Logan Thompson stepped off the ice and headed up the tunnel before turning left.
The Washington Capitals goaltender made a fast right into the visitors’ locker room at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto before sitting down at his stall ahead of that night’s game.
When a few reporters pivoted in his direction — recording devices, microphones and cameras in hand — Thompson was pleased to reply a few questions after peeling off a couple of pieces of apparatus.
That’s removed from the norm.
While there’s no official NHL policy, the overwhelming majority of teams don’t make their netminders available to media within the hours before games.
The puck-stoppers will normally trudge off the ice, backs to any press interlopers of their sphere — a member of a club’s communications staff might linger nearby to make sure the cone of silence is maintained — before shuffling into one other a part of the locker room away from prying eyes.
“You don’t want any negativity around you,” Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck explained. “You don’t need that creeping into your game. You don’t wish to overthink things. You simply wish to go and play. I feel like talking an excessive amount of builds random stress levels, random expectations for a game that just aren’t essential.
“Staying out of that keeps me free, keeps my mind relaxed.”
Elvis Merzlikins of the Columbus Blue Jackets said goalies are “living in their very own world” before suiting up.
“You wish to just be left alone,” said the netminder. “You don’t even communicate a lot with teammates. We are only focusing, pondering what it’s essential to do. Prepare your gear, prepare all things for the sport, after which after the sport, you’ll be able to really talk.”
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Teams in Canadian markets and bigger U.S. centres are inclined to keep goalies off limits — the Edmonton Oilers are an outlier.
Their netminders are sometimes available within the morning, but not at all times. Stuart Skinner, who was traded earlier this season, got here up through the organization and was comfortable in those situations, including the pressure-packed Stanley Cup final.
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Thompson, meanwhile, followed the group and didn’t talk before games when he first entered the league.
“I was once pretty superstitious,” he said. “But now nothing really matters until (puck drop). This isn’t going to get in my head, whether I seek advice from the media or not.”
Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger, with only a handful of reporters following his team every day, also has no issue chatting within the morning.
“It’s normally like 10 minutes,” he said. “Doesn’t really bug me much.”
Oettinger, nonetheless, added that if he faced what good friend and Maple Leafs counterpart Joseph Woll does in Toronto, that tune might change.
“I don’t blame him for taking a break,” he said.
Goaltenders largely not talking on game days has been around for some time, but it surely wasn’t at all times the case.
Martin Brodeur, a three-time Stanley Cup champion and the NHL’s all-time wins leader, used to famously hold court at his locker after morning skates.
But Patrick Roy, who had the same resume, preferred to maintain quiet.
“I liked to be focused on my games,” he said. “I didn’t feel like I needed to speak within the morning. I’d moderately talk after games. It’s just concerning the focus and ensuring you’re ready to your game. That’s all.”
Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros was unaware that not speaking after a morning skate was an option when he got to the league.
“I didn’t really know any higher,” he said. “I used to be just effective with it.”
Maple Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson doesn’t have a problem with players and coaches having to reply questions within the morning while goalies stay silent.
“Different position, they prepare just a little bit different,” he said. “It comes right down to being one of the best version of yourself.”
Thompson, meanwhile, was playfully asked at the tip of his scrum in Toronto last week if he would share his views on pre-game banter with other goaltenders.
“I’ll allow them to know,” he said with a smile. “But everyone’s different, right? I feel like I was once really uptight, and I feel like I’m having more fun.
“You play higher whenever you’re more relaxed.”
EXTRA WORK
The Los Angeles Kings lost 4-3 in extra time to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday — an NHL-record thirty third time the club has played beyond 60 minutes this season — with one date left on the schedule Thursday.
Playoff-bound L.A. has won just 22 of 81 contests in regulation, and has dropped 20 games which have gone to OT or a shootout.
Thompson’s Capitals, meanwhile, finished with 37 regulation victories and can miss the post-season.
BOWNESS ERUPTS
Blue Jackets interim head coach Rick Bowness exploded following Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to the Capitals, a disappointing result that got here after the team had been eliminated from playoff contention and capped a 2-8-1 stretch to shut out the schedule.
“All you gotta do is take a look at the stats … three hits, 23 giveaways,” said the emotional bench boss. “I don’t know if I’m back (next season), but when I’m back, I’m changing this culture. These guys, they don’t care.
“Losing shouldn’t be vital enough to them. It doesn’t hassle them.”
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