Skating edges have propelled an undersized defenseman to a dream-sized NHL career
Last Updated on Wednesday, 30 September 2015 15:14
By John Hamre
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
Ask 10 hockey people the question, “What makes a player?” and invariably you will get 10 different answers. Sure, some themes will resonate similar through each, but everyone has a unique lens with which they filter their viewing of the game and their assessment of players through. In New York Islanders defenseman and Eden Prairie, Minn., native Nick Leddy’s case, skating ability has long been the primary descriptor – regardless of whatever else people also say to describe him – that makes him “special” as a player. So special that he is already a veteran of five NHL seasons – 336 NHL games with 30 goals and 100 assists to his credit – at the young age of 24.
Leddy has enjoyed a storybook hockey career to date. He started skating and playing hockey on the pond in his backyard. He took local skating lessons in Eden Prairie as a youth. He led his Eden Prairie Eagles to a Minnesota High School State Championship in 2009 along with being named Mr. Hockey. And he spent the 2009-10 season playing college hockey at the University of Minnesota before embarking on a professional career. Leddy is now a mainstay member of the blueline corps for the resurgent Islanders.
Nick’s father, Mike, is a fun man to speak with on the phone. His voice is filled with a humility, appreciation and pride in his son. His laughter conveys a hearty joy he finds in life. Our conversation started out with a question referring to an urban legend told in Minneapolis’ southwestern suburbs. I asked him kiddingly, “I’ve been told you taught your son to skate by not sharpening his skates, and forcing him to rely on a pure and strong weight transfer – fact or myth?”
With a heartfelt laugh, Mike responded emphatically, “Myth!” He then went on to share some insight into how his son learned to skate growing up, and his formative years in the game of hockey.
“For Nick, I always knew skating was extremely important. Like a lot of hockey families, we had a rink on a pond in the back of the lot. I let the kids be kids, growing up and skating on the pond. Also, when he was very young, Nick took skating lessons twice per week. He would take lessons at each skating level, and pass each level twice before advancing to the next.
“When he got to the point of doing cross-overs, the skating instructor put him on the inner part of the faceoff circle. It pushed him.”
Nick remembered his time growing up as a multi-sport athlete – and as a kid having fun playing different sports.
“I think first of all my dad always told me it goes back to the neighborhood,” Nick said. “We played a bunch of different sports – baseball, football – and we tried to be the best at each. Being a good athlete, especially at a young age being able to play many sports, you meet so many people.”
Mike coached his son through Squirt A. At that point, Eden Prairie has a youth association rule that no parent coaches an A-level travel team.
“I’m very (Jack) Blatherwick-esque,” Mike said. “My philosophy is that uncomfortable becomes comfortable over time. A lot of it is, everything he did was challenging him beyond his comfort level, both in his stickhandling and his skating.”
So many players grow up fixated on the size of their opponents, and don’t realize what truly matters are the strength in their own muscles and the self-belief in one’s own heart.
Through his youth hockey and into his sophomore year in high school, Nick was definitively what many would term an ‘undersized’ player.
“I’m a big believer in edges,” Mike said. “Edges matter. When he was a young player, he was on the smaller side. In ninth grade he was 5-3 and 135 pounds playing Bantam A. His mom is 5-7 and I’m 6-0. So edges mattered. Escapability mattered.”
So, when did Nick make it onto the radar screens of college and professional scouts?
“When he started getting noticed was when he made the USA Hockey 16 and 17 national teams in the summer, and he played in the Ivan Hlinka Tournament,” Mike said. “That’s when he started gaining notoriety with college and professional scouts, as a 16-year-old. I would always tell him, ‘Keep improving your skills and having fun with the game.’ He would shoot 400-500 pucks a day to try and be great. We told him to have fun. His first goal was to make the high school team.
“Thinking back, you’re probably familiar with that Squirt tournament in Fargo. They hold a skating race, where he won over a couple-hundred of other players. That was kind of a starting point. His first year of Squirts or second year of Mites, I dropped him off at a rink. I came in to watch, and there was a lady who said, ‘You’ve got to see this kid skate.’ Well, it was my kid, Nick, she was pointing to. I told Nick, ‘Always say thank you and always be appreciative.’”
Nick’s senior year in high school was special. His Eden Prairie team in 2008-09 started out with low expectations. A couple of his friends as seniors chose to leave and pursue other options, but Nick stayed with his high school team and teammates. Nick also had many options as to where to play hockey during his high school years. He was drafted by the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers and he was on the USA Hockey National Team Development Program’s radar.
“I’m a traditionalist and believe in high school hockey,” Mike said. “If you’re that good, you’ll be found. Why not be a leader in your community? It turned out well to stick it out with his buddies. He led Eden Prairie to their first state championship, where I think he scored three goals and two assists in the state tournament. He was then named Mr. Hockey. A lot of that was because of his skating ability.”
“The first thing I would say is he had incredible edges, which allowed him to hold off bigger forwards when he was younger,” Lee Smith, Eden Prairie High School’s longtime coach, said. “When he got older and stronger, he dominated because of his edges. As he grew and put on weight, his skating ability allowed him to take over games. Throw in great puck skills and vision, and you see where he is at now.
“When your best player is your hardest worker, you’re going to have a pretty good team. He wasn’t too proud to work hard. In 2009 we had six seniors and 10 sophomores. He was the catalyst that made that (state championship) happen.”
Nick was the 16th overall pick of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota Wild. In 2010, his rights were traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, because the Wild “needed a defenseman that could contribute now” and the Blackhawks surely knew what Leddy was to become.
Leddy was a member of the 2013 Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup-winning team, and seemed destined for a long career with Chicago. In October of 2014, he was traded to the Islanders, not because they wanted to, but because salary cap rules forced their hand. The Islanders readily welcomed the talented blueliner, and signed him to a seven-year contract extension in February of 2015.
From an undersized sophomore high school defenseman, to an established top NHL defenseman on one of the rising playoff contending NHL franchises with the Islanders, Nick Leddy has utilized his skating ability to elevate his game to an elite level.
I asked Nick to comment on his perspective of the importance of the size and strength of a player versus skating ability now that he is an established NHL defenseman.
“Growing up and being a little smaller you learn to play against the bigger players,” he said. “Keeping guys to the outside and having good stick on puck, getting to the guy quickly and trying to make them make a decision hurried – little things can make a big difference.
“Always have fun. It’s a little cliché, a lot of people say it, but it’s true. Having fun is the main goal, and winning helps But guys at this level try to have fun – it’s still a game.”
Leddy shared his observations of playing on Olympic-size ice during his college hockey career with his home ice sheet of Mariucci Arena versus playing on NHL-size ice now in the professional game.
“It’s definitely a lot different,” he said. “On the big rink, things happen a little slower. In the NHL, things happen so much quicker with the smaller rink. Decisionmaking has to be that much quicker. Getting back quicker on pucks so you have a little extra time – even if it’s really not that much extra time – is really important.”
I asked Leddy to share his observations on captains and leadership in the professional game.
“Leaders here each have their own qualities,” he said. “They are fantastic players. Guys like John Tavares here, and Jonathan Toews when I was with Chicago, they work on their game day in and day out. They never stop competing, and working to try to find that little edge continuously.”
Sounds a lot like the character of a Mite and Squirt player who would pass each skating level twice before advancing. Or an undersized high school defenseman, who was the team’s best player and hardest worker. It’s the little things in life that matter, and that can make and separate players.
During a 22-year coaching career, John Hamre has coached PeeWee, Bantam, high school, NCAA Division I, Junior A and minor professional hockey. He was recently named Director of Hockey Operations for the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team. Hamre was the video coach for the 1994 USA Men’s Olympic Team, coached within the USA Hockey NTDP, and at many USA Hockey festivals. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
