CALGARY — Hockey is fun. Hockey is also hard.
The human body isn’t really designed for skating — an unnatural motion for the hips and knees and ankles — let alone skating with the power, speed, twists and torques required at the NHL level. Eighty-two games exact a heavy toll, mentally and physically. Sleep patterns are permanently knocked off-kilter by late-night adrenaline, late-night dinners and late-night flights. The paychecks are massive and the perks are immeasurable, sure, but it’s the prize that’s potentially waiting at the end — a shot at the Stanley Cup, a shot at immortality — that serves as the true motivating force for so many players.
Every September for years, I’d ask Marian Hossa — 18, 19, 20 years into his NHL career — if he’d show up at the rink on the first day of camp and think to himself, I can’t believe I have to do this all over again. And every year he’d tell me the same thing: Yeah, a little. But it’s worth it in the end. He learned that lesson three times, with three championships.
But what if that prize is already out of reach? What if you show up at the rink on a Thursday morning in January in 31st place, hopelessly out of the playoff picture, and think to yourself, I can’t believe the season’s barely halfway over. Well, you still go out there because you’re getting paid to. You go out there because the fans came out to see you. You go out there because it’s your job.
But where do you find the motivation to go all out for every shift? What pushes you to frantically chase down and break up a breakaway while down 8-3 in the third period? What drives you to make that extra effort to get a steal behind the net and set up a goal with 14.7 seconds left in that same game? What’s the force propelling you to find that second or third gear on a two-on-one late in another hopeless game? What prompts you to go ballistic on an opponent who dared to deliver a clean hit to your superstar linemate?
Where does that drive come from?
For Max Domi, it’s just something he’s always had.
“I think it’s just part of who I am,” he said with a chuckle. “A lot of people would say I’m pretty competitive, especially my family growing up. I hate losing. Obviously.”
For Domi’s teammates, it comes from watching Domi.
“It’s important, especially this year,” said Patrick Kane, the beneficiary of that steal late in the Seattle game last week and the fight in the Vancouver game on Tuesday. “I think we found ourselves in some situations where we’re down in some games, and you’re still playing hockey. You’re still playing in the NHL. You’re still getting shifts in the best league in the world. So you want to show your best out there and keep playing the game, no matter (what) the score was. (Domi) is impressive. … Things like that go a long way with this group.”
Domi, of course, was signed to be traded. Just another bartering chip to land another draft pick at the trade deadline. And if another team offers Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson a first-rounder for Domi before March 3, he’d take it in a heartbeat. Maybe even for a second-rounder. But as the season progresses, it’s becoming easier to see Domi’s potential value to the Blackhawks’ rebuild. Whether he’s traded or not, re-signing Domi (who’s loving life in Chicago) this summer seems like a no-brainer. After all, with Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith coming off the books, money’s no object. Mindset is.
He’s not just the team’s leading scorer with 14 goals and 19 assists in 46 games. He’s not just the No. 1 center. He’s not just a buoyant and popular presence in the locker room. He’s become a role model of sorts, exemplifying the type of all-out effort required to succeed in the NHL. He doesn’t just fit Luke Richardson’s tenacious style of play, he’s the poster child for it.
So what if he turns 28 the day before the trade deadline? If his competitive fire rubs off on any of the young guys in the Blackhawks’ system, he’s worth hanging onto.
“I was lucky to play in the league at a relatively young age (20),” Domi said. “I know what it’s like to be in their shoes. And it is hard. Even for me, I’m not an older guy but I’m not a young guy anymore. So to see a guy like Kane, a guy like (Jonathan) Toews, coming to the rink every day, having fun, working — it matters. They’ve been doing it for a long, long time. It’s an ‘If they can do it, so can we’ kind of thing. It’s pretty easy to remind yourself how great this job is and how much fun it is, because when you do experience a win or you do have a good game, it’s tough to beat that feeling. You just chase that adrenaline rush. That’s what it’s all about.”
Jonathan Toews, Max Domi and Patrick Kane. (Jamie Sabau/USA Today)
Domi is all adrenaline, all the time. Tuesday night in Vancouver, the 5-foot-10 Domi wasted no time going after 6-foot-3 Dakota Joshua after Joshua stapled Kane to the end boards with a shoulder to the chest, getting in a couple of clean shots before Joshua manhandled him. to the ice. Now, was it a smart idea for a team’s No. 1 center to get himself 17 minutes of penalties — a minor, a major and a misconduct — in retaliation for a perfectly clean hit? Probably not.
But it’s the thought that counts.
“I’ll never complain when a teammate steps up for a teammate, or sticks up for a teammate,” Richardson said. “Are there little ways you can just curb that a little bit and send a message without taking yourself out of the game for 17 minutes? Because we missed him for a long time (being) short-staffed up front. Sometimes you can talk to a player and say, ‘Maybe we can do this a little bit, send the same message if you want to send that message to protect your teammate. But keep yourself in the game. We don’t want to lose you.’”
No, you don’t want to lose Domi for 17 minutes. And unless someone knocks Davidson’s socks off with an offer, the Blackhawks shouldn’t want to lose Domi for the next few years, either. His personality, his mindset and his relentlessness would all be invaluable during the rebuilding process, especially if Kane and Toews — the team’s two biggest role models — are no longer around.
The knock on Domi, and it’s not warranted, is that he’s a little too undisciplined. A little too reckless. But every hockey team needs a little recklessness. An edge. A driving force. Andrew Shaw was a little too undisciplined, a little too reckless. But he was maybe the only guy on those championship teams who played every regular-season game like it was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. He was all heart and soul, even if the brain was occasionally lagging behind.
That’s Domi, too. And there’s a place for him in the rebuild. At least, there should be. Because he’s not looking at the schedule and thinking, I can’t believe there are still 36 games left in this season. He’s thinking, Sweet, there are still 36 games left in this season. And for a team staring at more trying years ahead with all their top prospects on the way, that attitude is infectious — and invaluable.
“I’m lucky, I love what I do,” said Domi. “I have the best job in the world. Yeah, it’s a grind, but it’s what we signed up for. You’re playing in the NHL. You’re playing against the best guys every single night, the schedule is tough, you don’t get much rest. It’s not easy. But it’s been a dream of mine since I was a kid, so I would never look at that as a negative. It’s a huge privilege to play in this league, and I enjoy every single second of every single day.”
(Top photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
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