#i feel like this is incoherent sorry u cant get me started on Jack Studies i just get lost in the sauce

[hugheses]

Wish my life was as organised as your blog 🥲

Hope this isn’t a dumb question but I’m kind of new to the world of JH and I’ve only seen bits a pieces of interviews or media etc out of order. He seemed like such a happy little soul when he was younger (usntp, etc) - do you think he has changed much as he’s gotten older/ dealt with press, injuries, criticism, etc etc or is it just growing up? Not saying he seems UNhappier necessarily or to discount his achievements but people change a lot in their early twenties and obvs he has now had to deal with the kind of challenges and disappointments that (I presume) he never had to as a child/pre-draft.

Curious to hear your thoughts! ❤️

well first of all my life is not as organized as this blog is either 😭😭

to me i think what makes jack such an interesting figure to psychoanalyze is that he’s so contradictory. he loves the spotlight and yet is embarrassed when he’s too enthusiastic or emotional (luke’s draft, the arviddson thing, etc) and hates doing media scrums. he hated his rookie year and yet still thought he was “the man”. not to get all annoying former gifted kid but i think there are real comparisons to be made there. like this was a child prodigy who was so confident and so cocky, and then hit the nhl and struggled hard, without the supports and scaffolding he’d had his entire life. something particularly unique about jack is that unlike most elite hockey players, he never billeted anywhere or went to boarding school or anything until he played for the devils. their family up and moved to michigan for him. (there were other circumstances also lol) of course he had struggles before, but he also always had his mom and of course his brothers that he’s extremely close to right there with him. obviously the difficulty and physicality of the nhl was a huge whack in the face for him, but so was adjusting to like, real life, alone. so i think he has definitely changed but even in saying that, he has maintained sort of an almost delusional level of self confidence even when things were going horribly, as seen in this espn feature. i also really like this article about his rookie year because it includes quotes from people who know him.

i think really i would say that everything he's been through, and growing up generally, has hardened him. i don't think he's depressed and miserable all of the time but yeah, he's not the same starry eyed 18 year old who was pointing everywhere at his draft. but i do think you see that "old jack" come out sometimes when he's being luke's big brother, or talking to a reporter he's comfortable with, or interacting with kids. he keeps his cards much closer to his chest now but we get little bits here and there. i am curious to see if we will get to hear at all about how his injury/surgery impacted him, bc historically he hasn't wanted to talk about that stuff but i so love to study him in my lab. and yet he resists vulnerability because he doesn't support women's hobbies.