NHL/NHLPA Rookie Orientation Program is an introduction to the pitfalls of being a professional athlete

By Scott Burnside

In 2007, the NHL Players’ Association and the NHL decided to help educate its young players as they transitioned from fresh-faced juniors and collegiate players to professional hockey players.

How to stay out of trouble. How to make sure they made the most of their lucrative salaries. How the league works and how to make the most of their careers.

Great idea and long overdue given that for previous generations it had been sink or swim for kids showing up in the NHL. So for the first six years of the program, league and union officials met and discussed these weighty topics on the morning of the draft.

Great idea. Maybe not the best timing.

“The kids are just sitting there shaking, nervous, there’s no chance in hell that this is going to stick with them,” said Mathieu Schneider, longtime NHLer and current special assistant to NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr.

So seven years ago, with the completion of the current collective bargaining agreement, the league and the players’ association decided that the Rookie Orientation Program deserved more resources and time.

Just two weeks ago close to 80 top young players, some of whom had played some NHL games last season and others who are expected to be fixtures on their respective teams in the coming months, descended on Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Va., about 45 minutes outside Washington, D.C., for the seventh iteration of the ROP.

Over the two-and-a-half days, the young players mixed in some golf and some lighthearted moments provided by a Second City comedy troupe with in-depth discussions on a diverse range of topics designed to make their transition to the NHL a smooth one.

“They have the on-ice part of it down. The off-ice stuff sometimes you get blinders on as a professional athlete and trying to break into the NHL or any pro sport and you lose sight of everything else,” said Schneider. “In the meantime, whether it’s finances or guys’ personal lives, relationships with their girlfriends, fiancés, wives, kids, all those things are important and there’s an awful lot of information that gets thrown at these guys and the hope is they pick up a couple of different things that really resonate.”

So, how important could all of this be?

Given some of the presentations, it’s not a stretch to suggest that if these players take to heart what was being shared with them, it could save careers, if not lives.

Certainly that is the kind of somber message delivered by longtime NHLer and current director of player development for the Montreal Canadiens, Rob Ramage.

Ramage, as he has for the past several years, shared his story of the unthinkable. He was the driver in an accident that took the life of friend and former NHL player Keith Magnuson, as they were headed to an NHL alumni event. He told the young players, most between the ages of 18 and 22, the details of his conviction for impaired driving causing death and the almost year he spent behind bars.

Part of the challenge in putting on a program like the ROP is finding a way to make the topics resonate when discussing drinking and driving, drug use, performance-enhancing drugs, and dealing with the media and social media.

But hearing directly from a man who played more than 1,000 NHL regular season games and won a Stanley Cup in Calgary in 1989, and then walked through the doors of a prison near Kingston, Ontario, having been responsible for the death of a close friend is as personal as it gets.

“It’s very special,” said Canadiens prospect Ryan Poehling, who was among the attendees at this year’s event. “I’ve known Rob for a while coming from Montreal, he’s their development guy, so got real close to him and it just shows how great of a guy he is to just open up about that and own up to that.

“So, to hear what he’s been through and how he wishes he’d never have done it and I think just taking little pieces of advice from him is something that everyone should do. I mean it’s not a joke. And people can say, ‘oh, I’ve heard this three or four times,’ but at the end of the day you can’t hear it enough. These are things that are real-life that can change your life in literally a matter of minutes, so to just know that and have that reassurance from him to let you know what to do and what not to do is something you shouldn’t take for granted.”

In all, 13 former NHL players, many of whom work for the NHL or NHLPA in various capacities, were on hand to share their experiences, stories, advice or just casual conversation with players at the opposite end of the career arc.

Among those presenters whose story left a deep impression was Kevin Stevens, the two-time 50-goal scorer and two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Mario Lemieux-led Pittsburgh Penguins who saw drug addiction and alcohol abuse derail his career and leave his personal life in tatters.

Stevens is now a special assignment scout with the Penguins but also regularly shares his story of recovery.

Poehling, for one, remains stunned by how someone could go from scoring 190 goals in a four-year span to losing it all.

“I can’t even imagine going from that to literally having the cops knock on your door or bang on your door,” Poehling said. “I mean no one can imagine that.”

The former St. Cloud State star whom the Canadiens selected 25th overall in the 2017 draft and who wowed Hab fans with a hat-trick in his NHL debut at the end of last season is no different than any of his colleagues who attended the ROP.

“Everyone right now, we’re all young and we’re about to head into our professional careers and you feel untouched,” Poehling said. “And I think those are the kinds of stories that remind you that just because you’re in this state of mind right now doesn’t mean this can’t happen to you. It’s more of a reality check, and I think I took that to heart with him in particular.”

Among the former players who had a hand in the various topics covered during the retreat was George Parros, the head of player safety for the NHL, explained the league’s supplemental discipline system.

Andrew Ference and Jay Harrison presented on social media and player development.

Rob Zamuner shared information during the group sessions on finances.

Kevin Westgarth weighed in on media relations, and health and safety issues, while Joe Reekie spoke on concussions and the value of second opinions.

Because the young players so clearly respond to hearing from former players, it’s been a priority to include as many former players in the ROP as possible.

“It’s critical,” said deputy NHL commissioner Bill Daly.

It’s pretty simple. To hear from those players there is an automatic element of trust, Poehling said.

“It just makes it so much easier to pay attention,” he said.

Shane Doan, who retired after the 2017 season with 1,540 NHL games to his credit and is currently working with the NHL’s Hockey Operations department, was part of the opening presentation.

“He still resonates with these guys to a large degree,” Daly said. “Everybody sits up and listens.”

Doan joked that it took him literally years to learn some of the things that were being laid for the young players in a few days at the start of their careers.

In his early days in Winnipeg, he relied on the tutelage of older players like Kris King (who now also works in the NHL’s hockey ops group), Teemu Selanne, Teppo Numminen and Keith Tkachuk. Now Doan watched as young players were learning about nutrition and financial advice, sometimes in advance of their first NHL game.

These players are going to be paid handsomely, “but you don’t realize how quickly it can go and how short a span you have to earn it,” Doan said.

That is an important lesson to learn.

Most of these players have dreamed the NHL for years. That dream is about the game and all that comes with it. Sometimes, though, having been suddenly dropped into the middle of the milieu, young people have a difficult time staying focused on the nature of their dream.

“You can’t let the game become secondary,” the longtime Arizona captain said.

What was shared in a number of the sessions in Virginia was a reminder that if players take care of the game, the game takes care of them, Doan added.

This year’s ROP comes with an especially sobering back story.

Eighteen of the players who attended the ROP gathering were also part of the NHLPA’s annual rookie showcase, including Poehling, No.1 overall pick Jack Hughes and his brother Quinn (the seventh-overall pick in 2018).

That showcase was held at the Washington Capitals’ practice facility in Arlington, Va., where NHL star Evgeny Kuznetsov has been skating in preparation for the coming season. That’s assuming NHL commissioner Gary Bettman rules that the talented center can take part in training camp and regular season games after Kuznetsov tested positive for cocaine at the World Championships last May.

Kuznetsov was seen in a video taken last season in Las Vegas with a group of people and an unidentified white powder on a table. Kuznetsov insisted that he’d never done drugs when the league and the Capitals investigated the background of the video in the spring shortly before his positive test.

It’s believed Kuznetsov, who voluntarily entered the jointly operated NHL/NHLPA Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health program, will be able to return to the team when camp begins in less than two weeks. Still, the news of his four-year ban from international hockey and required interview with the NHL commissioner would have brought another real-life element to the ROP proceedings, even if it wasn’t discussed formally.

Schneider said player privacy is critical to the success of the SABH program, which is why they wouldn’t have addressed the Kuznetsov issue specifically. But the Kuznetsov situation was or should have been a reminder to the young players in attendance that vigilance in terms of being aware of  your surroundings and the company you’re keeping, and the decisions you make vis a vis drugs and alcohol can have long-term effects on your career.

Daly said Kuznetsov’s situation was discussed more indirectly than directly.

“There’s a lot of that messaging about making good decisions and not putting yourself in bad positions, including with respect to the use of drugs and alcohol,” Daly said. “That point is made countless times … from different people. I don’t think you needed to use a specific player’s circumstance to make that point and for it to get across.”

The only time Kuznetsov actually came up was in some of the media training when the young players were role-playing how to respond to difficult questions about teammates or other players in a mock media situation. As in, how would you respond if you were asked about a teammate or other player being in a similar situation?

In the seven years that the league and the players’ association have been helping to educate young players on the cusp of their careers, the format and makeup of the program has evolved.

The messages have changed to reflect changes in society.

For instance, there are separate sessions on dealing with the media and social media.

In the beginning, the league felt it was more prudent for players to avoid social media as much as possible.

“We’ve changed our position 180 degrees on that,” Daly said.

Now it’s accepted that properly handled social media helps a player’s brand, helps the specific team’s brand and big-picture the NHL profile.

“Virtually all of these kids are on social media,” Daly noted. The league and the players’ union follow up with players after ROP, gauging which sessions were well-received and how adjustments might be made moving forward.

Still, there are some core issues that remain constant as things that young players need to be aware of, like domestic violence, the resources available to players and their families and the tools players can use to help defuse potentially explosive situations.

There is always a presentation explaining the jointly operated Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health program that has been helping players and their families who struggle with drug and alcohol dependency and mental health issues.

The financial component of ROP is also an important part of the itinerary.

Listening to financial experts, as well as former players talk about their own experiences and the financial end of being a pro player is important for those young players who are mature enough to understand the finite element of being a hockey player.

“Coming from college, you make no money and all of a sudden hopefully now you’re playing in the NHL and you make a lot,” Poehling explained. “But you think you’re rich now but you’ve got to look at the long-term aspects of the whole thing.”

If a good career is 10 years that still puts these young men in their early 30s when done.

“I feel like when I’m done with hockey I don’t want to feel like my life’s over. I want to feel like there’s a new beginning and you have time to adjust to that new lifestyle, so that’s where the financial thing was very helpful for myself,” Poehling said.

The ROP isn’t the only forum in which players are exposed to this kind of information. Presumably players and their families have been searching out answers to the kinds of questions posed at ROP for some time now.

Many player agents, especially those who are part of larger organizations, offer similar expertise as part of off-season camps and get-togethers.

But the ROP ensures that players from all teams are exposed to what is critical information.

Each team submits a list of two to three players, and the league assembles the list of invitees from that list. Barring special circumstances, the expectation is that an invitation means the player will attend ROP.

The event is “just one touchpoint,” Schneider said.

“We need to continually repeat the messaging when we get a chance, when we get in front of these guys.”

At the end of the day, it’s always difficult to put a quantitative element on whether something like the ROP works.

“It’s not one plus two equals three kind of math,” Daly acknowledged.

But there is a way of assessing the NHL landscape and then asking whether for the most part the players in a league that is getting consistently and persistently younger and younger is functioning the way owners, general managers, coaches and the players themselves would like it to function in terms of being seen as a positive entity.

“We’ve always been fortunate, very fortunate with the sport,” Daly said. “Our guys are really good. Really good in their communities, really good with their teams and their teammates, really good with their behavior as a general manner. You hope that continues. You hope that they get the right messages and take away the right information and continue to represent the sport and the league and their teams in a first-class manner. And certainly the messages they get here can help contribute to that.”