32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Jay Woodcroft
Episode Date: March 16, 2023For almost 20 years, Jay Woodcroft has held several coaching positions. From being Mike Babcock’s video coach in Detroit to Todd McLellan’s assistant in San Jose and Edmonton, Woodcroft now finds ...himself leading the high-powered Edmonton Oilers after spending four seasons with their AHL team, Bakersfield Condors. Jeff and Elliotte chat with Jay about his playing career and how he found himself behind the bench, coaching McDavid and Draisaitl, the length of a good video session, his style of play, coaching 3-on-3 hockey,  lessons he picked up along the way from other great coaches, video sessions with Yzerman and Datsyuk, and he talks about his favourite podcasts.Email the podcast at 32thoughts@sportsnet.ca or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailOutro Music - Yo OG ft. buddy.not.bud & Amiri Mikel - Polishing Truths - RemixListen to the full track hereThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: Sportsnet.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.
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It's just good genetics, what can I say?
I never really thought about it at the time. I mean, we were pretty young,
but looking back on it, I guess it makes sense that he'd end up coaching.
Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast and another interview show presented by GMC and the new Sierra
AT4X. That comment off the top is from hockey trainer and coach Ryan Tracy.
He was Jay Woodcroft's line mate with the Aurora Eagles,
a junior team based north of Toronto.
Spot quiz, who was their center?
Ken Forshee.
Yeah, we go deep on this podcast.
At any rate, Tracy's observation is pretty consistent
with what a lot of people in Woodcroft's hockey orbit say
about him. Even if you didn't realize it at the time, when you look back, it's pretty obvious
Jay Woodcroft has been rehearsing and studying for his current role as Edmonton Oilers head coach
for pretty much his entire life. Now, that includes when he was a forward with the Markham
Waxers, the University of Alabama Huntsville Chargers,
the Anchorage Aces, the Corpus Christi Rays,
and the Missouri River Otters,
where he was teammates with Colin Chalk,
currently the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers AHL affiliate,
the Bakersfield Condors.
I told you we'd go deep on this podcast.
You know, we talk a lot on this podcast about
all in people, you know, the ones that marry passion with work ethic and how amazing it really
is when those two things intersect. That's Jay Woodcroft. And the bio is impressive. Video coach
with the Mike Babcock led the Detroit Red Wings. Can you imagine cutting up clips of Pavel Datsuk,
Henrik Zetterberg and Nick Lidstrom?
What a dream.
Assistant coach of the San Jose Sharks under Todd McClellan,
drinking in the greatness of Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski,
now drives a couple of Ferraris and Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl
as head coach for the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers.
Ellie and I sat down with Woodcroft at Scotiabank Arena last Friday
after the Oilers' remarkable third-period comeback win against the Boston Bruins.
Now, before we get to the interview, we'd like to thank Jamie Cartmel,
director of hockey communications for the Edmonton Oilers,
and Krista Benson, events coordinator for MLSE, for making this interview possible.
This is pretty wide-ranging.
As I mentioned earlier, we go deep.
It's a fascinating look inside the mind of one of the brightest young coaches
the NHL has to offer from the legendary coaching Woodcroft family.
Here's Jay Woodcroft on 32 Thoughts, the podcast.
So, Jay, first of all, thanks so much for doing this. Second of all, we're doing this
interview the day after your Edmonton Oilers did something that nobody does in the NHL,
comes from behind and beats the Boston Bruins, a third period come from behind victory. I'm
going to get into the specifics of you and the Oilers and
everything, but how did you do it? It's our players for sure. I thought we started the game
very well, executed the game plan that we wanted executed. And they came down and they got one on
us. But what I really enjoyed was our stick-to-itiveness, our level of persistence. We
just stuck with our game plan. Something else happened at the end of the first period
where we gave up a goal under a second left,
something atypical for us,
and walked in the room after that first period,
and it was just about understanding the challenge before us.
We felt if we could cut that game in half,
meaning if we could find that next goal,
that we'd be in a good spot.
Sure enough, we did that in the second period, and then we stuck to it.
We made an adjustment here and an adjustment there,
but in all truthfulness, that's what we expect to do.
Boston Bruins are not TD Bank Garden or whatever it's called there in Boston
are not for us.
It's about a standard that we play towards, and when we do, we think we're a tough team to beat.
And last night we were.
Your group, they went to the Stanley Cup
semifinals last year, the Western Conference final.
Yeah.
And I don't want to say that this looks like
a joyless season because I don't believe that's true.
But when I watch the Oilers play, Jay,
I see a team that is not interested in anything else aside from getting past where they were last year.
Like you watch McDavid, the night he scores his 50th goal.
He doesn't want to talk about scoring 50.
Hitting 50 goals is a big deal for any player.
I mean, the situation isn't great, but that's a pretty major milestone.
Yeah, it's a nice number.
What did he say to you when he came over after your 50th?
Welcome to the club.
I kind of look at your group and I say it's all business.
All business.
Internally, we have some fun with each other.
It might not be something that we advertise or whatnot.
But I would say for us, the joy is in the journey.
And for me, you know, we want to do better than we did last year.
But the first hurdle you have to get to is you got to make the playoffs.
And the 82 game grind of an NHL schedule, not everything is going to go perfectly.
So what we're trying to do is we're trying to capture moments that happen
within the season that help us with our ultimate goal,
but we still got to move along the regular season.
And for us,
it hasn't been an easy season.
There's been some times where we've played short just because of salary cap
implications.
We've lost some people up front early in the year that really affected some of the things that we were trying to do.
What do I mean by that?
A lot of times we went to 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
We were doing what we had to do in order to gain points and stay afloat in kind of the divisional race.
We've taken a real step, I believe, since Christmastime.
And there has been a lot of positive stories within our year.
But in the end, what we're trying to do is prepare ourselves for game number 83.
And that is our focus.
But we've got to get to number 83 before you can worry about winning that first game in the playoffs or winning the first round in the playoffs.
You got to make sure you're capturing certain moments within the year that are going to prepare you for a long playoff run.
You know, Elliot talked about the team and looking determined and focused.
We see all of that on Connor McDavid.
I know you referenced the 50 goals and I don't want to talk about that.
It's kind of, for everybody else, we've talk about that. And like, it's kind of for everybody else.
We've said it before on the podcast,
like it's frightening.
Like he's at that next level.
Just when you think like,
okay,
he's out of gears.
There's another one.
And we've all watched a lot of Connor,
like here in Toronto,
where we're doing this,
a lot of people watched him play with the Marlies before that on York Simcoe
or played with the Erie Otters all the way through.
This is the most intense and focused we've ever seen Connor McDavid.
What does the coach think?
I'm impressed.
You know, something I would say on just the on ice side of things, we can't be numb to what we're witnessing here.
This is an historic season in this type of hockey that's being played by this
generation.
For me,
usually when we come into a different city,
all the local media want to talk about is Connor and,
you know,
something I said earlier in the year,
and I wish I could attribute to where I heard it,
but I heard somebody talking about someone at the top of their game or the top
of their field. And the way they equated it was, you know, it's like being at the foot of Everest.
Sometimes you become numb to the brilliance of what you're seeing. And what do I mean by that is,
you know, you get out the door, you look up and there's this beautiful mountain. Well,
you do that for a number of years. Sometimes you take it for granted. I don't think we should be
taking for granted what we're seeing from not only the best hockey player in the world,
but one of the best athletes in the world right now.
That's on the hockey side of things.
His season is truly spectacular.
On the leadership, his growth as a captain, what I'm privy to on a day-to-day basis is seeing somebody truly sacrifice to be the best at his craft.
And I've seen him take a step in the leadership side.
And what do I mean by that?
It's not just setting the example anymore for him.
It's holding people to a certain standard.
I'm fortunate that I get to coach the best player in the world.
Can you give us an example?
Have you seen it different this year?
I think if there's something that happens in the play
where maybe in the past we would talk about it the next day
or in between periods, he's not afraid to nip things in the bud,
whether that be with a teammate,
whether that be with something he feels on a special team,
anything like that, he is unafraid to voice his
opinion. And I think that's part of intellectually, emotionally maturing, but I think he's really
maturing into the role of captain. I think that playoff run last year whet his appetite,
and he realizes that in order for our team to take the next step, a lot of it comes down to how he plays and what
he values as a player, but the leadership side of things, it's beyond impressive.
You know, one of the things, this is so fascinating to me because one of the things,
and I think what you're getting at here, Elliot and I have talked about this before around great
athletes specifically, one of the hardest things to do is have the talent to manage your talent.
There's being talented, and then there's being able to manage that talent.
Is that what you're getting at with McDavid?
We've seen players, oh, I'm going through this,
so I'm just going to bear down and work hard, work hard.
I can work and polish and polish and polish.
Pound the sword, pound the sword, pound the sword.
But being able to manage your life
your skill your profession your craft like that's its own talent yeah and you're seeing that in
mcdavid if i'm reading you yeah i i see that for sure he's somebody who wakes up in the morning
he's driven to be the best that he can be his the choices he, the sacrifices he makes in order to be the best that he can be.
It's beyond impressive. What I'm seeing now as the leader of our team though, is that
he is holding people to a certain standard to where the standard is our standard. And if we're
not living up to it, he's not afraid to make sure that people hear his displeasure and that's not someone going after
anybody or anything like that it's with the end goal in mind of us being the best that we can be
us playing towards our potential he's not afraid to come to the coaching staff if he feels something
to me i love seeing that as a coach and uh as i said it's beyond impressive. What does coach Jay Woodcroft give Connor McDavid bleep for?
What do I give him bleep for?
Not much.
He does a lot.
He does a lot well.
You know, there are times, you know, when I talk about managing rest with him in that,
you know, sometimes, you know, it might be best if he's played 24 minutes the night before,
it might be best for maybe him to sit one out.
But he's such a good leader that I think
when he chooses to skate in certain situations,
it comes down to him showing the team
that he's willing to do that for the team.
But I don't give him bleep about too much.
Because I remember Bruce Boudreau telling a story
about the first time when he got hired in
Washington, the first time he had to make
Alexander Ovechkin the star of that day's film
session.
Yeah.
And he said, he went to Ovechkin first and he
said, you're getting it today.
Have you ever done that with McDavid?
Yeah.
And I would say this, that happens quite often.
And that is the job of the coach is to provide leadership, you know, in that regard and make sure everybody's held accountable.
I think Connor enjoys that.
I think we have to give our best players things that they can sink their teeth into that can help them be the best that they can be.
That's been my experience.
I've been around a lot of really good players over time.
And it's been my experience that the best players in the world want to be led.
And that's what I'm here to do.
Are Connor and Leon different at all in the way that they have to be coached or managed?
Yes.
How?
I think Leon, first of all, is the son of a coach.
And he's somebody who's been kind of in that world for a longer time.
He comes early to the rank. He
has certain patterns that he follows. I think what's similar about both of them is they have
elite hockey sense, like elite off the charts hockey sense. They understand the patterns in
the game. They understand the way the game is being played, what teams are having the most success,
why they're having it.
They both crave information that's going to help them
be the best that they can be,
but they're different personality types.
They're different presences.
I think in the end, they're both great friends, though,
because they are different.
They're not the same.
Let's swing to Dreisau.
Do you want to come back on McDavid a couple of seconds,
but here you're on the spot because you've been around both.
Yeah.
Who scores better from the red line,
Leon dry sidle or Joe Thornton from the red line?
From the goal line.
Oh,
you're talking about when they,
yeah.
When they fall off there.
For a second there,
I thought you were talking about center ice too.
Yeah.
I was like center ice.
You know what I think?
I would say that's such a unique spot to score goals from,
but it's also sometimes the best players in the world find ice that others don't.
So it's in response to maybe how they're being defended in certain situations.
I would say Jumbo was, and they're both elite passers,
but Leon probably scores from that spot a little easier than Jumbo would have.
Over the line, five on five.
Dreisaitl, one-timer score from an impossible angle.
An unbelievable goal.
He's got two, 21 on the year, and the Oilers back in front.
I think it's just one of those shots that a goaltender doesn't expect it to come that quickly off an angle.
The dry sidle was at what a shot.
But he meant to do this.
We've seen him score so many goals from a similar spot.
He gets down to that corner.
He is below the goal line when he rips this puck on net for McDavid.
No, look.
Bang, it's down to him.
Look where he is standing.
He is literally in the corner when he lets that go.
And he beats Hogberg and he just looks afterwards and says,
are you kidding me?
We were all amazed at Leon last year in the playoffs.
One of the greatest playoff performances I think we've all seen.
And you're agreeing with that.
That's obvious.
We watch it from a fan's point of view, with a fan's eyes.
You coach Leon Dreisaitl.
You know hockey.
You've played.
You've coached.
What impresses you? Let's go back to that playoff series,
the pain tolerance that he played with. And not just played, but
he played at such a high level. I mean, both him and Connor
shredded three different teams offensively. The numbers that
they put up were unbelievable. And for Leon to have
done that on one leg is amazing.
I thought what we learned about Leon was that he found a new way under a
special circumstance, meaning, you know, given his injury,
there were certain things he could do on the ice.
There were certain things he couldn't do on the ice.
We changed his position in large part because of that.
Yet dealing with the pain and finding a new
way he still found a way to have an effect and help drive our team forward i go back you know
to this year the hockey sense you know the goal that uh he scored the other day when he put the
goal back on its peg against winnipeg boy did he ever pick that top part of the net.
Watch this, though.
On the ensuing play, the toe drag.
And Morrissey doesn't like it.
Looked like Dreisaitl was almost going down himself.
But in the process, he puts the net back.
He has the wherewithal to say, hey, we've got possession here.
We're going to move it around.
He doesn't do that.
He doesn't score this goal.
They'd probably blow it down.
But he puts it back on the moorings.
And look at this.
Not a whole lot of room. But he recognizes that David Riddick is down. this goal they probably blow it down but he puts it back on the moorings and look at this not a
whole lot of room but he recognizes that david riddick is down he's already down a long time
before he takes this shot he goes head hunting put it right for the head nothing you can do on
that shot not a whole lot of room louis there was no room i mean he's just aiming for head
looking for anything and he puts it right in there. What an accurate release.
And then found a hole about this big, you know, from almost an impossible angle.
That goal doesn't happen unless he has the hockey sense
and the wherewithal to understand that that peg had to be put back on
on the mooring or whatever.
That's brilliant.
Let me go back to the playoffs.
How close were you, if ever, to saying,
Leon, I can't let you go back out there?
I'll tell you a funny story about that.
I don't know how funny it is,
but what happened is we were playing for our playoff lives
in game six versus Los Angeles,
and there was a scrum.
He gets pulled down from behind,
hurts his lower body injury, has a lower body injury.
It's his ankle, Jay.
A year later, we can say what it is.
You're allowed to now, even though it hasn't been a press release,
but you can say it.
Okay, so yeah, but he hurts his ankle.
He comes back to the bench, and I know something's going on,
and the play had run on.
There was kind of a TV timeout at the very end of the period.
Trainer comes up to me and they both say,
we're going to bring him back and evaluate him.
I said, well, just leave it, just leave it.
Don't show the cameras that he's leaving the bench
for this reason or whatnot.
And he looked up at me and said, if I do it,
I'll be back in the second period.
I said, okay, see you later.
And so he did it and he played the rest of that game.
But man, I mean, the pain threshold to be able to do what he did was amazing.
I think what we tried to do from that point was manage what we were asking him to do between games or between series.
But what he did was unbelievable.
And you talk about the effect that that has throughout the organization.
If you're Ryan McLeod and you're seeing Leon Dreisaitl play with that type of pain,
I think that goes a lot farther than me saying anything because he's witnessing it.
And Leon's not the only guy that plays with pain.
Vander Kane has done an unbelievable job with managing some things and,
you know, coming back so early from a horrific injury.
I would also say the one thing about McDavid nobody talks about is how hard of
a player he is, the abuse that he takes and how physical he is with his body.
It's amazing what these guys go through.
And we're thankful that we have players of that caliber
and that character on our team.
I want to talk about you.
Sure.
February 10th, last year, 2022.
Take us through that day.
So he's been down there for four years.
Again, I think he's detailed energy, passion.
He's been on a bench in the National Hockey League as an assistant coach.
He's been in the room in all those meetings since 2005.
He's now ran his own bench for four years.
And I think he's had a lot of success.
I watch Bakersfield a lot on the computer and get there occasionally live.
But I watched lots of their games.
And I like the way the team plays down there.
They're very detailed. And that's what I expected he was going to bring up here.
When did you get the call?
Who did you call first?
What was your reaction?
Yeah, I got the call very early in the morning.
Typically, I'm an early riser, so I go into work very early.
Our staff was there to get the call.
So you're in your office in Bakersfield?
In the office, yeah.
Did you have any idea it was coming?
No.
Um, it's not something I thought about.
I was worried about my own team.
Uh, our team at that point in Bakersfield was going through a COVID crisis.
Uh, we had games where it was just me on the bench or me and a goalie coach on the bench.
Uh, we're losing people on a day byday basis to COVID. It was hitting us at
that time, but we were finding ways to win games. And that's the call that makes everything
worthwhile. All the sacrifice, your family's sacrifice, all the years you spent at an arena.
It was everything that you ever want. But I also knew a few things.
I knew that the challenge ahead was going to be a big one, but I felt ready.
And I can't stress that enough.
You know, from my life experience growing up in the family that I have, from my work experience starting in Detroit, going through San Jose, working in Edmonton the first time
and working with and for some really, really great hockey minds. And then making the choice to go to
Bakersfield and become a head coach on my own and work with our own staff down there. All of that
left me with the feeling of being ready when I got tapped on the shoulder. That day, it happened very early in the morning.
I called my wife and said, this is happening.
I said, maybe keep the kids home from school.
My wife would substitute teaching at their school.
She said, no, I'm teaching today.
I can't do that.
And what's her name?
My wife's name is Jackie, who ironically is from Edmonton.
Yeah.
And so I said goodbye over the phone.
I went home.
I packed up my stuff.
I had to get tested to be able to get on an
airplane.
I called some people that were special to me to
let them know.
So they heard it from me before the news broke.
Both Dave Manson and I came up together.
That was important to me because Dave has been
what I call my left tackle since I was a head
coach down in Bakersfield.
And we came up together.
I really did not have a moment to myself
to think about the challenge and what I was going to say
to our team and to the media until the gate closed,
you know, on the airplane,
because I knew I had three hours then from LA to Edmonton.
Land in Edmonton, take a car to our hotel there. I had three hours then from LA to Edmonton. Land in Edmonton,
take a car to our hotel there. I had a meeting that night. It was late at night. I wanted to
hear from the people that were still on the coaching staff about their thoughts of where
the team was at, what they were seeing. I wanted to take the temperature of a few things. Once I
slept on it, got up in the morning,
addressed the team before quick practice,
addressed the media.
And in that moment, I really felt I was addressing our fan base
to try and outlay a plan that we could follow
and that would help us have a little bit of success.
We went and played a game against the New York Islanders.
We found a way to win that game, and the rest is history.
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You know, I talked to a couple of people over the past couple of days.
You either, you know, mostly players that you played with growing up,
whether it's, you know, Markham, Aurora, various minor pro teams.
And one of the questions I asked was,
did you ever think that Jay would be a coach?
And they all said at the time, no.
But as I look back, yes.
That you were the all-in, all in 24 seven in the hockey pool, collecting the hockey cards, watching the hockey games, studying other teams like you were that guy.
And pretty much every person said it should have been obvious to me that this guy was going to be a coach one day.
When did it first get into your brain that maybe I'm going to coach one day?
Well, that's a huge compliment from whoever you were speaking to.
It was a couple.
And you know.
Is it because part of they're basically saying we didn't think he was smart enough back then,
but we probably should have realized it.
Yeah.
Or maybe their 10 year old brain didn't think that.
But for me, I'm the youngest of three boys.
Everybody's involved in hockey.
I was someone who considered himself a student of the game.
I enjoyed going to watch my brothers play and watch them practice
and figure some things out along the way.
I think, when did I know that I would become a coach?
I was a product of the Toronto hockey school system.
I remember taking power skating lessons at Larry Marsden.
I'm still friends with, yeah.
That's a legend.
Yeah, he's a legend.
And his top instructor was someone named Spence Curtin
who's involved in minor hockey still to this day here in Toronto.
And they were people I
learned from and and looked up to you know when I was um really going to hockey school Seneca
College Hockey School uh you know in Toronto here at Seneca College was I went there yeah was run
by Vern Buffy and they had a great way of bringing in the best young players in Toronto.
They would allow them to work as instructors and pass their passion for the game on to the next generation of player.
And I kind of went to those schools and I looked up to guys like Adam Graves and Steve Spott.
And eventually Steve Spott took that program over at Seneca College.
And when I was 13 or 14, I started to work there.
And I learned a lot of valuable lessons working there in the summertime.
One of them was how to behave around older players,
understanding hockey culture in terms of the work ethic
and paying things forward by passing your passion on
to the younger players. I still have bruises from all the skates I tied that first summer,
but as I got a little bit older and a little bit older, I was entrusted with leading groups.
And now all of a sudden you got to figure out, okay, how am I going to best use our time on the
ice to give these kids something to truly make them better?
And, you know, even as a player, as I was working my way up, you know, my own career,
I still really enjoyed those summer times because, you know, you're trying to solve problems and come
up with solutions for things. And I would say that's where the seeds of coaching started.
So what was your big break?
say that's where the seeds of coaching started. So what was your big break? Big break, born into the Woodcroft family, number one. Won the lottery, two great parents, two great brothers. I've won
the lottery with my own family now, with my wife, Jackie, and our two kids. Professionally speaking,
when I was, you know, I had done some things professionally where I'd earned a college
education. So I got something back for all those hours of hard work.
You know, I played in the minors.
I was playing in Europe and it was during the lockout of 2004.
And Mike Babcock had lost somebody on his coaching staff and wanted to know if I wanted to talk to him about potentially joining his coaching staff.
And at that time it was in Anaheim and Greg Carvell had moved on to Ottawa
and now is a great coach in his own right.
But Mike, I had a long conversation.
That lockout ended up lasting the full year.
Mike went to the Detroit Red Wings.
We kept in touch.
You know, I had to make a decision at 28 years old
if I wanted to still play in the leagues in Europe,
which is a great lifestyle and I really enjoyed it.
But in the end, I wanted to make a decision
to be around the best in the world.
And the Detroit Red Wings at the time had a great team,
got to learn from a great coaching staff there.
Every member of that coaching staff
has gone on to be a head coach in the NHL.
I'm quite proud of being in that room. And as the lowest man on the totem pole, I made sure that my
ears were open and my mouth was closed as much as possible. And I learned a lot.
What was the biggest lesson you learned?
Just the amount of hard work and preparation that goes into doing things the right way.
Everybody there was a star in their own right.
It was an education and how to do it right on a daily basis.
I would joke that my undergrad was at Red Wings University.
What's the perfect length for a video session?
Not too long.
I think we have to understand the world we live in now.
So I believe that one of the best qualities
for young coaches out there
is to learn how to distill things down
to what is most important,
what is most essential.
I think there's ways to get to people
on the little details of things.
A lot of that will happen one-on-one.
But in terms of a video session for the team,
I try and keep it under two or three minutes max.
That's fast.
Yeah, I try.
Sometimes it's a little bit longer.
If we've lost a few in a row, it might be a little bit longer.
But I still believe that the brain can only hold the tension for so long.
And that's learned through experience.
Does that build throughout the season?
I remember talking to one video coach who was talking about the idea of, you know, initially just focus on one thing and then build from there all throughout the season.
Agree or disagree?
Yeah, I would say for us, you know, it's like adding a layer to the onion, so to speak.
You know, where we are right now is quite different from where we were in September.
In September, you're laying the foundation and as you work your way through the season,
that's why I said it's important to capture moments
that occur during the season.
We had a great meeting the other day in Boston,
a review of our Buffalo game in certain areas.
And then I saw growth in our team last night in those areas.
That makes me feel very good as a coach.
Sometimes when you're playing the best team in the league,
that brings out those moments.
And so today I wanted to make sure that not only did we focus on that
the other day, but we caught them doing some things properly too.
What was that?
What was that thing?
Oh, you want me to spill all the secrets here?
I want to know what it is.
You know what?
Just some defensive things.
And I think for us, everybody understands for us
that we feel we're going to score enough goals.
But the better we are defensively in certain parts of our game,
defensively, the better chance for long-term success we have.
I think the other day in the media, we played Buffalo,
and I came out and I said, you know, since Christmastime,
we beat Buffalo 3-2. Since Christm I said, you know, since Christmas time, we beat Buffalo three to
two. Since Christmas time, we have 17 wins, three overtime or shootout losses and two losses in
regulation when we give up three goals or less. So that to me is our template. Last night we played
Boston, we won three, two, that kind of reaffirms what we're trying to talk about here. And I believe that the better we are in those areas,
the more chance for success we'll have.
One of the great things about three-on-three when it started,
it seemed like coaches didn't know what to do with this thing
and just go, just go and play.
And it's up and down and up and sprint, sprint, sprint, sprint, sprint.
And then like everything else, the coach has got the hooks in.
How do you coach three-on-three? What do you want want to see out there what don't you want to see out there what
makes you cringe what makes you smile i mean listen the oilers on three on three it's seriously
put out 97 and 29 that would make me smile automatic right how do you coach that with
this team well last year i came up and we had a lot of success in that regard.
Very impressive to watch the highest skilled players in the league
when they have all that ice, right?
This year, I think we won our first two games in overtime,
but recently we've run into a stretch where we couldn't find the wins.
We had chances.
We just didn't find the wins.
The first face-off's important.
I think it's important
that if a team puts two forwards out there and you have possession of the puck to maybe try and
find the forward to pick on the forward defensively. You know, I think what you're seeing
as a tactic for some teams that we were just talking about it here this morning, some teams
will hang on to the puck to try and tire out your best players so that you
get a change and then pick on the change and find their way. In the end, I agree with you. I think
that anytime you leave a portion of the game to the devices of the best coaches in the world,
they find ways. And for us, it's our challenge. We can be better in that area in Edmonton,
even though we have some of the best players in the world, we can be better.
When you took over last year,
there were noticeable changes in the way you defended
the neutral zone on the blue line.
What did you think that the Oilers needed to do?
When I sat on that plane going from LA to Edmonton
and I had some film to sink my teeth into,
that was just an area that I thought the team
was giving up maybe a little too much.
And that was just the one thing. And that was a big thing for us was that I tried not to convolute
anything by going in eight different areas. I got some great advice from Paul Maurice,
somebody that I really respect as a coach. And, and he, uh, he suggested to me that you pick one
or two things at most and then kind of go from there.
So that was the area that upon doing my work and the answers becoming clear, we wanted to put a greater emphasis on gap control from our D-men, greater emphasis on our work back to our own zone from our forwards.
We didn't want to just sink in and give up lines.
We wanted to make sure that lines were contested
and that if teams were going to get to our end,
they had to earn that right, not just freely get there.
Was it a difficult sell at all?
No.
You know, I tried to find, again, I didn't just go to the negative.
I tried to find examples of the team doing things well,
tried to put a few rules in place to give our players a compass.
I think it's important that the players have a sense of direction
on why you're doing some certain things.
We had immediate buy-in.
We had success with that first win, and then it just kind of grew from there.
It almost became a virtuous loop where, you
know, they were performing at such a high
level and then, you know, it kind of fed into
itself and that became one of our calling
cards and part of our identity as a team and
organization.
So what are wood cross rules for hockey?
No, no, no.
I thought you were just talking about the
back check.
No, but like for that, that's a
good example.
Like what are wood cross rules?
Well, I think we want to be known as a work
ethic based group, right?
And controlling the middle of the rink, both
offensively and defensively, I believe is
very important.
It's about letting the other team know the
ice that is going to be contested heavily.
I think there's a measure of physicality to our team and it's not just always in
the big hits.
It's getting pieces of people and chipping bodies and that type of thing.
So I'm not going to go into every rule cause I'm not going to outlay it here,
but I would say that our players are very clear on responsibilities.
And that's important to me.
I think if our players feel prepared, if they understand the type of team we're playing and what's coming at them and they're armed with the tools to be successful, they can just go out and play because we're predictable to each other.
You mentioned Paul Maurice a second ago.
I want to ask you a question that I asked Paul Maurice just like 10 years ago.
I remember asking him, what was your welcome to the NHL moment?
The one moment you realized, whoa, it's different up here.
Like I'm, I'm coaching NHLers.
And he said his first practice and he blew the whistle.
He said, Sammy Kapanen took took off faster than he'd ever seen anyone
take a first three steps before.
And he said, wow, that's the NHL.
Did you have a welcome to the NHL moment?
I did, but not maybe in the way you're asking the question
because I had been with Detroit and San Jose and Edmonds,
so I'd been in the NHL for over
a thousand games. I'd coach a lot of the players on the Oilers. When I had come up, I'd coach them
either in Bakersfield or as an assistant coach in the NHL. So it's interesting because most coaches
start the way Paul, he came up from junior hockey or college. Some guys come up from college hockey
and their first experience in the NHL,
everything's new. For me, it was almost the opposite. I started in the NHL,
took a step back to work on my head coaching game, and then came up and I felt very comfortable. It
felt very natural to me. My original welcome to the NHL moment would have been that training camp
in Detroit when you had Iserman, Robert Lang, Brendan Shanahan,
Pavel Datsyuk in his prime, Henrik Zetterberg, Lids from these guys. And I remember watching
the first practice and just coming and saying, I thought I worked hard as a player. What these
guys do and their level of skill and execution was amazing. And I saw the difference.
Like, what was the first time you ever had to, I don't know, did Babcock ever say, okay, Jay, I want you to tell this player that this isn't going well and you're going to do it.
Yeah.
I mean, I remember one time he had me do something where I went to the front of the room.
We were in Los Angeles.
It was early and I was just 28 years old.
A lot of the players on the team were older than me.
And I just said something. We were putting on some type of video for the group. It wasn't leading a meeting or anything. It was more just, you know, telling the group what was going to be
shown and everything like that. And when I walked in and I started to speak, it was like the music
stopped and everyone kind of turned their head and wanted to know what this young whippersnapper
was talking about. You know what I learned and I learned this in Detroit and this is probably
where that philosophy came from, but the best players in the world, they didn't mind that I
was only 28. As long as you knew what you were talking about. Yes. They wanted to know that you
were well-prepared, you had something to offer them. And I think that's a mark of a great player
too, is that they want to be coached. Craziest interaction you've ever had with a player as a
coach? Craziest interaction. I don't know, but I can tell you that as a young guy in Detroit,
it was pretty intimidating to be around Steve. And I was telling a story the other day to our
coaching staff where, you know, just the leadership that I got to see every day from him. And I was telling a story the other day to our coaching staff where, you know, just the
leadership that I got to see every day from him. And he's not the loudest or anything like that,
but some of the things that I was privy to that first year in Detroit from a legend in our game.
Come on, give one up, give one up.
Oh, I just remember one time in Edmonton during a playoff series and we didn't win the playoff series, but I saw, you know, the coaches were
prepared to come in to give the pregame talk
and Steve stood up and was already giving the
talk.
And I just thought, man, like that was
leadership personified in that moment and what
he said.
And in the end, the coaches didn't need to
give the talk after Steve gave it.
And as a young man, that left a big impression
on me.
I just wanted to ask you about, you mentioned
your brothers.
Yep.
Todd's a coach.
Yep.
Craig's a coach.
Yep.
Do you now say, I'm the best Woodcroft coach?
No, I don't say that because I'm the youngest.
I mean, I'm, I'm using, most youngest are used
to being put in their place.
A lot of times I was the goalie in road hockey
and I took a lot of beatings on the way up,
but I wouldn't trade my experience being the youngest
in our family with anything.
The one fun thing for us as a group of brothers
was at the 2015 World Championships,
Todd was an assistant coach with Glenn Hanlon in Switzerland.
Craig was an assistant coach with Dave Lewis in Belarus.
And I was an assistant coach with Todd McClellan and a great staff for Team Canada.
In the end, Team Canada played both Switzerland and Belarus.
And we ended up beating those teams and we won the gold medal.
So, but that was the only bragging rights that I have as a coach.
Did you have money on the board for those games?
No money on the board, but I was excited when we won.
As you evolve as a coach, because you're a great talker, I'm curious how your style
sort of changes.
Like you mentioned those first few interactions with Detroit, you're a much different and confident person now. Where do you look to or who do you look towards
in hockey, outside of hockey to develop your own style of communication? Because that always is an
evolving thing. Like all of us, Elliot and I both broke in 94, 95-ish, maybe you're a little bit
before, but like your style evolves, right?
Miles Davis used to always say, it takes a long time to sound like yourself.
How do you get there?
How did Jay Woodcroft get there?
Yeah, I think, you know, The Rock in our family was our mom, Gem.
She's passed on here over a few years ago, but always there was an emphasis put on education.
As I moved on and worked at hockey schools,
you find your voice that way when you have to stand in front of people
and get your point across.
I think as I entered the professional coaching world,
certainly Mike is one of the best communicators out there,
a great public speaker,
walked into a room and could command any type of room that he walked into. I thought Todd
McClellan's public speaking and his ability to get his message across was unbelievable. So you'll
learn that. I had a conversation one time, and I'm a big believer in having conversations with learned people
in all professions. I had a conversation one time, I called Doug Reisbrough up and we were
just talking about the game. He ended up asking me more questions than I asked him. And in the end,
he said something unique to me, which was because he had asked me about who my influences were and
all that kind of stuff. And then he said, just make sure you remember
how important your players are.
And I thought it was one of the,
and I just hadn't got to that point.
And he said, what you can learn from your players,
and I was very young at this time, is immeasurable.
And I think of some of the best players
that I've got to be around in three proud organizations.
And what I've learned from them, how they conduct themselves on a daily basis, what their needs were, and seeing them in the most pressure-filled moments that you can see them.
I think that's where you kind of gain experience and find your voice.
You know, there was, this is a few years ago, Elliot was interviewing Mike Pinball Clemens. He asked a horrible question, but Pinball Clemens gave a great answer. And this was
the answer. Something to the effect of, if you're the smartest person in any room, that's your fault.
And that one always stuck with me. That one, like, it seems like you're sort of that guy as well.
Like the sponge around all of it. Don't surround yourself with people that will just bobblehead everything you say.
Be in a room where you talked about two ears, one mouth before.
That's you, right?
Well, I think there's something to be said about having an endlessly curious mind
and willing to ask questions of people in any aspect of life.
I think you can learn or pick things up from people.
Sometimes it's how not to do things.
But for me, in the summertime, when I get away,
one of the things I challenge myself with is having those types of conversations
with people in all fields.
And I'm fortunate that people pick up the phone
and I'm fortunate to be surrounded by a great family
and a great group of friends.
And like I said, I take notes.
I try and evolve as a person, as a coach that way.
Last one for me, Jay, is someone from the team told me this
and they wouldn't tell me who it involved, but they told me the story.
They said that you have a really good relationship with your GM in the sense that your GM will listen to you when it comes to what he might be thinking.
And he told me that there was a situation where there was a player the others were looking at.
And you said to him, I think we can solve this problem from within.
And you guys didn't acquire that player.
He wouldn't tell me who it was,
but he told me that the fact you're nodding
tells me it's true.
So tell me about the relationship
between you and Ken Holland
and the fact that here you are,
you're I guess 13 months into your NHL career
and your GM would listen to you about that.
Yeah.
Well, I think, first of all,
what a lucky guy I am
as a first-time NHL head coach
to have as my superior
somebody who has the experience
and pedigree of someone like Ken Holland.
Now, you couple that with the fact
that we've worked together before.
We've won a championship together before. I think that's where the bonds of trust are kind of built. I went a separate way in leaving Detroit to go to San Jose and pursuing my own dreams to become a head coach. And we've come back together in Edmonton. For him to ask me that question, I feel very capable of answering some things that he might ask.
I also am under the understanding that for me,
my job is to coach the players that are in front of me.
I stay in my lane.
If I get asked a question, hopefully I give a learned answer.
But the side benefit of having been in Bakersfield
and then to come up to Edmonton is that I
have a clear understanding of what we have in our organization.
And I'm unafraid to play some of these young kids and put them in situations because I've
seen them perform in certain ways at a different level.
Last one for me.
I know you're a podcast guy.
Yeah.
I knew the Dan Carlin question was coming.
No, don't bias the jury here.
What is the second best podcast going?
Second best podcast.
You know, I've listened to a few here over time.
I enjoy doing it.
If I get up early in the morning in the summertime
and go for a run or go for long walks at our cottage, I like to listen to podcasts.
So I enjoy learning about people.
So one of the ones that I've listened to is called Presidential, and it basically goes through every president of the United States, and it tells some type of story about their leadership or what they were dealing with at the time.
And I've picked up a lot of good information like that.
I thought that was interesting.
I think a pop culture one that I'm into now
is Smartless where-
That's a stand-up.
Yeah, the three actors are sitting there talking
and they have great guests.
But I think I know where your next one was.
What do I-
Dan Carlin.
My favorite one, yeah.
Because I know you're a big Dan.
How did you,
because I've had Andrew Ferentz talk to me me about dan carlin he's a big fan too how did you come to find dan carlin podcast um i think it was referred to me by one of my brother-in-laws
and they knew that i like history and and i you know i listened to the one on world war one it's
the best one yeah and it was just phenomenal.
And I was sitting there and it was like I was on pins and needles just waiting to hear what was coming next.
And I just think his voice, his study, and the meticulousness he puts into each one of those is really impressive.
he puts into each one of those is really impressive. And, you know, just for you, Elliot, you know,
I know that Jeff got to speak to Dan and he made it into a podcast
and I really enjoyed listening to that.
I always say.
He liked that more than he liked this one.
I will say that.
I've said it before, like that was podcast fantasy camp for me.
Like that was like, what am I doing here?
That was.
Well, I thought he paid you a really good compliment
because you had done something together here in Toronto.
Yeah, at his book launch.
And so that if he was going to give a little information about himself,
he wanted you to be the person that asked the questions.
We've become friends.
He's a special guy.
Yes.
He's a special guy, as are you.
Continued success.
You got some Ferraris in the driveway.
That must be fun to coach.
Continued success and best of luck in the playoffs.
Thanks for having me on, guys.
I really appreciate it.
That's Jay Woodcroft, head coach of the Edmonton Oilers.
Hope you enjoyed the interview as much as Elliot and I did,
sitting down with him, and he gave us a lot of his time
last Friday afternoon.
We thank him for it.
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