Everyone’s allowed to complain about their job from time to time, even those who are making millions of dollars playing a game. Spend enough time in NHL locker rooms, and you’ll hear gripes about facilities, about coaches, about teammates, about a city’s nightlife or lack thereof, about escrow, about the relentless grind of an NHL season.
To give the league’s rank-and-file a chance to air out their wants and wishes and complaints, The Athletic polled 111 players in recent months on a variety of topics, granting them anonymity so they could speak freely.
On Monday, we highlighted their thoughts on the 4-Nations Face-Off.
Today, we look into more everyday topics.
Poor Winnipeg. All the Jets have done is put themselves atop the league standings while playing in arguably the best in-game atmosphere in the NHL. Things are good enough up north for Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele to sign eight-year deals when the hockey world assumed they’d walk.
And yet, the Jets “win” this category running away. Every time.
“There’s not much to do out there,” one player said. “It’s f—ing cold. I haven’t heard a guy go to Winnipeg and be like, ‘This is going to be my forever home.’”
“Nothing to do, bad food, freezing,” another said.
Here’s one Jets player’s defense of his city, noting that the drive from the airport to downtown isn’t exactly the scenic route: “I remember when I first did it, it was underwhelming. There are parts of the city that are great, but you don’t see that (as a visiting player). I always wish that they’d stay down at the Forks or somewhere like that. I don’t think that hotel meets the criteria for the league, but it would be better than staying downtown.”
A few players offered a blanket rejection of the seven Canadian teams, given the weather and the taxes and the scrutiny. But just across Niagara Falls is another frequently cited spot, as the Sabres hurtle toward their 14th straight season without a playoff appearance.
“The way it’s going there, Buffalo — it’s just been kind of mucky there forever,” one player said. “And for me right now in my career, I don’t really need that. It’s not gonna help me.”
“High taxes, the organization hasn’t been that strong recently,” another player said. “They haven’t made the playoffs in like 14 years. In saying that, I have some friends there and they love playing there.”
“All they do is lose,” another player said.
One player just really, really, really disliked Philadelphia, to the point where you have to wonder if Gritty picked on him as a child.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t even mind Winnipeg,” he said. “It’s not that nice, but I just hate Philly. I just hate Philly. I can’t stand it. I can’t stand the city, everything. It’s the rink. It’s just one city that I absolutely despise. I can’t stand it. I’d be sick if I got traded there. If I had a one-team no-trade list, they’d be on it in a second.”
Not everybody is so picky, though.
“I’d feel lucky to play anywhere,” one player said.
It’s not surprising that three of the most successful coaches in the league top the list. Everyone wants to win, after all.
“I like his persona,” one player said of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Jon Cooper.
One player who couldn’t choose between Cooper and the Colorado Avalanche’s Jared Bednar said: “Their teams play such nice hockey. They play fast. If I were to turn the TV on, I would probably look at those two teams because they play beautiful hockey.”
Those who’ve played for Rod Brind’Amour with the Carolina Hurricanes inevitably become evangelists for him, and word spreads quickly throughout the league.
“I’ve heard he rewards players that are committed and work hard,” one player said. “I think that would fit my traits and we could build a good relationship. He’s someone you want to play for, and he’s also had good success in Carolina. They’ve had good runs but have just come up short. Every year they’ve been there as one of the final teams.”
“Seems like a very straightforward coach,” another player said. “No matter what kind of team they have, or how it looks on paper, they’re always a fast, hard-to-play team.”
The Florida Panthers’ Paul Maurice’s big personality has won over plenty of players, too. Winning the Stanley Cup doesn’t hurt.
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“I’ve seen his press conferences and how he talks to media,” one player said. “He’s confident.”
“Those interviews during the playoffs?” another noted. “I mean, yeah. Hard not to like him.”
The Philadelphia Flyers’ John Tortorella tops the next list, but he garnered a few votes here, too — including one surprising one: the same player who really, really, really dislikes Philadelphia.
“He’s in Philly, but I would just like to experience how it feels to be under Torts,” he said. “There’d probably be some funny stuff going on on the bench. I’d just love to hear it sometime.”
The curiosity factor was high with Tortorella.
“I’d like to experience Torts,” another player said. “You hear stories. I’d like to see it for myself.”
“I’ve heard he’s got his team’s back,” another said. “He’ll take care of his players.”
Tortorella topping the list is no surprise, though a few players came to his defense and noted that many players really like playing for him.
Bruce Cassidy at No. 2 is an interesting development, though, given the success he’s had with the Vegas Golden Knights.
“That’s what I’m hearing from around the league,” one player said.
“I haven’t heard too many good things about the Vegas coach, Cassidy,” another said. “I don’t really know him that well, but I haven’t heard anything good about him.”
One player didn’t even know Anaheim Ducks coach Greg Cronin’s name but picked him anyway: “Who is Anaheim’s coach?”
“I’ve heard from other players that he’s not great to play for,” another player said. “They have a lot of decent skill that they should be a good team, but they’re not.”
Mike Babcock is a long shot to ever return to the league after his immediate flameout with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and that seems to be fine with the players polled.
“Been there,” one player said. “Lived it.”
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Lindy Ruff got a handful of votes, too.
“I just think he’s too old,” a player said. “I don’t think he understands the game anymore. That’s what I hear from the guys that play for him, that he just doesn’t know what’s going on most of the time.”
Brind’Amour got a vote here, too. Sort of.
“Just because he’s way more in shape than I am, so he’d be intimidating,” a player said.
The newer the arena, the better the facilities. Makes sense, right? Though Utah’s 34-year-old Delta Center drew some rave reviews.
“Utah was frickin’ nice,” one player said. “Like, they had a full-on gym for us. Ice cold tubs, hot tubs that were like $10,000 each. We shared with the basketball guys. Our (visitors’) room is huge. Medical room is bigger than our medical room here.”
The Detroit Red Wings’ Little Caesars Arena, Seattle Kraken’s Climate Pledge Arena, Edmonton Oilers’ Rogers Place, Golden Knights’ T-Mobile Arena and New York Islanders’ UBS Arena all opened in the past decade, and it shows.
“Really, any of the new rinks,” one player said.
“All of the newer buildings are great,” another said.
“I don’t know which arena came first, UBS or Climate Pledge, but they’re modeled very similarly,” another player said. ”They have a lot more room and it feels cleaner.”
Players liked how Detroit offered players access to the NBA facilities.
“Just because of the gym,” one Detroit voter said. “It’s pretty nice. I don’t know if the room’s the best, but the gym’s the best for sure.”
“Not a lot of away spots have decent gym setups, but the newer rinks have setups that are acceptable, for the lack of a better word,” another said. “Some are just stuck in a hallway on the concrete and it’s not even a room. It’s tougher to warm up in facilities like that. Detroit’s gym comes to mind as a really good setup. You’ve got everything you need there, and it’s well laid out.”
Minnesota’s Xcel Energy Center has by far the biggest visitors’ locker room in the league.
“The locker room is unreal,” one player said.
You might want to play for Brind’Amour, but you don’t want to play against him — and not just because his team forechecks so hard. Carolina ran away with this one, as players are forced to warm up and lift weights or ride the bike after the game in a hallway or a giant storage area. The locker room itself, despite a recent renovation that added about two whopping feet of width, might be the most cramped in the league, too.
“It used to be Carolina, but then they upgraded,” one player said. “And somehow it’s still Carolina.”
“The visiting room sucks,” another player said. “And the home room is basically the visiting room with some paint on the walls. So, yeah, pretty s—-y.”
“Terrible,” another Carolina voter said.
“Carolina stinks,” said another.
“It’s brutal,” said another. “It sucks. Everything about that trip sucks.”
“Not even close,” said another.
“Probably ours,” one particularly sneaky Hurricanes player said. “This summer, they’re supposed to change it up a little bit. We’ve been telling them to put it off.”
There are many, many more comments like those, but let’s stop piling on the Canes. There are other lousy rinks out there.
On Washington: “By far the worst. It’s the smallest room ever and a million degrees in there. I hate playing there.”
On Anaheim: “Anaheim is so bad. The dressing room is fine, but the other amenities, like the cold tub and where you warm up, it’s in an old office. You don’t know where you’re going. It’s the worst in the league.”
On Calgary: “I hate saying that, because I love playing in that building. But the setup there is not cool.”
On Colorado: “It sucks.”
On Madison Square Garden: “It’s just so small. You don’t have anywhere to warm up.”
On Toronto: “Toronto is awful. There’s not even a curtain. There’s just some stuff in the corner of the lower level or whatever. You’re just on the gross, dirty concrete. But that’s more common than you’d think.”
Players were split on this one. The NBA Cup has made for some memorable games, but some NHL players found it “gimmicky” and “corny.”
Of course, if it raises hockey-related revenue, that’s a different story.
“I haven’t looked if it drives revenues, but if it does, I wouldn’t be against it,” one player said. “I don’t see any harm in it.”
“I think it’s good,” another said. “Extra revenue. Gets fans more involved in the game. More rivalries.”
“It’d be good to grow the game,” another said. “Lot of higher-stake games in the middle of a season.”
It also could break up the relentless monotony of the NHL season.
“I think it’d mix it up,” a player said. “Chance to win some money. Fun way to break up the season. Guys would get into it.”
“Any time you can pick up the competitive level in the middle of the season, it helps,” another player said. “Especially the times when the season gets long in the middle.”
Some players preferred more international play instead.
“It should be something like the 4 Nations, on a global scale,” one player said.
“You would still play against the same teams, same lineups, so I don’t think it would have so much of a future in this sport,” another player reasoned. “I would understand if you play, how in soccer they play Champions League or in the Premier League they play FA Cup with the teams from lower leagues. … This one you would still play against the same teams, against the same lineups. I don’t think it would be that interesting for us. We’d have just more games to play.”
Some players turned their noses up at the idea of competing for a lesser trophy than the Stanley Cup.
“We play for the hardest trophy in the world,” one said.
“I think the only tournament that matters should be playoffs,” another said.
“We play for the Stanley Cup,” another said. “We don’t play for an in-season tournament banner.”
Of the 108 who responded, 47 had a comment with their vote. Ten of them mentioned either shortening or eliminating the preseason.
“Preseason is too long,” one player said, before diving into The Athletic‘s Pierre LeBrun’s favorite talking point. “I think we should start third week of September. June 1 should be Game 7 of the Cup Final.”
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Players are skeptical that the league is all that concerned with the players’ health. Especially as talk of bumping the season up to 84 games (with fewer preseason games) persists.
“Sounds like Gary (Bettman) wants to expand even more,” one player said. “We have to add more games. Is it too long? Is it very long? Yeah. Especially for the grind of hard skating is, how much toll it takes, the physicality. You look at basketball: They do significant load management for their big guys. They jog around half the game, fire up a couple threes and they’re taking load management. Which is wild. And we’re grinding through 82. The mentality, shot-blocking — it’s not even the same stratosphere.”
“I think 72 to 75 would probably be better, especially for teams going deep every year,” another player said.
“I just find the way these back-to-backs are set up are insane sometimes,” another player said. “I think there would be (a higher) quality of games if we had less.”
Players have grown accustomed to the 82-game season, and the ebbs and flows it creates.
“If it was a little shorter, you’d see the teams that got off to a slow start not be able to catch up,” one “no” voter said. “And vice versa, where teams start off hot and tail off at the end. I think it’s a good balance. It gives young guys an opportunity to come up at the end of the season and play.”
There’s the financial component, too.
“I would like it to be 62 games,” one player said. “I think that would be perfect. But I understand the economics of it and if we play 62 games, we’re all going to get paid 75 percent of what we make. I think people have talked about playing less exhibition games and adding two more season games so we can make even more money. In a perfect world, I think 62 would be right.”
Mostly, this one was met with a collective shrug.
“You could take it down to like 70; that’d be perfect,” one player said. “But then it’s just 12 extra games. Just play them.”
“The season is long,” another said. “But it’s the hardest trophy in sports to win, right? It’s supposed to be hard.”
Believe it or not, Bettman has a lot of supporters around the league. And this poll was conducted before the league announced a skyrocketing salary cap that’s going to make players even richer.
“I think he’s done a great job with the league,” one player said. “It keeps growing.”
“We’ve had the least turmoil of most leagues,” said one player, who must not have been paying attention in 1994, 2004 or 2012. “I’m fine with him.”
“I feel like he’s done a pretty good job with our sport in terms of getting TV deals,” another said. “Obviously, it was crappy timing with COVID and escrow and whatnot, but I feel like the salary cap is going up, TV deals are going up. I think our sport is in a good spot, so he’s done a decent job.”
“This may be unpopular, but I think he’s done a nice job of stabilizing our league,” another said.
“He’s put the league in a good spot,” another said. “He’s ready, but if he keeps growing the game … we’re not playing escrow anymore … why leave now?”
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Some players think some fresh eyes and fresh ideas could help the league grow.
“The culture of the league needs to change,” one said. “The league needs to make hockey more accessible to lots of people. Stephen A. Smith doesn’t get fired up about hockey, and he should be.”
“I think it would be good to have a fresh face,” another said.
“It’s such a hard job,” another said. “You’re not ever going to be liked. He had a good run. Let somebody else step in now.”
A couple of players said they expect Bettman to step down after one last collective-bargaining agreement so he can leave the league in a good place.
Then there was this player: “I don’t even know what that f—ing guy does.”
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(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic, with photos of Jon Cooper and Gary Bettman by Jeff Vinnick / Getty Images, Lynne Sladky / Associated Press and Harry How / Getty Images)
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