by the time he’s done.”

Gonchar might be a little biased, but he might actually be underselling Malkin’s legacy. It’s certainly debatable and it’s clearly close, but of the nine Russian players who made The Athletic’s NHL99 list, Malkin lands second — behind Ovechkin and a shade ahead of Fedorov at 33. For good reason.

Over his career, Malkin has been worth around 46 wins, which is second among Russian-born players behind only Ovechkin at 60.6. Part of that difference is a matter of Ovechkin suiting up for 300 more games than Malkin. On a per-82-game basis, Malkin has averaged 3.85 wins per season while Ovechkin is only narrowly ahead at 3.90. Nikita Kucherov (3.91) and Pavel Bure (3.87) also rank that highly, but neither has the longevity of Ovechkin and Malkin.

“Alex and Evgeni will always be talked about together — in Russia and the NHL,” Gonchar said. “It’s good company.”

Malkin lived with Gonchar during his earliest NHL years, but Gonchar first noticed Malkin’s desire to stand out among Russian players when they spent the 2004-05 NHL lockout playing for Metallurg. Then, Gonchar said, Malkin was “this big, talented kid who talked about being seen as great among Russian players but also becoming one of the best players in the world.”

“He did it,” Gonchar said.

Malkin needed his first NHL season to acclimate himself to the North American lifestyle as much as its brand of hockey. Even then, as he was rolling toward consensus top rookie honors and proving Patrick’s prediction correct — that the Penguins had found a franchise pillar in Malkin — the comparisons to teammate Crosby and rival Ovechkin weighed on Malkin.

“Evgeni doesn’t seek the spotlight, but he deserves more of it than he’s been given,” Gonchar said. “He never said it bothered him, but if you know him you could tell it did because he wanted to be the best.”

Malkin had one more lesson to learn early in his career, and it’s one he has had to carry with him throughout: Only worry about what you can control.

“I’ve learned many lessons in life,�� Malkin said. “Some help me with hockey. Others help me with life, you know?

“I would like people to know my story and see you can overcome disappointment, pain, and be a champion.”

#Evgeni Malkin #pittsburgh penguins #article

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powerplayunit · 3 years ago

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I was asked to make a Chris Kreider/Mika Zibanejad primer

Naturally I jumped at the opportunity. Let’s dive right in, shall we?

Chris Kreider

This motherfucker

Graduated college because his mother asked him to do that before going pro

Loves his mother

Has a communications degree, sharp as a tack even if he does sometimes have regrettable facial hair

“Sharp as a tack” except for that one time he ignored his body trying to tell him something was wrong and nearly died

Plays piano, guitar, and saxophone

Has a beautiful baritone singing voice

Has been known to serenade his teammates during practices

Avid reader, takes his Kindle everywhere

Tends to run over goalies (bad Chris, NO)

Teaches his teammates new words for fun

Speaks at least three languages—English, Russian, and Spanish. He’s rusty in Russian but he speaks it to the baby Russians on the team to make them more comfortable. Him speaking Russian

He really loves dogs. Like really loves dogs. I mean really.

I could go on, honestly

Mika Zibanejad

This motherfucker

French-braids his hair for special occasions (see above gif)

Born in Sweden, but is actually half-Finnish, half Iranian. He speaks Swedish, Finnish, Farsi, and English.

Drafted sixth overall by the Senators in 2011, traded to New York in 2016. Had literally just bought and started building a house just before he was traded.

Is left handed, wanted to learn guitar at school but they didn’t have any left handed ones so he took drums, wasn’t impressed.

DJs in his spare time. Is actually really good at it?? Has played for multiple Rangers’ charity events, as well as friends’ weddings. Did the player intro song for the team’s 2018-2019 season. Makes some incredibly catchy music. My favorite

Owns a restaurant in Stockholm with his brother and several friends—announced last year a portion of proceeds are going to women’s hockey

Volunteers with kids in Sweden to help grow the sport and encourage interest

Oh yeah he’s also really good at hockey?

Nbd he just scored five goals in a single game one time and here’s a video of all five

His father had come to visit and told him as they were leaving Mika’s place for the arena, “you know, I’ve never seen you score a hat trick”. So Mika casually went out and got five goals instead because that’s just the kind of overachieving bastard he is

Wraps his stick for Pride Night (so does Chris), and actually scored those goals on Pride Night, so he said GAY RIGHTS and I think that’s very sexy of him

Adores his niece Nikki and brand new nephew Knox, him and Nikki

His hair should be illegal

Takes the rookies under his wing, mentors them, and often lets them live with him until they find places of their own.

Will almost certainly wear the C sooner rather than later

And now for my favorite part

Chris and Mika’s relationship

Chris was Mika’s first liney when he arrived in New York

They bonded immediately

Chris has visited Mika in Sweden over the summers not once but at least twice that we know of

The first visit - this picture tragically cut off the caption Mika put on it, which was “reunited with bae 😍”

They did an interview game on how well they know each other. When they were asked who Mika would take on vacation with him, they both instantly answered “20” and Chris muttered, “You’d better take me.”

(Also, Chris made a fantastically dorky reference to Robots [a movie like three people saw] at the beginning of that video, so that made me love him even more)

Here’s the video, watch it at your peril

The second time Chris visited him in Sweden

Chris represented America at Worlds last year. Mika didn’t represent Sweden, but he went to see Chris play. (Don’t have a source on this)

They’re addicted to hugging each other

No really

Like actually addicted

You think I’m joking?

Mika’s flirting is… not subtle

Oh did you think we were done with hugging clips?

That’s cute

Chris literally held Mika’s hand on the bench

MORE HUGGING, MOTHERFUCKERS

Mika has a Chris-specific smile, I’m not joking

Chris: *says anything* Mika: *gazes at him adoringly*

Mika is not shy about being tactile, and Chris clearly loves it

This one just makes me laugh because Chris is being so intense and Mika’s having none of it

In conclusion, please join me in appreciating not only the bond these two idiots share but also their individual personalities, because they’re both pretty damn great

#chris kreider #mika zibanejad #primer

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powerplayunit · 3 years ago

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Nico Hischier/Jonas Siegenthaler Primer

(Gif source)

Nico Hischier

First overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft (love you, NolPats).

"Mentored" by Taylor Hall--I'll let you decide the definition of mentored there, pals.

Current New Jersey Devils captain at 23, and THEY ALL LOVE HIM.

The future of Swiss men's hockey pretty much lays on his pretty shoulders, right along with New Jersey's cup dreams.

Nico's had a rough go with injuries. The day Jonas got traded to the Devs was his first game back after missing pretty much the entire year.

Yes, he really does go about his daily life looking like this.

Source: Nico's Insta

Jonas Siegenthaler

Drafted 57th overall in the famed 2015 NHL Draft by the Caps.

He played for the ZSC Lions in the Swiss league with Auston Matthews (can you believe AMatts was this blessed?).

Unfortunately, the Caps have a pretty deep D-core, so Jonas bounced around a bit between the AHL and the NHL.

The Swiss Embassy really loved him though, which like, FAIR.

Unlike most of the hockeys, Jonas is extremely competent in the kitchen! The Caps did a Caps Social Cookoff between him and Jakub Vrana and it's a must-watch.

The cooking thing is EXTREMELY important to the narrative, as you'll read later on.

Yes, he also goes about his life looking like this. Hot AND he won't make you eat Kraft Dinner on your date.

THEM 🥰

Their public history started when Jonas played with Nico's older brother, Luca, on the Swiss U18 team in 2012. Two years later, Nico and Jonas played together on the 2014 U18 team.

Jonas posted the CUTEST picture of them when they were babies playing on the same U20 team. Imagine crushing on your brother's older friend, and now you're his captain. ANYWAY.

In 2017, they went on a boys' trip together just shortly after Nico got drafted.

Source: Nico's Twitter

April 11, 2021, after being scratched for 15 games, the Caps traded Jonas to the Devs. Nico's team. Nico, of course, insisted Jonas stay at his place in New Jersey.

Please note the way Nico's face transforms when someone asks him about Jonas (starts at 2:10).

youtube

For even more pain, Amanda Stein, the Devs reporter, tweeted this about the video above:

When Mark Recchi also ships it, you know it's true love (starts at 5:45).

youtube

Tumblr user jakejuentzel (they're the best, for real) made the best gif set from the video above that includes this gem:

Jonas didn't a chance to play much after the trade because he got Covid, but he was able to play the last few games with the team. It was a rough season, but it's okay, because Nico helped him.

Jonas and Nico also spoke about each other in their exit interviews.

Jonas: "I was pretty excited to get here...I knew Nico already from the national team. We're not from the same hometown, but like we knew each other...we have the same interests and all that stuff, so it works out pretty good. I've never played with another Swiss guy on a team here, but it's kind of special. There's not a lot of Swiss guys and if there's two Swiss guys in one team, it's even more special. He helped me a lot, which made it a lot easier. I'm really happy about it."

Nico: "It was great. I obviously knew Jonas before he got traded here, so when he got traded here, I was super excited. I was excited to...like, I knew him well, so I was super excited to have him come here and show him around and I knew what he could bring to the team. So I was both ways excited on and off the ice."

And then Nico just had to go in for the KO:

"He usually spends his summer in Zurich and I spend my summer in Bern. But we usually see each other a couple times during the summer but not for workouts."

Nico. Nico. Buddy. Pal. I just wanna talk. What do you even mean by "but not for workouts".

The most devastating part, though, is this bit at the end:

You must see the gif set by jakejuentzel, it's required reading.

Nico, smug as hell, because Jonas cooking for him and taking care of him next season is just a foregone conclusion.

Speaking of the next season, this season, the Devs are uh, doing their best. Nico and Siegs are still in love, and while it has not been confirmed, circumstantial evidence says they still live together.

For one, they BAKED BREAD TOGETHER at the start of the season, and the best Tumblr users presented a very credible investigative report about it.

They're also seen frequently walking in together to games. Obvious proof of cohabitation.

The King and His Lionheart

Nico has been the face of Swiss men's hockey and the New Jersey Devils for the last several years. It's a lot to carry on his shoulders, even if his teammates all love him. The Devs is a young team, and I imagine it's difficult for Nico to allow his teammates to see a glimpse of his struggles and what he's feeling.

When I think of Jonas, I immediately think of words reliable and steadfast. He's not the flashiest guy in the world, but he's someone who can be depended on, in any situation.

Out of everyone in the Devs, Jonas is the one who's known Nico the longest--and arguably, the one who also knows him the best. It's easy to see Nico leaning on Jonas in the privacy of their own home, because as Nico's said repeatedly before, Nico knows Jonas well, and the reverse is likely true.

Nico is willing to sacrifice everything for his team, including his own health and well-being sometimes if it means success for his friends and his teammates.

Jonas probably also cares about team success, but he's had a markedly different experience with teams than Nico. He's bounced around between the AHL and the NHL, and with the trade, I think even more so, his loyalty isn't to a team. I'm not saying his transformation from riding the bench to one of the best defensive defensemen in the league this season is entirely due to Nico, because he's skilled and he's good. But also, the Devs have been struggling all season long, and it's not unwarranted to think Jonas' play on the ice is one of the ways he can lift some of the burdens from Nico's shoulders.

Because remember when I said Nico is willing to sacrifice everything for his team? Nico puts the team above self, but Jonas? Jonas puts Nico above everything.

TLDR: In Conclusion Thanks to my co-president, msmargaretmurry, for her help with this part.

So you have Nico, the boy king of Swiss men's hockey/New Jersey, who is universally adored but has struggled to lead his team to success, for a lot of reasons that aren't his fault, but also because of some really terrible luck with health and injuries.

And then you have Jonas, who is very big struggled for years to find his footing in the NHL, and now that he has, he gives a lot of credit to Nico, who once upon a time was Jonas's teammate's little brother, and then was Jonas's teammate and friend, and now is Jonas's captain. They've very loyal to each other, and carry a lot of feelings about their shared homeland together. Also, oh my god they were/are(??) roommates.

There’s just so much potential here. You’ve got friends-to-lovers. You’ve got childhood friends-to-lovers. You’ve got teenage-crush-on-my-big-brother’s-hot-friend-and-now-he’s- living-with-me-oh-god.

This is ripe territory for fwb-turned-feelings, or having a summer fling because you don’t think you’ll have to see each other much during the season and then whoops, you’re on the same team. You’ve got the most nauseatingly sweet domesticity you could ever ask for, AND you’ve got two guys both under very different types of massive pressure from the sport they love who find support in each other.

If nothing else, Nico is literally obsessed with Jonas' size and mentions how big he is in every interview where he's given the opportunity to talk about Siegs.

And they baked bread together. Come ON.

BUT WAIT

If you're STILL not convinced, here's what they had to say about each other earlier this year:

Nico on Jonas

I played with him growing up, also (in the) national team, so I knew exactly what he can bring to a team. And he's doing exactly that on this team. He does a lot of dirty work that let's say maybe not on the score sheet, but it's really important for a team to have success. I feel he's playing unbelievable for us.

Jonas on Nico

You know, that's probably why he's captain. Every night, he does those little details. Maybe people don't see very often but we on the bench see it. That's just what makes him so good. That's a true leader for me. You just gotta watch him on the ice. He's such a hard worker, blocks shots. For me, that's a true leader.

THEY'RE IN LOVE, YOUR HONOUR.

For more feels and visuals, please consult jakejuentzel's frünn tag. If for some reason, you want to watch me scream about them, my tag for them is the king and his lionheart.

I love yelling about them, so please don't be afraid to send me an ask or message!

#nico hischier #jonas siegenthaler #primer

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powerplayunit · 3 years ago

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I had to do it, I’m not even sorry. You can find all links, videos, and pictures on here. Enjoy!

PS: You can find my flames primer (of sorts) here.

#matthew tkachuk #leon draisaitl #mattdrai #primer

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powerplayunit · 3 years ago

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Nathan MacKinnon is just a bigger version of ultra-driven ‘Nate the Kid’

Nov 10, 2022 (x)

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Inside Cole Harbour Place, where a mural of a pond hockey game looks over the main sheet of ice, a young boy jumped out. He might have been smaller than most of the kids, but that didn’t stop him from seizing the puck whenever he wanted. His head was always up as he stickhandled, even as a 9-year-old. He had power on skates unlike the others. It was as if he galloped.

As the youngster dominated his opponents, coaches Charlie MacLean and Dave Peters sat nearby, preparing game plans for their team, which was scheduled to play later in the day. At one point, MacLean walked over to the ice. Before long, he had called for Peters to follow. He had to see this player.

“You peek your head in,” Peters says now, “and all of a sudden you see the future best player in the world.”

That was the first time he laid eyes on Nathan MacKinnon.

Cole Harbour Place is full of pictures and memorabilia from Sidney Crosby, the Penguins captain who grew up playing at the rink and became the world’s most famous hockey player. Just down the wall is one dedicated to MacKinnon, the kid who followed in his footsteps.

MacKinnon’s case is a time capsule of sorts. There’s a picture of a chubby-cheeked 2-year-old, grinning as he stands in skates for the first time. He’s smiling in another picture nearby, one in which he’s slightly older, eating a snack while wearing a black Tim Hortons jersey. There are hockey cards from his youth team, the Cole Harbour Wings, as well as trophies and old jerseys. The shelves are full of memories, tokens showing a player’s journey from childhood to stardom.

“He was like he is now,” says Jon Greenwood, another one of MacKinnon’s former coaches. “Just a smaller version.”

MacKinnon’s progression made him a Stanley Cup champion and a three-time Hart Trophy finalist and landed him at No. 74 on our list of the greatest players of the NHL’s modern era. MacKinnon, now in his 10th season with the Avalanche, brought the Cup home to the Halifax area this past summer. His mom, Kathy, worked in the government building and his dad, Graham, was a track supervisor for the Canadian National Railway. The city’s people are proud that MacKinnon grew up there, proud that he’s still one of them. MacKinnon shares that pride.

Graham MacKinnon played a bit of goalie growing up in Springhill, Nova Scotia, and he taught his son to skate at a young age. Plenty of other kids in the area played, but MacKinnon never felt the sport was forced on him. It didn’t need to be. Hockey became more than just a hobby or something fun to do. It consumed him.

“I just remember never not wanting to go to the rink,” he says. “I always loved to play.”

His childhood home, where his room is still decorated with the hockey posters he hung as a kid, is next to what he calls a glorified pond. The small lake freezes quickly in the winter, and he spent hours shooting pucks at a battered net, sometimes with friends and sometimes alone. He’d make the 10-minute walk home from school during lunch, throw on his gear and get a skate in, stopping only to eat mac and cheese on the snow bank.

Cole Murphy, one of MacKinnon’s closest friends growing up, remembers the first time he saw MacKinnon skate. They were both around 6 years old and playing against each other when MacKinnon darted down the ice. At that age, none of the kids got air under the puck when they shot. But MacKinnon was different. Murphy watched him shoot the puck into the glass.

That memory is still fresh two decades later. Many of the people around Halifax, be it Murphy or Peters or MacLean, don’t forget the first time they saw MacKinnon on skates.

“Obviously, he’s one of the hardest-working people I know,” Murphy says. “But you don’t get to where he was without some physical gifts as well.”

Greenwood first worked with MacKinnon at the rink when the young center was 11, and the coach quickly noticed how hard he was on himself. He’d be furious if he missed the net during practice, and he’d challenge his coach to shooting competitions after the team was done skating.

That sometimes put Greenwood in a tough situation. If the coach won, MacKinnon would grow angry at himself. But if MacKinnon outshot him, he would question if Greenwood was putting in his maximum effort.

“I knew when he wasn’t trying,” MacKinnon says.

Greenwood quickly realized he had no choice. He couldn’t take it easy. “I might have beat him once or twice when he was that age,” he said. “But I’m sure that stopped shortly after.”

MacKinnon didn’t simply want to be the best. He wanted to dominate. MacLean, who coached him at the bantam level, saw that most not on the ice, but when the team did wall sit exercises. MacKinnon was able to hold his longer than everyone else, but even when the second-to-last person stopped, the star center would keep going.

“He’d go 10, 15 minutes past everyone else,” MacLean says. “It wasn’t good enough to be first. He had to dominate them.”

He also worked at areas of weakness on the ice. He approached Peters about getting better in the dirty areas. The coach talked to him about where to stand, one day putting him directly in front of the net, where he’d be in position to screen the goalie and deflect pucks. MacKinnon was scared of the puck at the time, so this wasn’t a comfortable place. But he did as the coach said, and Peters began firing slap shots at him so he could practice.

“If he missed I would’ve been dead as a 12-year-old,” MacKinnon jokes now.

Though hockey was his passion, it wasn’t his only sport, which Murphy believes helped keep both of them from getting burned out. On summer weekdays, their parents dropped them off at Abenaki Aquatic Club, and they’d kayak in preparation for a few regattas every year. MacKinnon believes the paddling helped give him a strong back, and the coaches, timers in hand, would make the kids run a 5K every morning.

MacKinnon, Murphy and their friends swam and played basketball in their free time at Abenaki. And, in a major development in 8-year-old MacKinnon’s life, the summer days at the club gave him the chance to flirt with girls for the first time.

“Didn’t go great, but I tried,” he says, laughing.

He was much better at hockey. His fire and competitiveness, in Greenwood’s eyes, were the separator. It’s part of the reason Murphy isn’t surprised watching him dominate in the NHL. Don’t get him wrong: He’s proud of his friend. But this always felt like the path he’d go down.

“I’ve had a few coachable, competitive kids before, but never with that skill,” Peters says. “I’ve definitely seen skilled kids before, but never with that mindset.”

MacKinnon was the rare marriage of both. He was, in Peters’ eyes, a perfect storm.

Some players are worth gigantic risks. The Halifax Mooseheads were coming off three dismal seasons — three consecutive years with a point percentage under .335 — and general manager Cam Russell wanted to make sure that string of disappointments stopped.

“We needed a boost for our organization,” Russell says.

He had a solution in MacKinnon, who had spent his first two years of high school at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, a private boarding school and hockey powerhouse in Minnesota. But there was an obstacle. MacKinnon was the most talented player in the QMJHL draft, and the Baie-Comeau Drakkar had the first pick.

The MacKinnon family told Baie-Comeau that Nathan had no plans of reporting there if the club drafted him, and Russell tried to trade for the pick. Still, the Drakkar selected MacKinnon, but when it became clear the player’s stance wasn’t going to waver, the club started looking to trade his rights.

Enter the Mooseheads. MacKinnon grew up cheering for the team, and his family had even billeted a former Mooseheads player when Nathan was a kid. He didn’t come cheap, though. To acquire him, Russell traded Carl Gelinas — the team’s leading scorer from the year before — another depth player and three first-round picks to Baie-Comeau.

“We knew that with what we were giving up, if Nathan wasn’t a player, was going to deplete the franchise significantly moving forward,” said Mooseheads president Brian Urquhart, who was the vice president at the time.

One fan sent Russell an email, ripping him apart for trading such a haul for an unproven teenager.

“I am struggling to understand this decision and fear that your fans might have to watch a team that will not do well for years to come,” it read.

But a player with club-altering potential, the general manager determined, was worth the hefty price. So after playing two years in Minnesota, MacKinnon headed home.

Greenwood always wondered when MacKinnon would reach a level he couldn’t dominate. Major junior, he thought, might be where his star player hit a speedbump. As a 16-year-old entering the QMJHL, he’d be playing against future NHL players, some of whom were multiple years older than him. Growing pains would have been understandable.

“It didn’t happen,” says Greenwood, who would soon learn to never be surprised by what MacKinnon does on the ice.

A few days before his training camp, MacKinnon walked into Mooseheads coach Dominique Ducharme’s office for a meeting. MacKinnon wanted to be in the NHL as soon as possible. Ducharme, who had seen his dynamic play and skillset, wanted to help him get there.

“We have two years,” Ducharme said. “730 days. Take those days one-by-one and make the most of it and you’ll be ready for that.”

MacKinnon bought in, and he jumped out from the moment he first took the ice. Goaltender Zach Fucale remembers his presence the first day of practice. His shots on net had a zip to them. The goalie remembers knowing pretty quickly that his new teammate would be one of the best players in the league.

“We were both only 16 and I felt like I was years behind,” Fucale said.

Teammates knew MacKinnon was bound for the NHL. “Don’t forget us,” they’d joke with him, Fucale remembers. These expectations were nothing new for MacKinnon. ESPN ran a story when he was 14, calling him “Nate the Kid,” a reference to Crosby’s “Sid the Kid” nickname.

“I never really sensed (he felt) a lot of pressure,” Greenwood says. “If he did, he certainly always seemed to rise to it.”

During MacKinnon’s first year with the Mooseheads, he found out he hadn’t been invited to Canada’s World Junior Championship training camp. He was in gym class when the list was released, and he stared at it, angry tears coming to his eyes. That disappointment, paired with the Mooseheads’ next game, became part of MacKinnon’s lore in Halifax.

Playing against the Patrick Roy-coached Quebec Remparts, MacKinnon put together a five-goal game. Every goal was different: He redirected a pass, backhanded a puck in on a breakaway, deked out a goalie from the side, finished a wrap-around and flipped in an empty-netter. As celebrating teammates approached him after his second goal — the breakaway — he lifted his arms. He stared at them wide-eyed, his mouth hanging open, as if shocked at his own abilities.

MacKinnon wasn’t actively thinking about what he viewed as a world juniors snub, but subconsciously, he believes, some extra juice was inside him.

“It felt like a statement game,” Urquhart says. “It was just dominant.”

Halifax returned to the playoffs that year, reaching the third round, and in MacKinnon’s second and final season with the Mooseheads, they won the QMJHL championship and the Memorial Cup. In the final, MacKinnon scored a hat trick to upend fellow draft prospect Seth Jones and the Portland Winterhawks.

“Nate was one of the reasons we kept that standard so high, because that’s how he operates,” Fucale says. “He keeps the bar high and will not accept anything under that.”

The Stanley Cup sat downstairs on a table at Saltyard Social, a two-story restaurant right next to the Halifax waterfront. The weather was perfect for MacKinnon’s party with the Stanley Cup, and he mingled with guests as he ate donair wraps and sipped drinks. The 2021-22 section of the trophy had yet to be engraved, but soon his name, along with the names of his Avalanche teammates, would be on the silver metal.

Loved ones were everywhere. Crosby, his idol-turned-friend, was there, as were his old coaches. His parents and sister, Sarah, laughed with the guests.

“He’s the happiest guy in the world,” close friend Ian Saab said earlier in the day.

MacKinnon poured all his energy into making it to the highest level. That was his focus. When he spoke in front of a crowd in downtown Halifax earlier in his Cup day, he said he wished he enjoyed the journey a bit more. Back in Denver, he repeats the same sentiment.

“All I wanted to do was make the NHL,” he says.

But perhaps all the reasons he couldn’t fully enjoy the ride — his singular focus, the rigorous drills and workouts he put himself through, the forward-looking mindset — are why he is what he’s become. If he didn’t have that ambition, that hunger growing up that was never quite satisfied, could he have become this version of Nathan MacKinnon? Perhaps he could have found a healthier balance, and taken things a little less seriously. But as coaches have said — from Greenwood coaching him as a child to Jared Bednar coaching him now — if you have a player with MacKinnon’s fire, you don’t try to contain it.

Crosby will always be the first generational player to come from the Halifax area. Because of him, kids in the city — including MacKinnon — grew up cheering on the Penguins star. Over time, Pittsburgh shirts didn’t jump out much to Greenwood. It all made sense.

The Penguins apparel isn’t going anywhere. Greenwood still sees it plenty. But he’s noticed recently more and more Avalanche gear popping up. It turns out, in this city along the harbor, there’s room for two.

#nathan mackinnon #nate mackinnon #Colorado Avalanche #article

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powerplayunit · 3 years ago

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The stories you don't know about Evgeni Malkin's journey to 1,000 points

Mar 13, 2019 (x)

Evgeni Malkin is not one to take for granted having scored 1,000 points in the NHL. However, but he does have more lofty goals on his mind.

“I know what (Sergei) Fedorov did,” Malkin said, referring to his childhood idol. “I want to have more than him.” Goals? Points? Games? “More goals. More points. Of course. And Fedorov has three Cups, same as me. So I need one more. Maybe two. I don’t know. At least one.”

Despite his omission from the NHL 100 a couple of years ago, Malkin remains a star with few peers regarding achievements. He is one of only a handful of players to claim the Stanley Cup, and the Art Ross, Calder, Conn Smythe and Hart trophies. He is also one of only five Russians to join the Millennium Club among scorers.

Those who know Malkin best shared their memorable stories from his run to 1,000 points.

Geno pulls rank Sidney Crosby thought he knew “the rules.” He was wrong. And even though Malkin spoke few words of English during his earliest days with the Penguins, he knew enough to pull rank on the other young superstar center in Pittsburgh.

Prior to Malkin’s first regular-season game at the old Civic Arena in 2006, he and Crosby instinctively remained behind as Penguins teammates took to the ice for the opening period. As it came down to Malkin and Crosby, each player looked at each other wondering which one should go next.

“And we couldn’t really say it, right?” Crosby said, smiling. “And I’m, like, ‘Geno, you can go.’ I mean, like, ‘You. Can. Go.’ And he’s, like, ‘Oh no, you go.’ You know? And that’s, like, the most he would hear at that point.”

Again, Crosby insisted that Malkin be the penultimate Penguin to take the ice. Malkin held firm.

Crosby suggested they play Rock, Paper, Scissors to break the stalemate.

“And then I’m, like, ‘Wait a second, he’s not going to know what Rock, Paper, Scissors are,’” Crosby said.

Crosby next tried cutting to the chase. He explained that Malkin should go next so that Crosby could go last. Again, Malkin held firm.

“He goes, ‘No, three years (in) Super League,’” Crosby said. “I go, ‘This is the NHL, I went last year.’ He goes, ‘Super League (is) best league in the world.’ And I’m, like, ‘What?!’

“What he just said was more than I heard him say up to that point.”

And at that point, Crosby experienced Malkin’s preference to make a point in a roundabout way.

“He was basically trying to say, ‘Hey, I’m older, you’re younger — I’m going (last).’ But he couldn’t say that in English. So I said, ‘OK.’ And so I ended up going second, and that’s how it goes.

“That’s the story of why Geno goes last, you know? To this day, we still go in that order.”

Geno gets a crush

Max Talbot had no idea how he would handle rooming with Malkin on the road during the 2007-08 season. Between them, they spoke three languages but didn’t have one in common.

After the first couple of road trips, Talbot realized that he and Malkin did have something in common: the “Transformers” movies. During his second NHL season, Malkin became obsessed with the original “Transformers” film after Talbot purchased it on their hotel room’s television the night before a game.

“Oh, Geno watched it, like, every night,” Talbot said. “I mean, it’s not a great movie, you know? You can see it once or twice. But Geno … he always wanted to watch that ‘Transformers’ movie. You could say it got a little bit annoying.”

One night, Talbot attempted to coax Malkin into going out for dinner. Malkin declined. He invited Talbot to order room service and join him for a viewing of his favorite movie. It became the last straw.

“I said, ‘Geno, why do you always watch that movie?’” Talbot said. “He said, ‘Look (at) girl, learn English.’ And, honest to God, I probably laughed for the next five minutes.

“He had a crush on that actress (Megan Fox). He watched the movie because she was in it, right? And I guess (Sergei) Gonchar had told Geno to learn English by watching the same movie over and over. So, Geno watched that ‘Transformers’ movie because he liked that girl.”

A few weeks later, during his first group interview with Pittsburgh media, the ice was broken when Malkin recognized the word “Transformers” during a question I asked. The next day, when reading my story to Malkin, Gonchar did Talbot a favor.

“Gonchar said to Geno, ‘You know, there is a second movie,’” Talbot said. “And all I could think was ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ At least it wasn’t the same movie the rest of the year.’”

Geno learns to lie Technically, these next anecdotes are not from Malkin’s days with the Penguins. However, they were provided by his parents Vladimir and Natalia, who almost as beloved in Pittsburgh as their son.

As a 4-year-old in his native Magnitogorsk, Malkin and his father played 1-on-1 hockey outside the apartment complex where the family lived. Evgeni was behind the net one day when Vladimir shot a puck that deflected and hit Evgeni in the eye.

“I said to him, ‘What do we do? Your mom will surely be upset,’” Vladimir said. “He said, ‘Let’s not tell mom, she won’t let us play anymore.’”

Later that night, during supper, Natalia never asked her youngest son or his father about a mark near Evgeni’s eye. She did not say a word about anything during dinner.

“You could tell she knew,” Vladimir said. “We never have talked about it.”

About seven years after that incident, Evgeni was again injured — this time during an off-ice training session. He landed wrong while jumping. His leg was broken, and Evgeni was forced into a cast and to use crutches.

“This was before a tournament,” Natalia said. “We let him go with his teammates, but insisted, of course, that he could not play.”

Natalia and Vladimir were unaware that Evgeni’s coach had seen him playing tennis — the sport was a favorite pastime for Evgeni and elder brother, Denis — while on the crutches. The coach was convinced Evgeni could still help their team win the tournament even though Evgeni could not walk.

At the rink, Evgeni’s teammates helped him cut the cast off his leg with a rusty saw and then cram his foot into a skate boot. Evgeni returned home without a cast, still using crutches and also carrying a trophy awarded to the tournament MVP.

“I was not happy with him; but, yes, I was happy for him,” Natalia said. “It was never easy to keep him from hockey. I blame his father.”

Geno sees his future

Penguins centers Evgeni Malkin (left) and Sidney Crosby raised the Stanley Cup for the third time in June of 2017. (Christopher Hanewinckel / USA Today)

The day before Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup final — so, the day before the biggest game of his life — Malkin walked into the players’ lounge at Civic Arena and spotted me sitting against a doorway’s wall. During a 20-minute conversation, he discussed the many differences from the previous postseason, which ended with the Penguins watching the Detroit Red Wings skate with the Cup in Pittsburgh.

Malkin, who played injured during that 2008 Cup final, was healthy this time around. He had the postseason lead in scoring to prove it. But he wanted more than the Conn Smythe Trophy he would ultimately claim.

He pointed to a picture on the wall that showed Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr each holding up the Stanley Cup from the Penguins’ championship win in 1992.

“Me and Sid,” Malkin said. “We get our picture. It’s time.”

On the page of my notebook, I scribbled Malkin’s words and marked the time he said them into my digital recorder. I asked if I could write that part in my story advancing Game 7 at Detroit.

“Yes, you write (it), Rossi,” Malkin said. “Because we (will) win.”

The Penguins won the 2009 final. The Red Wings watched them take laps with the Cup on Joe Louis Arena’s ice. It was Malkin’s first team title at any level as a professional.

He needed another couple of Cup wins by the Penguins to finally get that picture with Crosby, though.

It was taken after the Penguins finished off the Predators at Nashville in Game 6 of the 2017 final. As he had in 2009, Malkin was the top scorer in the 2017 postseason. On the ice, he and Crosby recreated the Lemieux-Jagr pose from 1992.

That picture hangs in Malkin’s condominium on Fisher Island in Florida.

Geno gives props Gonchar had been gone from Pittsburgh for a couple of seasons when Malkin headed to Las Vegas for the NHL awards show in June 2012. Though their bond had strengthened in Gonchar’s absence, Malkin’s big night was not on Gonchar’s mind the evening of the broadcast.

“We were just sitting down at the table for dinner, and I turned on the TV with (eldest daughter) Natalie to watch cartoons,” Gonchar said. “I start getting all these text messages: ‘Great job.’ ‘Such wonderful things for Evgeni to say.’ And I didn’t get it — like, ‘What are they talking about?’”

Gonchar and his family had not planned to watch the televised broadcast of the NHL awards show. “I knew he would win,” Gonchar said. “I knew he would tell me about it.”

Malkin had already given one acceptance speech at the ceremony, so he was somewhat unprepared when taking the stage to accept the Hart Trophy. And in a callback to his first couple of seasons with the Penguins, when Malkin lived with the Gonchar family, he turned his MVP moment into a tribute to his best friend.

Thankfully, that best friend’s daughter showed Gonchar a video replay of the speech — after the cartoons, though.

“You know, I wanted to talk to him right away — after those text messages,” Gonchar said. “I called and left him a message. He never called me back.”

Instead, Malkin showed up the next afternoon at Gonchar’s house. He had a miniature Hart Trophy with him. And a fishing rod.

“He spent, like, the next 10 days with us,” Gonchar said. “It was a lot of time fishing and swimming. It was not different from any other time he was with us.”

Well, it was different one afternoon. Gonchar asked Malkin about the dedication.

https://youtu.be/RR8V88ClAtw

“He said, ‘Why talk, just watch (the) video,’” Gonchar said, laughing.

“But Evgeni was saying that he had to give a speech if he won and how he thinks everything’s been said when he won the other awards. He was telling me he just felt like he wanted to say something else. But he did not really prepare another speech. He wasn’t thinking. He was feeling emotions. It just came out.”

And that is as far as Gonchar allowed Malkin to go with the conversation about the Hart Trophy dedication.

“He was getting very emotional,” Gonchar said. “I was emotional, too. So we started talking about something else.

“We’re still Russian, I guess.”

Geno finds a friend One afternoon in August 2012, Evgeni and I walked through the Kremlin’s grounds with a photographer. The idea was to get some photographs of Malkin walking near historic sites that were a quick hop from his Moscow apartment. We would consider these for photos for the cover of his authorized biography.

During those couple of hours, Malkin started feeling his sweet tooth and stopped by a street vendor’s ice cream cart. A boy approached. Malkin offered to buy him a cone. The boy accepted.

As Malkin and the boy chatted, a woman hurried to the reigning MVP of the NHL. She appeared to scold the boy, then Malkin. In an attempt to calm her — or at least explain himself — Malkin motioned as though he would to pose for a ceremonial faceoff. He then mimicked shooting a puck with an imaginary stick. As he did this, the boy pointed and repeatedly shouted “Malkin!” but the woman remained defiant.

She grabbed the boy’s ice cream cone and handed it to Malkin. She left with the child’s hand in hers.

Malkin smiled as he rejoined our group. I asked what had happened. He explained that the woman did not want to spoil her son’s dinner. I suggested he track them down and explain who he was.

“I did,” Malkin said. “I say, ‘I’m Evgeni Malkin!’ She (did) not care. Maybe if I was Sid.”

Malkin waited a beat. His timing revealing the comedian he could have become had he not been born to do this hockey job.

“Sid (does) not eat ice cream,” Malkin said. “It’s why he’s (the) best player.”

#evgeni malkin #pittsburgh penguins #article

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powerplayunit · 3 years ago

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Sidney Crosby opens up about the Golden Goal, 10 years later

Feb 28, 2020 (x)

LOS ANGELES — Sidney Crosby is capable of so many wonderful things, on and off of the hockey rink, that seeing him struggle with anything is almost curious. One thing Crosby has never mastered is the ability to be introspective. Maybe he’s no good at it, or perhaps he’s too humble to ponder his considerable greatness.

Some occasions are more poignant than others, however. Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Golden Goal, when Crosby beat Team USA in the Olympic overtime classic in Vancouver, triggering Canada’s golden era of international hockey while subsequently keeping American hockey from toppling its biggest rival.

Crosby let down his guard on the subject of his most famous goal in an interview with The Athletic following Penguins’ practice Thursday in Los Angeles. One thing is quite clear: Crosby is well aware of the importance of that goal.

“I remember the stories I was told,” he said. “In terms of goals that I’ve scored or moments that I’ve had, yeah, it was the biggest one. The reaction around Vancouver and around Canada, it’s something I’ll never forget. What I remember most is all these stories from buddies of mine, friends of mine, people in the community. Just so many different people that I’ve met. So many people have told me where they were when they were watching and when the goal went in. It was so cool at the moment it happened, to be a part of it, and to experience it. And I’ve heard all of these stories. I actually really like hearing them from people.”

As fate would have it, Crosby’s Penguins will take on Ryan Miller’s Anaheim Ducks tonight at Honda Center. A decade ago, they met in one of the most famous games in hockey history. Miller was named tournament MVP for backstopping upstart Team USA to overtime of the Gold Medal Game, but it was Crosby who had the last laugh, receiving a pass from Jarome Iginla and quickly whipping a shot between Miller’s legs.

The pressure To understand the pressure that Crosby felt that day is to understand what hockey means to most Canadians. It is their sport. The Olympics provided their stage and also the ultimate opportunity for the United States. Canada has had many challengers over the years, and one could argue Russia was the head of the hockey world during the Red Army’s reign.

Canada, though, has been the king of the hockey world for a while. By 2010, the Americans were making a legitimate push to take the crown. Young stars like Kane, Parise and Phil Kessel were pushing American hockey to new heights and, earlier in the Olympics, Team USA beat Canada, causing national unrest north of the border.

“That team was good,” Crosby said. “Really, really good.”

Crosby was 22 and fresh off of leading the Penguins to a championship in 2009. At the time, there was almost an invincible, preordained feeling around Crosby. He had lived up to the hype, and then some. He was the world’s best hockey player, already a Stanley Cup winner. The concussion drama that would torture him was still a year into the future. Canada couldn’t lose, many theorized, because Crosby wouldn’t allow it to happen.

Team Canada then lost to Team USA and looked mediocre at times during the fortnight. Crosby failed to dominate in the Olympics the way many had expected and endured trouble clicking with any linemates. The pressure mounted on him the more he failed to produce flashy numbers.

“It was real pressure, too,” said Crosby’s agent and friend, Pat Brisson. “Very real.”

So, how did Crosby deal with it?

“I’ve known Sidney since he was 13, 14 years old,” Brisson said. “Here’s the thing about him: He wants pressure. He wants things to be difficult. The more pressure there is and the higher degree of difficulty there is, the better he plays. Since the time he was a boy, there’s always been an expectation that he’s supposed to be the best and that he’s supposed to produce more team success than other players.”

Even for someone who thrives under pressure, this was a different variety of mental demand.

Did he rely on Brisson? His parents? His friends?

Not really, as it turns out.

“Well, it was a lot of pressure,” Crosby said. “It was for sure. It was my first time playing in the Olympics. When you’re a hockey player, it’s a big deal. When you’re a hockey player from Canada and the Olympics are in Canada, it’s a much bigger deal because you know that, even if you play in more Olympics, you’re never going to play in the Olympics in Canada again. This was it. This was the chance to win it all on Canadian soil. Because of that, yeah, there absolutely was a different kind of pressure and I did feel it.”

Crosby didn’t succumb to it, nor did he reach out to anyone during this time. Instead, he kept it all inside. It was by design.

“I grew up with pressure from the time I was young because of the expectations I was dealing with,” he said. “Those people (Brisson along with parents Troy and Trina) were always there to support me, honestly. And I appreciated it. But it was something I needed to go through on my own. I needed to learn. I had already been to the Cup final twice and won it the second time. That was very helpful. But this was a different kind of pressure.”

The people closest to Crosby were there if he needed to chat, or to vent, or to listen to advice.

“And he knew that,” Brisson said. “But he wanted to learn how to deal with all of that pressure on his own. That was a big thing for him. He had seen a lot for 22, but he was still only 22. But he just wanted to learn to deal with it all by himself. You know, he has ice water in his veins. He always has. That pressure is what makes him tick. The harder something is, the more challenging it becomes, it gives him more juice. It gives him more fuel. Dealing with pressure, and thriving from pressure, is in his DNA.”

Marc-Andre Fleury was a backup goalie for Team Canada during that tournament.

“When the games get bigger and when there is lots of pressure, Sid always has a way of coming through,” Fleury said. “Even then.”

The goal Crosby broke down the play in great detail. He had just taken the ice and initially attempted to break through the American defense during the four-on-four action to no avail. It wasn’t a great overtime for Crosby initially, as he twice turned the puck over in the early going. Everything changed on his final shift, though. He located Iginla along the boards and belted out the iconic “Iggy” demand that saw the pass delivered to Crosby, who was 22 at the time.

Shooting the puck, as it turns out, was not Crosby’s immediate plan.

“For a second,” he said, “I actually thought about taking the puck to the net and going to the backhand. That was my first thought.”

This makes perfect sense. No one uses his backhand more than Crosby, especially in big moments. It’s his comfort move. However, Zach Parise, who had tied the game late in the third period to force overtime, was in defensive position in the slot. Crosby saw this out of the corner of his eye and didn’t have an opening to cut toward the net on his backhand side.

“At that point, I had to tell myself that it was overtime,” Crosby said. “In that situation, you really don’t want to pass up an opportunity. And I figured that, since I didn’t really have a great angle there, my best chance was probably to get the puck away as quickly as I could. Honestly, it was pretty much a reaction. It’s not like I was picking a spot or anything like that. I really wasn’t. I just thought the key for me was to get the shot off as quickly as I possibly could.”

Brisson was sitting directly behind the net where the goal was scored.

“I’ll never forget where I was,” Brisson said. “I’m Canadian. But I’ve also worked in the U.S. for a long time. I had friends and clients on both teams. Sid. Jonathan Toews. Patrick Kane. So, there were so many mixed feelings. But being that the game was on Canadian soil, I really thought it made so much sense for Canada to win. I was hoping for that. You didn’t want to miss that moment when the goal was scored, no matter who scored it, because you knew it would go down as a famous moment. It was a very special ending and it was only fitting that Sid was the person who got the goal.”

It is easily one of the most famous goals in hockey history. Young and old, everyone has something special to say about it.

“It was quite the celebration,” said Patrick Marleau, Crosby’s new teammate. “We all flew off the bench. It was quite a celebration in Canada.”

The brewing rivalry USA Hockey remains a legitimate power in international hockey and young players such as Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel have only served to give the United States a new wave of talent.

The Golden Goal served as a plateau for USA Hockey, though. It also catapulted Canada to a different stratosphere of dominance. The Canadians would go on to win the 2014 Olympics on Russian soil with Crosby serving as captain. Then, in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey in Toronto, Crosby was easily the tournament’s dominant figure and rightfully voted tournament MVP as Canada again emerged with a championship.

Had Crosby not scored the Golden Goal, one can’t imagine how that may have changed things for Team Canada and Team USA. Crosby, whose competitiveness is the stuff of legend, used a defeat from years earlier as inspiration.

“When I was 16, we lost to the Americans in the world junior championship game,” he said, referencing the 2004 tournament. “And it all felt so similar. We were the favorite and were dealing with a lot of pressure. We took the lead. Then they came back and beat us. So, it all felt very familiar and I remember thinking about it.”

Crosby acknowledges that the historical ramifications of the game weren’t at the forefront in his mind.

“It really didn’t occur to me at the time,” he said. “I was just happy we won the game, to be honest. The United States was so good and it took everything that we had to beat them. That’s all I was thinking about. Not until later do you sit back and think about other stuff.”

The legacy Crosby is 32 now, a decade removed from being the precocious superstars who, on that Sunday afternoon in Vancouver, appeared about as invincible as a hockey player can be. Since then, much has changed. Crosby nearly lost his career to concussions and then saw his Penguins endure a series of frustrating postseason losses.

The aura of invincibility was gone.

Then came two more Stanley Cups and his sensational performance at the World Cup of Hockey. Crosby remains the world’s most famous player and arguably its best. The phenom now is revered for his ability to dominate into his 30s.

One thing hasn’t changed: Crosby still wants more Olympic glory. NHL players weren’t permitted to play in the 2018 Olympics as Gary Bettman remains quite opposed to his players participating in the Olympics. Crosby isn’t the outspoken type, but he’s not happy about the controversy that has kept NHL players from the Olympics. He knows only so many chances remain.

“Definitely I’d like to play in them again,” he said. “Any opportunity to play in the Olympics, no matter where they’re being held, is always going to be a big deal for me. It’s an unbelievable opportunity. We all enjoy that opportunity. Everyone wants to play on that stage.”

Brisson is hopeful his most famous client will get one more opportunity to earn his third gold medal.

“Sid and I talk about this all the time,” Brisson said. “The players all want to go, and Sid is no different than anyone else. It’s great for the NHL. The players want it. And you know what? Most of the owners do, too. As long as the IOC takes care of things financially, of course the players want to go. It’s no different than if you were running ‘Cirque du Soleil.’ If your artists and architects are willing to perform in China, isn’t that a good thing for Cirque du Soleil? It’s not different, and Sid wants to be there again.”

Few artists in the game’s history can paint a magical scene quite like Crosby. Maybe he’ll get his chance to return to the Olympics one last night. He’ll have a difficult time producing the magic of 10 years ago today.

“It was a special time in my life,” Crosby said.

#sidney crosby #pittsburgh penguins #article

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powerplayunit · 3 years ago

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The untold stories of Sidney Crosby, behind the scenes, as he turns 32

Aug 7, 2019 (x)

It’s probably time to consider retiring the “Sid the Kid” nickname as Sidney Crosby turns 32 today.

One of the great things about Crosby, though, is that he handled himself as an adult from the time he arrived in Pittsburgh as an 18-year-old.

I’ve covered him for a decade, which has given me a different perspective of Crosby from behind the scenes, when the cameras are off. The polished, thoughtful gentleman that you see on camera isn’t phony. Crosby really is a champion in the game of life as well as in hockey.

If you’ve read my mailbags and Q&As over the years, perhaps you’ve already come across some of these tales. Nonetheless, they’re worth telling or, in some cases, re-telling. In an era where athletes often make headlines for truly horrendous reasons, Crosby has always conducted himself as a role model.

The most frequently asked question I receive is inevitably, “What’s Sid really like?” Hopefully this will help answer that question. Here’s a look at 10 Crosby moments I’ve witnessed over the years, some of them larger than life, and some of them simply serving as subtle reminders that the Penguins’ captain is has never been changed by that nine-figure bank account.

March 22, 2010 — The Penguins had just lost to the Red Wings, 3-1, at Joe Louis Arena. It had a big-game feel because those two teams had met in the Stanley Cup final the previous two seasons, and there was a sense they could meet again, which, of course, never happened. One month earlier, for historical perspective, Crosby had won the Olympic gold medal game in overtime.

A group of reporters stood outside of the visitor’s locker room that night in Detroit. Standing beside us was none other than Gordie Howe, who had a picture in his hand. The picture, it turns out, was from the Olympics, one that showcased Crosby celebrating his game-winning goal against the United States. Howe walked directly to Crosby. They shook hands, and then Howe said, “I need your autograph on this.” Crosby looked uncomfortable and said, “You’re Gordie Howe. You don’t want my autograph.”

Howe responded, “I sure as hell do.” Crosby doesn’t look overwhelmed very often, but he almost did at that moment. He was very much in awe of Howe and has a healthy respect for the all-time greats. After signing the picture, Crosby shook Howe’s hand again.

Crosby then looked at the group of people watching.

“When he shakes your hand, it feels like your hand is going to break,” Crosby said. “God, he’s still strong.”

March 2, 2012 — The Penguins had just practiced in Denver and would play there the following day. Crosby had returned from a concussion, but made it through only eight games before enduring more symptoms.

He was skating with the team again by this time and was planning on returning to the lineup in a couple of weeks. It was pretty clear he was dealing with all sorts of emotions during the concussion. He had been scared he would never play again, concerned that his life could be permanently impacted, bored, frustrated and everything else imaginable.

By early March, he was symptom free. And he was getting a little angry. In Denver at altitude, Crosby decided to test himself. He was, by anyone’s estimation, the best player on the ice during practice that day. And it was a long, fairly grueling practice. But his work was just beginning.

While his teammates left the ice, conducted interviews, showered and walked back to the team hotel, Crosby was still on the ice, giving himself the ultimate, high altitude test. It almost looked like he was punishing himself. A few people were in the building watching, and they were starting to look uncomfortable just from watching the workout he put himself through.

When it was finally, thankfully over, Crosby stayed on one knee for extended period of time, lost in his thoughts and nothing else. I believe that was the moment when he knew the hurdle had finally been cleared.

April 22, 2012 — The Penguins had just been dismissed, with conviction, by the Flyers in the first round of the playoffs. Entering the postseason as the Stanley Cup favorite, the Penguins were embarrassed by their biggest rival.

Crosby hardly played poorly in that series, having just returned from his health issues to record eight points in six games. But had been outplayed by Claude Giroux and the Penguins had lost their minds, and the series, in one of the low moments in franchise history.

The locker room following Game 6 was a particularly somber one, as you might imagine. Crosby and Jordan Staal were the final players to leave the room. Staal knew he would be traded that summer, that his time with the Penguins had come to an end. He sat beside Crosby, the two of them barely able to speak.

In the distance, Crosby could hear the Flyers celebrating. The look on his face told quite a story. He’s never made it a secret that he doesn’t care for the Flyers. Losing to them had a big impact, and the look on his face indicated that he never again intended on losing a playoff series against them. He could have left the room but instead just sat there, taking in the noises and the celebrations. You could see it fueling him. So far, he’s met them once and recorded 13 points in a six-game series victory in 2018.

Nov. 20, 2012 — The true essence of Crosby was on display during the lockout. He was 25, right in the heart of his prime, and was finally feeling healthy after missing 101 games — not including a playoff series — during the previous two seasons. All he wanted to do was play. And he couldn’t.

During this time, Crosby and about 10 of his Pittsburgh-based teammates practiced daily at Southpointe. On this particular day, when his teammates were done for the day, Crosby stayed on the ice for an additional half hour. There were hundreds of pucks on the ice, two nets and the greatest hockey player in the world. He stayed on the ice for 30 minutes after they were gone. When practice was over, the methodically skated the two nets off the ice and into a storage room. He then corralled the pucks into the center of the ice, sat on the frozen surface and placed each puck into a bag. This became his routine on a daily basis. There was something sad about watching Crosby carry nets off of the ice each day. There was also something impressive about it. He’s no diva. It became his custom, day after day, to stay on the ice for longer than anyone else, and to save the maintenance staff in the building the extra work of putting everything back where it belonged.

Dec, 10, 2012 — Team officials weren’t allowed to be at Southpointe during the lockout. Those workouts were for players only. No media relations officials allowed. So Crosby decided to serve as his own media relations person. Really.

I got a phone call from Crosby on the night of Dec. 10. It was a Monday.

“Hey Josh, I know I told the media we were going to practice at Southpointe tomorrow. But something came up so we’re not going to be able to now. I’m really sorry about it. I would feel awful if anyone drove to practice, and expected us to be there. So if you could please let everyone know that we won’t be there tomorrow, I’d really appreciate it.”

March 25, 2013 — The Penguins were thinking about making a trade deadline splash: Jarome Iginla. Following practice, some of the team brass wanted to have a meeting and wanted Crosby to be involved. I don’t know what the meeting pertained to, but I’ll guess Iginla was one of the topics involved.

Ray Shero was hovering around the locker room after practice. Some coaches were around. Dan Bylsma was looking for his captain and finally said, “Does anyone know where Sid is?”

No one knew, in fact. Crosby almost always talks with reporters following practices but wasn’t around the locker room that day. Nothing to be concerned about. Maybe it was an equipment issue. Maybe he didn’t feel well. Maybe he was busy. These things happen.

A quick walk around the corner adjacent to the locker room told the story. Crosby was on his hands and knees, skates still on, having a conversation with a boy in a wheelchair that probably spanned 30 minutes. This is a common sight. Crosby always goes out of his way to not only greet people who deal with health struggles, but to actually listen to them and spend time with them. I see it all the time, but you never stop appreciating it. It’s not for show. It’s totally genuine, Jarome Iginla meetings be damned.

Jan. 11, 2014 — The Penguins had just won in Calgary. And it was cold. Really cold. And windy. Alberta winters aren’t usually pleasant, after all.

In Calgary, the team bus sits on the arena floor level, and there is a steep hill beside it. On top of the hill, some young Flames fans wanted to get a glimpse of Crosby and had composed a sign that was wishing him luck in the upcoming 2014 Olympics.

One by one, the Penguins filed onto their team bus. Upon seeing the sign, Crosby did a U-turn from the bus and raced up the hill to sign autographs for his young fans. I wish I’d have had the good sense to take a picture of the scene, because the respective looks on their faces was priceless. I’ve seen Crosby sign autographs for literally thousands of people, but that one always sticks out. Most people who encounter Crosby will only meet him once in their lives. He knows that. He’s too humble to ever talk about such things, but he knows it means a lot to people, and I’ve always sensed that he wants that one meeting to be a good one, every time.

March 6, 2014 — The Penguins had just acquired Lee Stempniak and Marcel Goc at the NHL trade deadline the following day. They had a morning skate in San Jose the next day. Like all players, Crosby is a creature of habit and always leaves the skate at the same time, maintaining the routine.

The Penguins took the ice at 11:30, were in their locker room at noon, and were gone for the team hotel by 12:30. But not Crosby. As the clock went from noon to 1, he just quietly stood outside of the Penguins’ locker room. I finally had to ask why.

“I think it’s important to make the new guys feel welcome,” he explained.

Finally, a little after 1 p.m., while the rest of the Penguins were enjoying a nap, Crosby was there to shake the hands of his two new teammates.

It’s funny. Crosby played perhaps the worst game of his life that evening, finishing as a minus-5 in a 5-3 loss. Maybe there is something to be said for maintaining a routine. But there’s something to be said for being a good captain, too. It was highlighted that day.

July 15, 2016 — The Stanley Cup was in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, for Crosby’s hometown parade following the Penguins’ 2016 triumph. Crosby rode in the back of a truck, proudly showcasing the Cup. He gave a speech in front of thousands of people. It was a lovely afternoon, the perfect day for such an occasion.

When the speech was over, Crosby met with a few reporters for interviews and said hello to a few people in the area. He was then supposed to jump back in the truck and head back to his parents’ house to spend a day celebrating with family. After an hour, everyone was starting to wonder where Crosby was. Troy and Trina weren’t sure.

A look around the corner provided the answer. Crosby had met two members of the Canadian military and was deeply engrossed in his conversation about their travels, which seemed far more interesting and poignant to him than speaking about hockey.

#sidney crosby #pittsburgh penguins #article

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powerplayunit · 3 years ago

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What kind of captain is Jamie Benn?

Mar 26, 2018 (x)

Jamie Benn has been a key topic of conversation as the Dallas Stars have fallen from a strong playoff contender to the fringes, likely missing the postseason for the third time in the past five seasons.

While the Stars have lost eight straight games, a franchise record in Texas, Benn’s numbers have been fine. He has nine points in his past eight games, and in three straight games, he scored goals that served as a reminder of why he was considered one of the best players in the world and finished third in the MVP voting two seasons ago.

But when you have a “C” stitched on your chest, wins and losses trump personal triumphs.

Instead of reveling at Benn’s goal against Winnipeg, a wrist shot that Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck said was “the best he’s seen in his career,” more time was spent discussing his curt postgame responses to the media. He scored a glorious shorthanded goal against the Boston Bruins, but in the end was also on the ice for all three goals against as the Stars watched their playoff hopes take a deeper plunge.

Right or wrong, this has brought Benn’s leadership into question. There’s a sentiment, especially on social media, that a good captain wouldn’t let this happen. If Benn were a good captain this team would have followed his example, depth scoring wouldn’t have been an issue and Dallas would still likely be a playoff team.

In the past week, some fans have called for a change in the captaincy — not a good idea, by the way — while others have asked the very fair question — what type of captain is Jamie Benn?

I don’t know the exact answer to that question, but let’s add some valuable context to the discussion.

I look at Benn as a captain who needs to lead by example. He’s not overly talkative, especially toward the public, and when he plays well his performance can speak for itself.

But that’s a theory formed from watching him in games and practice. It’s based off my interactions with Benn, which for the most part have always been positive. I don’t personally know what he is like behind closed doors, what he’s like on the team plane during a rough losing streak, or how he reacts in the locker room when the Stars are trailing heading into a third period.

So I asked his troops.

“He is an action-first leader that’s gotten more vocal as the year’s gone on now,” Tyler Seguin said. “He talks, but he puts his actions first, and leads in that regard. As of the last few years, he’s also gotten more vocal, so definitely becoming the ultimate leader.”

“He isn’t the guy that says the most in the locker room, even if he does – when he says something it has 100 percent meaning,” John Klingberg said. “He’s just showing whatever he wants to be done, and that’s the way on the ice, in my four years he stepped into more of a locker room guy as well. Still, he’s not the guy who talks the most, but when he says something it always has 100-percent meaning.”

Every player interviewed for this story echoed a sentiment that aligns with the Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy from the early 1900s: “Speak softly, and carry a big stick.”

The other key theme was accountability.

“For me, he’s the best captain I’ve ever had,” Tyler Pitlick said. “I mean he does everything he can to get the guys together and get that team bond. Whenever we need a kick he’ll give it to us, and he’s not afraid if he thinks we need to get going or if we need to pick it up, himself included. He’s not afraid to include himself in anything and for me, he’s a great captain, leads in the locker room and on the ice, he does it all.”

“He’s one of the best leaders I’ve ever played for, no question,” Devin Shore said. “What makes him a great captain is he doesn’t hold anyone accountable to do stuff that he wouldn’t do himself. Like he can play any type of game and lead by example in that way, he can play the tough game and be the toughest guy on the ice and he can also be our best player skill-wise.”

Benn’s toughness was also a key point that players brought up in my conversations. It’s easy to follow a player that is willing to fight for his team, willing to go after the other team’s captain and set a tone as the alpha male on the ice.

“True leader by example,” Antoine Roussel said. “Puts the heart on the table and gives it everything you’ve got and top of that he keeps you accountable, he doesn’t back down from anyone.”

“He’s fantastic, he just gets it. He’s extremely well-respected amongst his peers here. And what more can you ask for?” Marc Methot said. “He hits, he fights, he scores clutch goals, he’s a fantastic human being off the ice. He’s always very positive off the ice, he takes care of the guys. I mean he’s got to be one of the best captains I played for, really.”

When asking around, I got a few quizzical looks in return. Some players immediately had an answer, while others took a moment and responded by asking why that was even under question.

There’s an interesting dynamic in dealing with today’s NHL players. Some are well-versed and well-read on the coverage of their own team, but they tend to be the minority. Most don’t read the news clippings, and I had a player ask me the other week, “Do you ever use the stuff we talk about?” On top of that, most players completely ignore social media – so it makes sense that there was some surprise that Benn’s leadership would even be a topic of discussion.

That being said, each player was quick to defend their leader. And a couple went further, to say what comes off on a broadcast or on the ice is just the tip of a larger leadership iceberg.

“I think there is definitely a way you are in the general public and the way you are around your teammates, I think that’s what people don’t see,” Greg Pateryn said. “That’s something special we get to have as a team, you know everybody’s personality when they are around a group of guys. He’s been great all year since I’ve been here, he’s awesome.”

“I think that’s natural, I think that’s to be expected of any captain,” Shore said. “The bond hockey players share is pretty special, not a lot of people see that unless you are a part of it. And I think that’s what makes it so special and so when we’re just with the guys he opens up a little bit. But he’s not the loudest guy; when he speaks up, everybody listens. He has that quiet confidence about him, but he’s also not afraid to speak his mind. The way he is with us and the way he is with you guys is different.”

If this exercise proved anything, and I’m still not sure if it did, it sends a message that Benn is the leader in the Stars locker room. And no matter the recent results on the scoreboard, he has the respect of his troops.

“He does everything on the ice so it’s easy to follow him there,” Klingberg said. “He plays PK, PP, he blocks shots, physical, can make moves with the puck, he shoots the puck good. He’s an easy guy to follow, you always have trust from a guy that doesn’t BS too much, always has 100 percent meaning, he’s a leader for sure.”

For better or worse, the Stars have made it clear they are following Benn’s lead.

#jamie benn #dallas stars #article

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powerplayunit · 3 years ago

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Unraveling the mystery of Jamie Benn, the Stars’ unknowable captain

May 13, 2020 (x)

Officially, Jamie Benn is in the NHL’s 300-goal club.

It’s a prestigious honor. Only 206 players in the history of the league have scored 300 times, and only 21 current players have reached that plateau.

But Benn, if you ask him, is still sitting at 299.

Back on Feb. 27, when the Stars fell to the Boston Bruins, Benn was initially credited with a tip on a point shot by John Klingberg that got by Jarsolav Halak. The building announced it as Benn’s goal, but the Stars captain insisted to the referee he never touched the puck. He stood by that fact when talking to Stars public relations and coaches after the game.

It was Klingberg’s goal. The Stars captain wanted credit to go to the person who deserved it.

At first, the NHL agreed. Then, a couple of hours later, they declared Benn had indeed touched the puck even if he claimed he hadn’t. He was in the 300-goal club whether he liked it or not.

That was the last goal Benn scored, or didn’t score, before the NHL shuttered on March 12.

And it’s a goal that embodies Benn. It was mystifying and unexpected, just like the Stars captain who’s in the middle of – or maybe has completed – 10 seasons in Dallas.

Benn is boring and fascinating at the same time. He can come off as cold and robotic with the media, while his typical monotonous tone and cadence have reached a point where others, including the Stars’ flagship radio station, have mocked “low-energy Jamie Benn.”

Yet he’s also one of the most tenured athletes in DFW, and in that time, he’s done everything possible to avoid building a public brand while keeping his personality under lock and key.

You don’t know Jamie Benn. That’s by design.

He doesn’t need you to understand how he defied expectations to become the unquestioned leader of a franchise. He isn’t interested in whether you’re aware of how he helped a teammate like Stephen Johns through the most difficult time of his life or that in many ways he’s “Dirk-like” in the way he handles community members when no one is looking, similar to how Dirk Nowitzki, perhaps the most beloved athlete in the city’s history, goes about his own business.

In many ways, Benn’s fight to keep things hidden defines him. Mystery is the Stars captain’s brand.

It’s standard practice for NHL public relations officials to get a hat and jersey ready for each NHL draft pick.

As the draft progresses, the number of jerseys and hats actually delivered starts to dwindle; players projected to go after the fourth round aren’t always in attendance. But that doesn’t stop the PR staff from scanning the crowd when the pick is announced to make sure someone wasn’t missed.

Back in 2007, the Dallas Stars had back-to-back fifth-round selections: 128th and 129th overall. Stars director of team services Jason Rademan, who was working for Stars PR at the time, had the jersey and hat ready as he approached the draft table. Something big was about to happen.

The Stars had gotten lucky. Their man – a winger – was still on the board. A scout turned to Rademan and delivered a guarantee: “Here is your story of the draft right here. This is the story they are going to talk about for years in Dallas.”

And then the Stars took Austin Smith with the 128th overall pick.

Smith is a Dallas native who would have been the first native Texan to suit up for the Stars had he reached the NHL. Instead, he never made it past the AHL and washed out of the Stars organization at the end of his entry-level contract. His legacy in Stars history is being selected one pick ahead of Jamie Benn.

“So (the scout) was wrong, but in a way he was right,” Stars assistant GM Mark Janko said. “One of those two picks was going to be talked about for a long time and was monumental. You could even argue it saved our franchise.”

The 129th player selected isn’t supposed to be a franchise savior. Fifth-round selections, in general, are lottery tickets that rarely pay out. Maybe a team gets lucky and a fifth-rounder becomes a depth piece. More often, they wind up like Austin Smith: a forgotten name and could-have-been prospect who ended up in Europe.

Turning a fifth-round pick into a captain is even rarer. Of the 26 current captains in the NHL, 23 were drafted in the third round or earlier. Only Benn, New York Islanders captain Anders Lee (sixth round) and the Calgary Flames’ Mark Giordano (undrafted) have gone from prospect anonymity as teenagers to the face of a franchise with a “C” on their chest.

Somehow, Benn did, which is only fitting. His entire career has defied expectations and categorization.

Start with his style of play – bruising and punishing mixed with elite skill. When Benn is at his best, opponents worry about him leaving a mark on both the scoresheet and on their bodies. Then there’s his Art Ross Trophy, improbable both due to the dramatic fashion he won it in – in the final seconds of the final game of the 2014-15 season – as well as the historic context of him being just the second player after Martin St. Louis to lead the league in scoring that wasn’t drafted in the first two rounds after Wayne Gretzky’s stranglehold on the award ended in 1994.

The first flashes of Benn’s talents emerged during the 2008-09 campaign while he was with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets. It was a year of great team success: Benn won a gold medal with Canada that season at the World Junior Championships and followed it up with a WHL championship that spring. Kelowna eventually fell in the Memorial Cup final to the Windsor SpitFires, but Benn led the tournament with nine points in six games.

That success turned Benn into a prospect of interest heading into the Stars’ 2009 training camp, where he stunned onlookers by jumping from the best among his junior hockey peer group to standing out in a group still featuring holdovers from the team’s championship era including Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen.

“We had heard a little about him before that,” Lehtinen said. “He came in, and he was one of the best right away. It’s one of those things where you know seeing him, and you just know he’s going to be great.”

Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images Maybe it was the shot, so quick and powerful that then-Stars captain Brenden Morrow saw flashes of Brett Hull. Or maybe it was the 20-year-old’s poise. “It was like he was a 10-year-pro,” Morrow said.

Whatever it was, Benn had it.

“He wasn’t supposed to make the team, and I remember … (Stars head coach) Marc Crawford just turned to us and said, ‘He’s our best player. He can’t go down,'” longtime Stars video coach Kelly Forbes recalled.

It wasn’t obvious at the time, but 2009-10 was the season Benn became the face of the franchise. When Modano played his final game that season, it was Benn who scored the game-winner in a shootout victory over the Minnesota Wild.

Benn notched 45 points as an NHL rookie, then followed it up with an AHL playoff assignment where he dominated with 26 points in 24 games as the Texas Stars came up two wins short of the Calder Cup.

“I’m pretty sure he’s the reason they changed the rule, and you can’t just not play in the (AHL) regular season and then show up for the playoffs,” said former Stars goalie Richard Bachman, who played with Benn during those AHL playoffs. “He was a great player, but his character is what I remember most. He didn’t come in and pretend he was bigger or better than anyone or try to be a hero. He just came in and did his job and played hard. You often get guys who might be in that position who show up and don’t play hard thinking this is just the AHL. That was never the case with Jamie.”

It helped set the stage for Benn’s ascension from promising rookie to franchise cornerstone. When Jim Nill was hired as the Stars general manager in 2013, he looked to Benn as the centerpiece to build the franchise around. In September of that year, he named the 24-year-old as his captain. To Nill, the move was reminiscent of a move his old employer, the Detroit Red Wings, made when they handed Steve Yzerman the “C” in 1986-87 at the age of 21.

“Jamie was becoming the ultimate power forward in the NHL,” Nill said. “He was the top player on our team and you could see he had that leadership in him. It was ingrained, (but) it hadn’t been refined yet.”

Yzerman remained captain in Detroit for 19 seasons, making him the longest-serving captain in North American sports. Next season, Benn will tie Derian Hatcher as the longest-serving Stars captain at eight campaigns. If and likely when Benn plays out the remainder of his contract, he’ll complete a full dozen years with the “C” on his jersey in 2025.

But unlike in Hatcher’s era, the role of captain in today’s NHL very often goes to the young superstar on the rise.

It’s an instant stamp of approval from the franchise about your future, but it’s one thing to get the title and another to actually lead.

“Jamie had to go through that process of learning how to lead the team when it’s not going right,” Nill said. “When to say things, when sometimes not to say things, and it’s about letting your actions do the talking sometimes. And he had to evolve into that.”

For more than a decade, Jarome Iginla reigned as the gold standard for NHL power forwards. The longtime Calgary Flames captain was both highly productive and respected for being one of the NHL’s premier leaders. In 2010, he won the Mark Messier Leadership Award given annually to the NHL’s best captain.

And on Dec. 23 of that year, he squared off with the then-20-year-old Benn at center ice in one of the most iconic fights in Stars history.

Benn began working his way under Iginla’s skin from the moment the puck dropped. But when Benn delivered a heavy hit to Mark Giordano 7:19 into the first period, the 33-year-old Iginla had enough. He approached Benn and the two circled back to center ice. Another player might have been intimidated by the sight of a six-time All-Star removing his helmet and elbow pads, but Benn opened his first career NHL fight by taking big swings at the future Hockey Hall of Famer.

“I would say there wasn’t a ton of defense,” Morrow said. “He was looking him right in the eye and chucking ’em. It was fearless.”

From the first swing to the last, Benn and Iginla brawled for 65 seconds – an eternity by hockey fight standards. Iginla got more shots in near the end, but Benn delivered the signature blow, a right that cut Iginla above the eye. To everyone on the Stars bench, those 65 seconds meant a lot.

“It was kind of in my mind of the passing of the torch,” then-associate Stars coach Willie Desjardins said. “It certainly was one of the great leaders to an upcoming leader.”

Benn initially approached his captaincy the same way he stared down Iginla. He was fearless with his play and let actions speak much louder than words. He was quiet, but he was the Stars’ best player, so his play spoke volumes. That’s how Morrow played and, before him, how Hatcher played.

“Derian wasn’t the most vocal guy, but when he went out and played and he did things on the ice, that brought you into the fight, and he made everyone accountable just by the way he played,” Morrow said. “Jamie is more comfortable being vocal in the locker room now, from my understanding, but the way he plays and the way he’s as physical as he is, he acts like, ‘I’m going to go out and play and lead that way.’”

The Stars’ roster at the time allowed him to lean into those tendencies. Benn depended heavily on the likes of Vern Fiddler and Trevor Daley to be vocal leaders. From 2012 to 2016, it was common to witness those players barking orders during an intermission or on the bench. Benn would speak, but he did so selectively.

Daley was traded to Chicago in 2015. Fiddler signed with New Jersey in 2016. Time kept passing, and Benn kept climbing the ranks among Dallas’ elder statesmen. The younger his teammates got, the more commanding Benn became.

“He was a little quieter when I got here, and with the captaincy, he was a guy that led by how he played and how he acted and how he conducted himself,” said Tyler Seguin, whom Dallas acquired from the Boston Bruins before Benn’s first season as captain. Their seven years as teammates are the longest either one has played with another player. “He was vocal, but not where he is now and the comfort he has now. He says the right things and knows where and when to speak.”

But just as important as Benn speaking up at all is the way he does it. There’s rarely an abrasive quality to his voice. Instead, Benn does so in more of a familial approach in which he isn’t afraid to remind his teammates he’s willing to do anything and everything for them.

That could mean fighting Iginla. It could also mean showing up at your house if needed in the middle of the night.

Back in October, Ben Bishop’s home was damaged after a neighbor’s chimney wound up in his yard during the tornado that struck Dallas. That evening, Benn drove over and picked up the Bishop family so they could stay at his home.

“That’s who Jamie is,” Bishop said. “I think you take it for granted until he does something like that.”

When Benn was first addressed media members about the tornado he never mentioned the Bishop family staying at his home. It took Stars PR officials pulling him back into the locker room to share the story for it to come to light.

Benn’s influence has grown in other ways. Nill turns to him for help when pitching NHL free agents – “kind of a little bit of a side hustle,” Benn joked. When a player gets called up from the AHL, Benn is often among the first to greet and welcome them. Then, for good measure, he sends texts to veteran teammates about how to make that younger player feel comfortable, too.

Oftentimes, those younger players are surprised that Benn empathizes so much with what they’ve gone through. After all, Benn never endured the call-up roller coaster. He made the NHL as a 20-year-old; he’s not supposed to understand that AHL-to-NHL grind.

But Benn’s older brother Jordie does, having gone from an undrafted ECHLer to playing 517 NHL games and counting. Jamie never lost sight of Jordie’s journey.

“He was someone I looked up to my whole life and still look up to,” Jamie said. “I saw how hard he worked on the ice and off the ice to reach the NHL. And everyone’s path is different, but (Jordie) took quite the path. I learned from that. It made me better as a person and a hockey player.”

Consequently, he treats those called up just like he’d hope anyone would treat his brother.

“When you have a guy like that who is willing to do anything for the team, and we know what he’s done in his career, how can you not give every last thing you have?” Jason Dickinson said. “He sets the standard that everyone in this room wants to and has to live up to.”

Janko has worked for the Stars since 1999, starting in public relations and eventually working his way up to his assistant general manager.

For years, Lehtinen was his gold standard when it came to human beings. There was Jere, and there was everyone else. And then Janko met Benn.

“After I saw and I was close to Jere Lehtinen’s career, I thought I’d never see somebody come along that put the work in and was selfless like Jere,” he said. “I can’t say that Jamie has passed Jere by any means, but I can say he’s in the same category as Jere.”

Remember Benn actively trying to give away that goal to someone he felt better deserved it? Lehtinen did the same thing.

“(The) one guy on our team in my eight-plus year in the PR department that came up to me only once (and demand a goal get taken away),” Janko said. “ That’s a guy who only cares about his teammates and winning.

“And that’s what Jamie Benn is.”

Benn, the hockey player, has become a divisive topic in recent years. Just look at Jim Lites’ comments about his performance, a reflection of internal mumbling that had existed since Benn signed his current eight-year deal.

But none of that is reflective of how the organization views Benn as a person.

Stephen Johns dealt with post-traumatic headaches for more than 22 months from March of 2018 to February 2020. Like most injured players, he was isolated from the hockey world. Benn was one of the people who helped keep Johns connected to the team, even if they hardly ever discussed hockey. Their girlfriends are close, leading to frequent double dates. In Benn, Johns found a willing listener who cared about more than his injury status.

“That’s what I needed at that point – I needed a friend who was in it but didn’t press the issue with me and ask me how I was feeling every two seconds or when I was gonna be back,” Johns said. “It was just a regular friend-to-friend talk, and that was really big for me.“

But the message it sent was even bigger. One thing that shouldn’t be overlooked with Johns’ story is how the Stars organization didn’t rush him or force the issue with a confusing ailment. Management certainly deserves credit for this; Jim Nill never pressured Johns to test things out and see if he was really hurt. But Benn, the captain, set the tone for the rest of the players: We aren’t going to make Johns feel like he has to sacrifice his health because we miss him on the ice or in the locker room.

“He always cared about me as a person, not just as an NHL defenseman,” Johns said. “You can tell when someone looks at you that way and treats you that way.”

Forbes came to know that feeling on Dec. 1, 2018. The Stars were in Vancouver, Benn’s hometown. Fittingly, the captain was the star that night, tallying a goal and an assist in a 2-1 win against the Canucks. At the time, the Stars’ player of the game was given a cowboy hat, the forebearer to the team’s current chain. Given his performance that night and where it happened, Benn was the obvious recipient. Instead, Benn made sure it went to Forbes and his mother, Arlene, who was battling cancer and in attendance that night. Arlene passed away less than two months later, on Jan. 23, 2019.

“He didn’t have to do that; that meant a lot to us,” Forbes said. “Jamie can recognize things like that, when you are going through something. Those are the types of things and the times he is there for you the most.”

Benn’s compassion extends well beyond those he shares a locker room with.

Beginning in 2013, Benn has donated four tickets and a parking pass for each Stars home game to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. It’s something that gets acknowledged at each home game – there is a welcome to Benn’s Beauties on the video board – but his involvement goes further than that after Multiple Sclerosis has closely impacted Benn’s life.

“It’s meant a lot. It hits home for me with close family friends,” Benn said. “It affects everybody. If you have it or a family member does, it has an impact in all different types of ways. So whatever we can do to help out in any way, we want to do that.”

Benn, as is his custom, is guarded about how the disease has impacted his life. But Karen Littlejohn, the executive director of the South Central branch of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, was willing to expand on what his involvement means to the organization.

In 2016, Benn was recognized by the Multiple Sclerosis Society as the “Person On The Move” at their annual luncheon, an honor given to a person in the community who has gone above and beyond to raise awareness for what it means to live with Multiple Sclerosis. In January, Benn and the Stars were recognized as the 2020 Community Awareness Award recipient.

“That speaks to what Jamie has done and the Stars have done to help us raise awareness,” Littlejohn said. “We had a kick-off event (in 2019) that Jamie and the Stars helped sponsor. And at that event Jamie actually spoke quite a bit. (Stars broadcaster Daryl) Razor Reaugh was there and interviewed him because that’s the only way to get him to say anything, but he shared his strong personal connection to MS, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.”

Littlejohn said Benn stayed for the entire event, which lasted about three hours, and spoke with “probably everyone in the room at least once” in a personal conversation.

Benn’s involvement with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is part of larger community outreach that he feels is important for the Stars as an organization. Whenever the Stars have a hospital visit or opportunity in the community, chances are Benn is on the trip, whether or not it’s spoken about.

“He’s a lot like Dirk Nowitzki in how he does things for the community that you will never find out about,” said former Stars goalie Marty Turco, who now runs the team’s foundation. “He doesn’t care about who knows, he doesn’t want the attention. He just wants to be there for this community, just like he’s the type of person you could call at 3 in the morning if you needed something.”

One thing Benn does open up about is his feelings about Dallas. After a decade in town, Benn says he’s not merely passing through. “This is home, and I love it here,” Benn said.

Home and house are two very different words. Many Stars players have bought houses in Dallas, but they reserve “home” for the places they live in the offseason and will likely retire to. But Benn and his brother Jordie both spend their summers in Dallas and have green cards. For Benn, Texas went from a house to home midway through his Stars tenure.

“Probably five years of being here,” Benn said. “With hockey, it’s a business, and you never know where you’re going to end up or what’s going to happen. So I’ve been fortunate enough to play my whole career here, and I definitely want to end it here. I love this team, and I love this city, and it’s home.”

His legacy in the city is ultimately going to be defined by one thing: whether he earns that moment of being invited to center ice by Gary Bettman to lift the Stanley Cup.

That’s what Benn wants, and that’s how he wants his public persona to be judged. Benn is still only 30, but the number belies the wear and tear his bruising style of play has placed on his body. His raw statistics will disappoint relative to his contract – that’s the nature of where he is at this point in his career – but to him, the regular season is just a precursor to the games that will really define him.

“The individual things are nice, but they really don’t mean anything,” Benn said, and nothing proves that point as much as enjoying the past two years more than any in his career, even as his body has worn down and his numbers have dipped and he’s been called out publicly and the organization has weathered turmoil from all directions. Despite everything, he’s happy “because we’ve had great teams, and we have a great team right now.”

“I’m here to play hockey, and I’m here to win,” he added. “Everything outside of that, I don’t really care about. The ultimate goal is to win the Stanley Cup. Anything else that comes with it is great, but I’m not gonna be happy until I win.”

While Benn does his best to remain a mystery, he doesn’t have any trouble stating what matters most.

#jamie benn #dallas stars #article

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powerplayunit · 3 years ago

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Marc-Andre Fleury’s humor, humbleness and infectious love for hockey run deep

Oct 11, 2022 (x)

VARENNES, Que. — The long driveway is filled to the brim with trucks. Landscapers are there, putting the finishing touches on the new house, and a dock is being put in on this refreshingly breezy July day about 40 minutes southwest of Montreal.

Knowing there’d be no room to squeeze another car into the driveway, Marc-Andre Fleury is outside at the edge of his garage to greet his guest with the friendliness that has long been the signature of the jovial, gregarious man affectionately known throughout the hockey world as “Flower.”

Fleury has a stick in his hand and is fiddling with a foam puck when he spots me zigzagging past the work trucks.

“Welcome,” Fleury says, smiling wide and flashing his perfectly white teeth.

Fleury extends his right hand, then opens the door to his home: “After you.”

“Have you eaten? Can I make you a sandwich?” Fleury, with a French-Canadian accent, asks.

When I politely decline, Fleury says, “How about some water? Natural or sparkling?”

Fleury pours two glasses of San Pellegrino and grabs a peanut butter CLIF bar for himself.

He has just gotten home from a workout. There are still six days remaining on his Minnesota Wild contract after he was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks before last season’s trade deadline. But Fleury is wearing a black Vegas Golden Knights T-shirt, left over from his four-year career there that included a Vezina Trophy and an unexpected trip to the Stanley Cup Final in the organization’s inaugural year.

“Well, it was free,” Fleury, laughing hard, says when explaining the shirt.

He opens a glass door to a back patio, then sits on a wicker couch. He crisscrosses his legs and begins petting his Goldendoodle, Fiston.

“We lost our other Golden at Christmas,” Fleury says. “It was hard on the kids. You know … they’re always there. It’s hard to lose a dog.”

Fleury looks up, takes a deep breath, then a bite of the CLIF bar. He stares through a picture-perfect canopy of green trees and toward the St. Lawrence River 100 yards away. A cargo ship that says “DULUTH, MINNESOTA” is slowly cruising west to east past his property. The ship has navigated all the way from Lake Superior through the Great Lakes and is on its way to the Atlantic Ocean.

“Peaceful, isn’t it?” Fleury says as he massages the neck of a very content Fiston.

Fleury, even at 37 and after 19 NHL seasons, still loves every minute of being a hockey player and is excited about what lies ahead. But at this moment, this is his happy place and he’s contemplating all the possibilities of what’s on that ship, where it has come from and where it may be going.

Europe? Africa? Asia? South America?

“All day, every day, those ships go by,” Fleury says. “Cool, isn’t it?”

When the super-athletic, acrobatic eventual Hall of Famer and the man who kicks off The Athletic’s NHL99 project as the 100th-best player in the NHL’s modern era isn’t stopping pucks, winning games, playing practical jokes on his teammates, hanging with his wife and playing with his three children, this is a glimpse into his life.

On this day, hours before Fleury would decide to forgo free agency and re-sign with the Wild for two years, he is relaxed, downright hospitable and reflective about where he’s come from and what he thinks his NHL legacy will be.

When reminded about his three Stanley Cup championships with the Pittsburgh Penguins, his five All-Star Game appearances, his Vezina and Jennings trophies and the fact that in NHL history only Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy have won more than his 520 regular-season and 92 playoff games, Fleury smiles, blushes and stares once more at the blue St. Lawrence River.

“It’s hard to believe,” he says. “It’s surreal. Those were my heroes.”

Fleury grew up in the small town of Sorel-Tracy, Que. — 50 kilometers from his current home.

Surrounded by cornfields and cattle farms, Fleury lived on one end of a long road. On the other end of the same road was the home of Veronique LaRose, who used to play hockey with Fleury’s younger sister, Marylene.

Fleury has known Veronique since they were in elementary school. At 14 years old, he was so shy he didn’t have the nerve to ask her to be his date at a school dance. He had his sister ask Veronique instead. They went to the dance and really began dating later in their teenage years.

This summer, Marc-Andre and Veronique celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary after being together the 10 years before that.

Their two daughters, 9-year-old Estelle and 7-year-old Scarlett, learned to skate when Dad played in Vegas and are both hockey players. Their 3-year-old son, James, is starting to love hockey for different reasons.

“He loves going to the games because he likes popcorn and eating snacks,” Fleury says, laughing. “I’m like my dad was with me. I don’t push hockey on them. I never will. If they love it, they’ll play.”

Fleury’s dad, Andre, was a hard-working man, a carpenter who built a lot of homes in Sorel-Tracy.

“Every day, long hours,” Fleury says. “Sweating in the summer, freezing in the winter.”

Andre lost his right eye when he was 6 playing hockey. He took a stick to the face in a weekend tournament, “and back then, there was no doctor to treat him over the weekend.”

“But,” Fleury continues, “he loved hockey.”

Andre had a sense of humor about losing his eye. He’d always tell his son to keep his “eye” on the puck, pun intended. And he continued to play hockey, only he moved to right wing so he could see oncoming checkers with his left eye “so he wouldn’t get hammered,” Fleury says, laughing at the thought.

Andre died three years ago at 63 of lung cancer.

What’s so tragic about it, Fleury says, is that Andre “smoked — smoked a lot,” but when his own dad — Fleury’s grandfather — died of lung cancer, he quit cold turkey. Then years later, having not smoked all the while, Andre was diagnosed with the disease that killed his father.

“My dad took me to every practice, all the tournaments, but he never pushed me toward hockey,” Fleury says. “He always told me to just have fun and work hard. In the summer, he didn’t make me play hockey. Soccer, baseball — he was just as happy watching me play. It was good how he never pushed it on me. He just let me fall in love with it naturally.”

Allan Walsh, Fleury’s longtime agent and friend, witnessed how much the loss affected Fleury.

“His dad was very quiet and worked his ass off for his family,” Walsh says. “You could see in his eyes what Andre meant to Marc. When things weren’t going well in hockey, Marc would reach out to his dad and have a conversation, and his dad gave him advice. And it always, always made a difference.”

And then there’s Fleury’s mom, France, who has six siblings. She’s a dental hygienist, which may explain her boy’s great teeth.

“She’s on me all the time about them,” Fleury says. “One time, after I had braces, I did a flip on a trampoline, landed on my teeth and they all caved in. I had to get braces again and she was like, ‘What are you doing to your beautiful teeth?’”

Fleury is one of the friendliest, most affable athletes in hockey. Just watch him in pregame warmups and the way he waves at fans, poses for pictures and allows fans to throw jerseys at him for autographs as he stretches.

He gets all this from his mom, who has the exact same smile as her son.

“My mom is always in a light mood, always happy, smiling, helping people,” Fleury says. “Family is big in my life. Every summer, we have a big party with all my family we don’t get to see a lot during the season.”

Fleury’s sister is two years younger. He says they fought a lot growing up, but when he left at age 14 to play midget and then 15 to go to Cape Breton for major junior, the distance brought his sister and him closer than ever. They missed each other desperately and today are as close as can be.

In fact, any chance they get, Fleury and his sister will go on the ice to play hockey.

“It’s one of my favorite things to do,” Fleury says.

If you know anything about Fleury, you know he’s one of the NHL’s biggest practical jokers.

Nobody is safe.

Former Golden Knights teammate Jonathan Marchessault says the hardest thing is Fleury’s “sneaky about it” then “denies it till he dies.”

He’s been known for cutting laces on skates and hiding in equipment bags.

Dontcha know, payback is best served with 7 rolls of clear tape! 😈

🌸 pranks longtime friend, Sidney Crosby, during the #NHLMediaTour.#mnwild pic.twitter.com/CyPgfmBknI

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) September 20, 2022

At the 2022 NHL Media Tour, Fleury got old Penguins teammate Sidney Crosby good by taking seven rolls of tape and binding Crosby’s gear up into a ball. In 2011, Fleury was the ringleader of a famous scheme revealed on “Road to the Winter Classic” when a handful of Penguins veterans played a rookie prank on Mark Letestu and Ben Lovejoy by sneaking into their hotel room while at dinner and removing every piece of furniture and reconfiguring it in the hallway.

“I like hotel rooms,” Fleury says, smiling wryly. “You know, guys go out to dinner, you’ve got some time and you put everything in the hallway or just make a big tornado in there. I like getting in the room and messing with everything.”

Fleury has learned how to manipulate a toilet. He’ll sneak into a teammate’s hotel room, unplug the rubber refill tube in the tank, then just barely position the end of the hose so it’s resting under the lid. Inevitably, when a teammate goes to the bathroom and flushes, he’ll get pummeled with water directly to the stomach.

“And it’s not like a water pistol where it’s one spray,” Walsh says, laughing. “This lasts 20 seconds, and when you’re in an enclosed, tight hotel bathroom, there’s nowhere to go. You can’t go left, right. You can’t get out of the way. The water’s just coming at you and coming at you.”

Before Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final, the game in which Fleury made the miraculous game-saving stop on Nicklas Lidstrom in the dying seconds, Fleury went back to the MGM Grand in Detroit after the morning skate. He was trying to take a pregame nap, but in the room next to him, several people were partying. They were loud, drinking and playing music, and the noise caused Fleury to toss and turn for two hours before the most important game of his life.

At 3:45, Fleury put on his suit, but before heading to the team bus, he took a waste basket, filled it with water, leaned it on the door of the room next to him, banged on the door, sprinted down the hallway and, just as he turned the corner, he heard the door open and somebody scream.

Yes, before Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, Fleury played an epic prank on a complete stranger in the next room.

“I remember once getting in his car and the entire car is full of giant bags of confetti,” Walsh says. “I had to sit with this massive bag of confetti on my lap that went all the way to the roof. I go, “I’ve got to ask you, what the f— is this?’ And he goes, ‘I have some plans,’ with that big Flower smile.”

In his early days in Pittsburgh, Fleury roomed with Marc Bergevin, one of the league’s biggest pranksters during his playing days. Bergevin once came back to the room at night and placed a book with an enticing title on the nightstand between their beds. The rookie threw the remote control to Bergevin, which was common in the old days. Bergevin went to the bathroom, kept the door ajar and laughed out loud when he heard his roomie scream. Fleury had picked up the book, looking at the front cover, then the back, then opened the book and got the shock of a lifetime.

Literally. Fleury was jolted by the prank book.

“Berge used to do little tricks all the time,” Fleury says. “He taught me well.”

It’s hard to believe the youthful Fleury is 37 years old and 32 victories from passing Roy for second all-time in the regular season.

Walsh remembers June 21, 2003, like it was yesterday.

The night before the draft, Walsh hosted a party with Fleury, his family and his other draft-eligible clients and family members. They had no idea what team would select Fleury.

But on draft day, Walsh received a call with a scoop. The Panthers, three years after acquiring Roberto Luongo at the 2000 draft, were planning to trade the No. 1 overall pick and another pick to the Penguins for the Nos. 3 and 55 picks and winger Mikael Samuelsson. The reason? The Penguins wanted Fleury.

Walsh was meeting Fleury in the lobby of their hotel four blocks from the arena.

“I took Flower aside and told him, ‘I have some information, but I don’t want to ruin in any way this experience for you. So if you want to be surprised, I know where you’re going and I know what team is taking you, but I don’t want to tell you unless you want to know,’” Walsh recalls. “He goes, ‘Tell me, tell me, tell me.’ I said, ‘You sure,” and he yells, ‘F—ing tell me!’

Walsh told him he was going No. 1 overall to the Penguins.

“He looked right through me, like I could actually see the different swirling thoughts going through his mind the whole time,” Walsh says. “He was speechless for 10 seconds. He finally goes, ‘Geeeeeezzzzz.’”

Fleury asked: “What do we do now?”

“I said, ‘For starters, I think we should get our ass to the rink,’” Walsh says.

During that four-block walk, Fleury got bombarded by autograph and photo seekers. It was boiling hot outside. Finally, Walsh put his hand on Fleury’s waist and ushered him along. They got to their seats 10 minutes before the draft started and were soaked with sweat from the sweltering Nashville heat.

“Marc literally had sweat dripping from his forehead and a drenched shirt when his name was called,” Walsh says.

Fleury made the Penguins as an 18-year-old, a huge jump going from major junior to the NHL. Of course, this is the same guy who jumped from bantam AA to major junior.

In his NHL debut, he stopped 46 of 48 shots in a 3-0 loss.

“Those were tough years,” says Ed Olczyk, Fleury’s first coach with the Penguins. “The plan was to rid ourselves of all of our assets — the Robert Langs and Marty Strakas — and build from the draft knowing that we had no goalies coming and no center-icemen. We knew Florida didn’t need a goalie, so Craig (Patrick) moved up to assure we got a guy we all thought we could build from the goal crease out.

“Flower was so infectious. His love of the game, his smile, his personality, his skill level, it was all there under one umbrella.”

But the Penguins were an unstable organization at that point, bleeding money and shuttling Fleury back and forth to the minors or to the 2004 world juniors, then permanently back to Cape Breton so they wouldn’t have to pay his bonuses.

“He was upset and emotional,” Olczyk remembers. “I remember him saying to me with tears in his eyes, ‘I don’t want my bonuses. You can keep them. Just let me stay.’ Those were hard conversations because I wanted him there, too.”

There was a lot of losing in those early years in Pittsburgh. But after drafting Fleury in 2003, the Penguins landed Evgeni Malkin, Crosby and Jordan Staal in the first rounds of the next three drafts.

“Those were three great players to build up the middle with, but at the beginning, we were losing a lot,” Fleury says. “That was hard because you see in the paper the No. 1 pick can’t stop a puck and is losing all the time. That’s when I learned to stop reading the paper, which was tough. All my life, my dad and me, we always got the newspaper and read all the sports in the news.”

But Fleury persevered, began winning games and helped backstop a very special Penguins team to the pinnacle.

Marc-Andre Fleury saved 4️⃣8️⃣ of 5️⃣0️⃣ shots in Games 6 & 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final. 🧱 🌸 🏆#StanleyCupNBCSN | @penguins pic.twitter.com/pSpGurZo1c

— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) June 9, 2020

“At the end of the day, I just want to win,” Fleury says. “But what I’ve found out over time, when I smile, when I’m having fun, then I play better.”

Like his mom, Fleury may always be smiling, but he’s a fierce competitor. There are so many stories from Pittsburgh about his battles every practice with Crosby. But it’s his fun style on the ice and that off-ice demeanor that has allowed him to galvanize franchise bases — especially in Vegas after he willingly went there as the Golden Knights’ expansion goaltender — and why he’s so popular, so beloved, league-wide.

Just look at last season, when he won his 500th game and recorded his 69th shutout in Montreal. The Canadiens had such a bad season, it quite frankly may have been the highlight of their season when Canadiens fans serenaded Fleury in the final minute by chanting his name.

“I didn’t expect that,” Fleury says. “I mean, I grew up a Habs fan. They were always my favorite team. It was pretty amazing.”

Fleury simply loves playing hockey. It’s why he signed on for two more years with the Wild.

“When you win Cups, it’s something you always chase to do it again,” he says. “I’m just fortunate that I can still do it, to play for this long. Had some injuries, but nothing too devastating. I feel lucky. I feel like I got to do what I love for so long.”

Fleury then leads a tour of his house. In the basement, there are paintings on canvas of some of his proudest moments, as well as posters, years and years of pads and all of his masks — not just from the NHL but also from when he was a kid and in junior. There are also special ones that used to belong to Brodeur and Roy.

He also has keepsakes from his dad, who saved many pictures and newspaper articles highlighting the boy he was so proud of.

“Look at his numbers and the longevity and the success individually, the success of the teams he’s played on — part of three Stanley Cup champions. This is a slam-dunk, no-brainer Hall of Famer,” Olczyk says. “The young man that’s become a man and everything he’s been able to accomplish in the game and in his family speaks for itself. It’s hard not to like and love the guy.”

#marc andre fleury #pittsburgh penguins #minnesota wild #article

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