Being a rookie in the NHL is never easy.
Not only are you having to prove yourself at the highest level of hockey, but you’re also having to learn how to fit in, carry yourself, be a professional and if you’re coming over from Europe, then there’s also the added burden of language, culture and so much more.
It can be a lot for a young guy, but everyone who’s played has been there before so many are willing to lend a hand or take a guy under their wing.
I went around the locker room and asked each Carolina Hurricane who was the player(s) that helped them the most and some of the lessons they’ve carried with them. Here are their answers:
Sebastian Aho
First NHL Season: 2016-17 (CAR)
“I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of good people around me. Coming into the NHL, honestly, probably Turbo [Teuvo Teravainen] was the guy. I wouldn’t say a mentor, but it was more so a guy I could lean on for a lot of stuff, not just hockey. It was a new culture for me. Everything was new really, so having somebody who had been in the league a few years already who knew how things rolled was obviously huge for me.”
“There were also so many other guys. I want to say Jordo [Jordan Staal], I want to say Willy [Justin Williams], obviously Roddy [Rod Brind’Amour]. Roddy was huge too especially early on in my center career. Just a lot, a lot of video, a lot, a lot of details. Sometimes it felt like he was always on me, but at the same time, you know the guy wants to help you and he wants to make our team better. It was good stuff. Honestly guys that had been here, like Slavo [Jaccob Slavin], Pesc [Brett Pesce]. All these guys since day one have been great to me. It’s been a real pleasure to be a part of this group.”
Frederik Andersen
First NHL Season: 2013-14 (ANA)
“The first guy on the team that kind of took me under their wing was Andrew Cogliano out in Anaheim. He was pretty young at the time too relatively, but he was still a veteran and had a lot of seasons under his belt. He was able to take me in as a rookie and make sure I felt like a part of the group and kept an eye on me a little bit. Bringing me out to dinners and all that type of stuff.”
“His wife, Allie, is awesome. Just a great person. His family is great too. Saw them in Toronto a little bit and got to experience their Italian Sunday dinners. He just made me feel welcome and in the group right away. For me, I’m pretty shy as it is and was even more so as a young 23 year old. Not really knowing how much you belong yet or if you can hold your own and all that stuff. So just having chances to get to know some of the veterans and that type of stuff is big for young people just to feel welcome and feel like you can open up a little bit and be yourself.”
“He was such a good pro and when he played, he was so dialed in and a true lead by example kind of guy. That rubs off on you and so you see how guys like that do it and you pick up certain things.”
Jackson Blake
First NHL Season: 2024-25 (CAR)
“Jacko [Jack Drury] was great, but I feel like everyone has helped me out. I know I can go to anyone and ask questions or stuff like that. You kind of have to do a little bit on your own because guys have their own things going on and stuff like that, but I feel you can always watch guys and stuff like that. I feel like everyone has been a big help.”
“I sit next to KK [Jesperi Kotkaniemi] in the locker room so I talk to him probably the most out of anyone on the team and if I ever have questions, I’ll probably ask him since he’s right next to me and he’s easy to talk to.”
Rod Brind’Amour
First NHL Season: 1989-90 (STL)
“For me, it wasn’t necessarily one guy. When I got to St. Louis, I was this young kid and back then, the league was older. They had the veteran guys and there weren’t a lot of young, young guys. So I had a lot of guys and guys that I still see today.”
“I remember Greg Millen was the goalie in St. Louis and I see him all the time because he’s still in the business. But he was always good. Paul MacLean was one of my first roommates. They stick the young guy with the old guy and he obviously had been around forever. So those guys help you and just take care of you. Dave Lowry, who, it’s funny now, because his kid is playing [Adam Lowry] and I remember him coming out onto the ice.”
“Hully [Brett Hull] just yelled at you and made you feel bad. But then would take you out and laugh and be like, ‘What are you talking about?’ He was a great personality and you learned a lot from him too just by the way he played. But he was an interesting guy.”
“Those guys really took care of you and made sure you were in the right places and made sure they took you out to eat. Just little things that as a young kid, you don’t know what’s going on. When I was in St. Louis, those were the guys and then eventually, I became an older guy. When I got to Philly, it was a little different, but still Rick Tocchet was one of the veteran players and he was like, ‘Okay, you come hang out with me.’ That’s just the progression of it. I was fortunate that way.”
Did the veterans ever take you out on the town back then?
“It was interesting. I don’t know what it was, but they were always like, ‘You don’t need to come with us.’ They’d leave me out of it, or if I came, they’d make sure you got home. It was kind of weird, and I don’t know what it was about me, but they just said, ‘You’re not one of us in this regard and you don’t want to be.’ I guess they looked after me that way too. And like I said, by the time I got older, those days were done. Everything had changed. It was charter flights, so you’re not staying overnight in cities, which is where the trouble was. Now, they just eliminated all of that and the athletes coming up just had a way different mindset. It’s changed for the better in every which way.”
Did you have guys that you mentored?
“There’s certain guys that you take under your wing more. A guy that always comes to mind for me is [Chad LaRose] but that was just because he was so out there and he needed a lot of help. To me, it was always about guys’ habits. Making sure they’re doing it right. I felt like by the time I became an old guy, these young guys were much better prepared. It was different. They’d been training all their life. It turned, so they didn’t need as much advice like, ‘Hey, you should be in the gym.’ They knew they had to be in the gym more, do a little extra, whatever. It was kind of already starting to turn by the time I got older.”
Brent Burns
First NHL Season: 2003-04 (MIN)
“I had a lot of different guys. I learned a lot from Wes Walz, Andrew Brunette, Willie Mitchell, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Marian Gaborik. I mean all these guys. Tried to learn from all kinds of different people. Some of them were younger and some of them were older.”
What’s the biggest thing you learned from them that you still think about today?
“That’s a secret.”
William Carrier
First NHL Season: 2016-17 (BUF)
“Matt Ellis. When I was in Rochester in the American League, he played a lot of games — I think he’s coaching in Buffalo now — but he just took me under the wing. I was more of a point-per-game guy coming out of junior and my role kind of had to change to make it in the NHL and he was a big part of showing me how to play safe defensively in your own zone and try to create loose pucks and create offense, but without turnovers and sacrificing defense and stuff like that. He was a big part of it.”
What was the biggest lesson you learned as a young guy breaking into the league?
“Just that you have to leave it in the locker room. I got a family back home and kids. You have some bad days and some days where you got scored on, you made a mistake and it cost the team, but you have to make sure you leave it there. You don’t bring it home and dwell on it. When 12 o’clock comes, you turn the page. You’re only as good as your last game and you just have to focus on the next one and keep it rolling. I think a lot of young guys get caught up in 10, 15 game goal droughts and then they start getting in their own heads. So just leave it at the rink. When you show back up, give it your best.”
Jalen Chatfield
First NHL Season: 2020-21 (VAN)
“I got nobody. It was the COVID year and to be honest, I just had to figure it out on my own. Personally, I watched a lot of players and kind of picked up things they’ve done, but I never had anybody really mentor me. Maybe because I came into the league a little bit older. In the AHL, it was the same thing. Nobody really.”
“Here, the whole D, I think we’re a pretty tight group. There’s a lot of good players back here. I wouldn’t say I have a mentor, but I’ve talked to Burnsie [Brent Burns] and the way he’s trained throughout his career and the stuff he used to do and Slavo [Jaccob Slavin] too. My biggest thing that I learned though was probably taking more rest because it’s a long season. That’s the biggest thing. But other than that, I didn’t really have a mentor or anything like that.”
Shayne Gostisbehere
First NHL Season: 2015-16 (PHI)
“I had some great older guys in Philly. Whether it was Wayne Simmonds or Claude Giroux or Jake Voracek, I really leaned on those guys as a young guy, especially with just being on the power play at such a young age. It was such a big role to have and they really helped me evolve and find that confidence to play in the NHL and show me what it takes to play every day in the NHL.”
What was the biggest thing you learned?
“The day-to-day, nobody really prepares you for it until you’re really in it. It’s a different thing with pressure too. When you lack confidence, you have to find a way out there to find your game. Sometimes you just have to simplify things and dumb it down and do a lot of easier things out there and not try to do too much. It’s just finding that. It’s something that I’ve probably done my whole career, just finding that consistency of being the same player night in and night out.”
Taylor Hall
First NHL Season: 2010-11 (EDM)
“If I had to pick one guy from my first couple of years, it would be Shawn Horcoff. He was our captain in Edmonton and he was a guy that was a really good pro, but he also liked to have fun and there were lots of laughs and lots of good times like that. So I think that’s what I took from him.”
“As a younger player, there’s a lot of different ways that you can go and what kind of professional you’re gonna be and I think I looked up to him as well as a couple of other guys like Sam Gagner, Ryan Whitney, Ales Hemsky, Jason Strudwick. All the older guys that were good to me, but also pushed me and held me accountable when I needed it.”
Mark Jankowski
First NHL Season: 2017-18 (CGY)
“My first captain in pro hockey would be Mike Angelidis. We had a good, veteran group down in Stockton. But my first NHL captain was Mark Giordano. He was great and somebody that you could really model yourself after. He was just a great pro and his career trajectory, from being undrafted to a Norris winner is just incredible and I was able to see him that season. So to just watch those guys when you’re such a young guy, it’s just someone to model yourself after.”
Seth Jarvis
First NHL Season: 2021-22 (CAR)
“Stepper. Derek Stepan. Him and Marty [Jordan Martinook] probably were the first two guys when I was on that kind of bubble of making the team that were talking to me on the ice. I wasn’t saying anything, I was just minding my own business and trying not to get in the way of anything. But Stepper was unbelievable for me and made me feel comfortable. He was the first guy to start joking around with me and chirping me and I think when he started chirping me, other guys started chirping me and that made me feel more comfortable and like a part of the team. So he did an unbelievable job. He was also part of my first goal, had an assist on my first hat trick. He was a sprinkle in my career and is someone that means a lot to me. It’s been great to be friends with him.”
Tyson Jost
First NHL Season: 2017-18 (COL)
“I came in with Colorado so it was a really good group that I had. Nathan MacKinnon was one guy who really helped me out a lot and just seeing his dedication, the way he worked at his craft every day and me and him would go out on the ice early and whatnot. I also had Gabriel Landeskog, Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie. Those three guys too were just outstanding. They were such great guys and I was just a 19 year old and didn’t even really know what to expect with the NHL.”
“So all four of those guys were outstanding and they were really the core of Colorado, especially Landeskog and EJ, they were just such standup guys and I’ll have friendships with those guys for the rest of my life. We still talk every once in a while and shoot texts back and forth to each other. That core group of four really helped me get into the league. It’s not easy when you’re 19. There’s a lot of moving parts and you really don’t know what to expect, but they were awesome to me, for sure.”
Pyotr Kochetkov
First NHL Season: 2022-23 (CAR)
“It’s a different time. We have a 10-hour change from Russia. Then there’s also food. When I came, I had to adapt to a smaller rink too because the KHL has different sizes everywhere.”
“There’s a lot of different roles, mentalities and it’s different when you’re just adapting to work and life here. Three years I play here and every year, every month, I learn something new. It’s an interesting process.”
Jesperi Kotkaniemi
First NHL Season: 2018-19 (MTL)
“Probably just all the Finnish guys, mostly. I didn’t know the language that well when I got in the league so Joel Armia, Artturi Lehkonen and Antti Niemi, they taught me pretty well. Told me how all the things worked like the hotels and the restaurants and stuff. That was nice of them. The game here is a lot different than back home. We discussed a lot about hockey when I was there. Took a little bit to get going, but they were good teachers.”
What was the biggest challenge or culture shock for you coming over to North America?
“The biggest challenge really was learning the language. I understood stuff pretty well, but speaking-wise, it was a little tougher. You just kind of pick up daily habits, how they say ‘good morning’ and ‘how are you?’ That’s how you get started pretty much. They helped me a lot and I really appreciate it.”
“Going to restaurants too. We didn’t really do that too much back home. Mostly just cooked at home and ate homemade food. So going out pretty much ever night was a big change, but you get used to it. Now I pretty much do it all the time.”
The Finnish center one-timed the puck past Jacob Markstrom on the power play for a 5-4 win and to eliminate the New Jersey Devils in five games.
But to even get that power play opportunity in the first place, Jesperi Kotkaniemi had to take one for the team.
Jordan Martinook
First NHL Season: 2015-16 (ARI)
“Shane Doan. He was obviously the captain when I came in and just the way he treated people. He had been around for 15, 16 years when I got in the league and he treated everybody like he was a first or second year. I just admired that about him. It didn’t matter if you were the traffic guy that would help you park your car or a security guy or a rookie or a 12-year vet. It didn’t really matter to him which I respected a ton.”
“I think another guy I just respected and is a good friend of mine is Brad Richardson. He came to work and did what he had to do. In the NHL, you have to take over a role and when you’re given the role, you have to want to do it to the best of your ability. Watching him do the role that he did, I just admired that and tried to bring that into the way I play every night.”
Dmitry Orlov
First NHL Season: 2011-12 (WSH)
“Obviously I didn’t speak English my first year, but I had both Alex Semin and Alex Ovechkin. I just tried to learn from them and try to understand American life. Tried to learn some English and try to figure on my own some things. It wasn’t easy, but every year you play, you learn more. I learned a lot too when I missed a full year with my injury recovery. How you have to respect the game and how you have to love it and miss it and be around your teammates. It’s important. I’m not the loudest person, but I still like the time when everybody is talking, chatting, joking around. When you’re done, you’re going to miss that. So you have to take the time and enjoy it all the time.”
Eric Robinson
First NHL Season: 2018-19 (CBJ)
“When I first got to Columbus, I had a really good group of guys there that kind of showed me the way. It was older guys like Cam Atkinson, Nick Foligno and David Savard. Really good pros that had been doing it for a while. And then guys who were closer to my age, but had been around a bit, like Boone Jenner, Seth Jones and Josh Anderson. Those are names that come to mind for when I first got to Columbus. They had a good culture there and a good team when I got there. So those were kind of the guys that I leaned on to learn a lot of stuff from.”
What were the biggest things you took from those first few weeks and months?
“There’s lots of stuff. On ice, you obviously learn pretty quickly how to play the right way. In the NHL, if you make a mistake or turn the puck over, it can end up in your net pretty quick. So stuff like that on the ice, but off ice, just how to handle yourself, how to be a professional. How to compose yourself in the proper way to be a true pro.”
Jack Roslovic
First NHL Season: 2017-18 (WPG)
“There were a couple guys. Matt Hendricks was really good. I think there were also just a lot of guys that led by example on my team in Winnipeg. As a young guy, it’s nice to come into an older group that has that wisdom and to be able to pass around and just be able to watch those guys every day. Those were probably my core mentors. In a couple years, maybe I can start to mentor a couple of guys, but I’m still trying to learn stuff.”
Jaccob Slavin
First NHL Season: 2015-16 (CAR)
“From an overall, welcome to the league, this is kind of what you need to do perspective, Jordo [Jordan Staal] was that guy for me, even though he wasn’t a defenseman. Same position, my rookie year, it was John-Michael Liles. He helped me out a lot and made me feel welcome.”
Jordan Staal
First NHL Season: 2006-07 (PIT)
“Mark Recchi would be my number one, for sure. When I first got to Pittsburgh, he actually took me in and I was able to hang out with his family for a couple of years. No better guy to be around hockey-wise. I learned a lot from him. Just talking hockey and understanding the game and trying to get better and really what it took to be a pro.”
“He had an amazing career and I just kept an eye on whatever he was doing and how hard he worked and realized that it’s never easy, no matter how old you get and how long you go. There’s really no time off. You’re just always puck committed and I learned that right from the start. That if you want to have a long, successful career, you’re going to have to work and it’s going to be everyday and in every moment. He was definitely a big one for me.”
Logan Stankoven
First NHL Season: 2023-24 (DAL)
“Joe Pavelski. When I first came into the league, in my first month or so, I got to live at his place. He opened up a spare room for me and Wyatt Johnston. That was really nice of him to do that and I enjoyed his company.”
Andrei Svechnikov
First NHL Season: 2018-19 (CAR)
“To be honest, it was a lot of guys. All of the guys who have played throughout the years.”
“One moment though that I’ll never forget, it was my first year and I made a mistake in overtime [that cost us the game]. Faulker [Justin Faulk], he was on the team that year, he told me, ‘Hey, don’t worry. You’re going to make lots of mistakes, but just be positive. Don’t go in your head. Don’t think about it.’ Because that was my biggest thing that year. He just told me to be positive and not dwell on it.”
Sean Walker
First NHL Season: 2018-19 (LAK)
“I was lucky enough to be in LA where there were obviously so many great guys. Some of the standouts are guys like Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar, Alec Martinez, Jake Muzzin. Great guys that have done it for a long time and done it at such a high level too. It was great to see just the way they worked every day. Even guys who had won multiple Stanley Cups were on the ice after practice working on stuff and getting better. It was great to see and it was a great first experience for me.”
What was the biggest thing you took away from them?
“I think it’s just about cherishing every day. Especially when you’re young and you’re just making it into the league, you don’t really know how long or if you’ll make it or stick, so I really tried to enjoy every day and I still enjoy every day. I think that’s something that’s really important for a lot of the guys.”
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