FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The lifestyle of an NHL player is, for the most part, a fairly charmed existence. Getting paid to play a game, travel around North America on chartered planes and stay in five-star hotels, all while fulfilling a childhood fantasy, isn’t a bad way to live.
But though reaching the NHL is a dream come true and comes with plenty of benefits, that doesn’t mean it’s easy when you get there. It’s hard for everyone, every night, 82 games per year — and then even harder in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The lifestyle of an NHL player is, for the most part, a fairly charmed existence. Getting paid to play a game, travel around North America on chartered planes and stay in five-star hotels, all while fulfilling a childhood fantasy, isn’t a bad way to live.
But though reaching the NHL is a dream come true and comes with plenty of benefits, that doesn’t mean it’s easy when you get there. It’s hard for everyone, every night, 82 games per year — and then even harder in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The challenge is particularly daunting for players such as Washington Capitals rookie Ryan Leonard, a 20-year-old who is having a blast playing in the NHL but also is getting a rapid-fire education on the best hockey league in the world — while playing for a team that has aspirations of being a Stanley Cup contender and expects to win every game.
“It’s one thing if you’re playing on a team that’s rebuilding and it’s like: ‘If we win tonight, great. If we don’t, no big deal,’” Coach Spencer Carbery said in late October. “You’re going to take your licks and you’re going to turn it over and you’re going to make a bunch of mistakes, but you’re also going to accumulate games. You’re going to get confidence. You’re going to learn. This is great. You’re developing, you’re getting better, and our team is looking to the future. [That is] not the situation here for Ryan Leonard. That is such a different scenario and a more challenging scenario for him to learn on the fly.”
Leonard is an elite talent, has been living away from home since he was 16 and has been preparing to play in the NHL for much of his life. But even the most prepared, motivated, mature and experienced 20-year-old is still, at the end of the day, just 20 years old.
“The adjustment was really hard, I found, when I was that young,” said Capitals winger Anthony Beauvillier, who was a full-time NHL player with the New York Islanders at 19. “Being with grown men that have families, it’s a little bit of a different lifestyle than being young and dumb and hanging out with your friends. It’s obviously a challenging transition. I think he’s been doing a great job with it.”
Leonard is living on his own for the first time after departing center Pierre-Luc Dubois’ house as Dubois and his wife, Maddi, prepared to welcome their first child. With his $950,000 salary, Leonard doesn’t have to worry about rent, but things such as laundry and cooking are hurdles — just as they are for others his age, whether they’re in college or the NHL.
Asked whether he’s cooking for himself now that he’s living alone, Leonard declined to get into the details. “Let’s just say I’m using my resources wisely,” he said, laughing, as a Capitals staffer walked by and joked, “Air fryer!”
Whenever Leonard talks about his adjustment to the NHL, fun is always part of the conversation. There’s no doubt that he is having the time of his life — and has been since his first days with the Capitals coincided with Alex Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record. How many players can say that Gretzky himself shook their hand after their first NHL goal? Leonard can.
But in quieter moments, Leonard can acknowledge that none of this is easy. He’s supremely confident in himself — that’s part of what made him emotionally ready to jump from Boston College to the NHL less than two years after being drafted — but all the confidence in the world doesn’t erase the difficult parts of the challenge he’s facing.
“It’s completely different than playing on a college team where you’re playing X amount of minutes. Part of this learning curve is being able to handle the minutes that I’m given and make the most of it,” Leonard said. “Seeing what those guys are doing, the top-six guys that get that ice time, and really just watching what they do and how they go into every single shift, and hopefully [I’ll] get there someday — it’s been extremely fun and an incredible journey.”
Winger Tom Wilson is one of those role models for Leonard. Wilson made his NHL debut at 19 and was tasked with being a physically imposing enforcer for his first few seasons. Leonard’s arc will be different, but the desperate drive to succeed is something that Wilson recognizes in his young teammate.
“At that age, you need to stand out every night and you need to do whatever your team needs,” Wilson said. “For me, that was more of physical play. And for Leno, that’s finding his game offensively and chipping in and stuff. [He’s] maybe a little bit of a different style of player, but I think he’s got the compete. He’s got a great demeanor. He’s a great kid.”
Leonard would love to be scoring at will, but in his first couple of months as a full-time NHL player, he has come to embrace the idea that he can influence the game in a variety of ways, not just on the scoresheet.
“I want to be impactful out there and do the right things, but at the same time, you can’t control — for me, it’s more offense, but you’re not going to have your A game every single night,” said Leonard, who has three goals and five assists in 16 games. “What does your B game look like, and how can you still be impactful out there and help the team win?”
As Leonard learns to cook for himself and manage his life independently for the first time, he’s also learning how to contribute to a playoff contender in the best hockey league on the planet. It’s a tall task for anyone, let alone a 20-year-old. But Leonard’s self-belief has him well-equipped to deal with the challenges he’ll face — and the Capitals have full faith in him, too.
“He has this confidence and swagger that he’s going to deliver,” Carbery said. “Is he going to make mistakes? Yeah. Does he probably know he’s going to make mistakes? Yeah. But at the same time, he believes every time he lines up, he wants to be the guy and believes that he can get the job done.”
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