32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Johnny Oduya On Travel, Coaching & ATUNYA

Episode Date: March 29, 2022

He is a two-time Stanley Cup champion and the founder of Atunya, a training apparel brand. Johnny Oduya joins Jeff and Elliotte to talk about life away from professional hockey, his travels to Kenya a...nd Thailand, creating Atunya and the challenges he faced during the pandemic, he shares some Stanley Cup memories, the importance of fitness and healthy eating, coaching hockey and a tells the guys a few funny stories from his days in the NHL.Check out Atunya and all their products here: https://atunya.comMusic Outro: Matt Berry - Summer SunListen to Matt’s entire discography on SpotifyThis podcast is produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: WGNThe 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.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Elliot does Peloton every day, so I will... We have some nice hoodies and sweatpants, so you don't have to be Duncan Keith. Johnny Oduya doesn't talk publicly, or at least that's what we thought. Welcome to 32 Thoughts to the Podcast, presented by the all-new GMC AT4 lineup. Now, Johnny Oduya, you may know as a two-time Stanley Cup champion, playing on a number of NHL teams, including the Devils, the Thrashers, the Jets, the Hawks, where he won cups, the Stars, the Sens, and a single game with the Philadelphia Flyers. And as we talk about in this interview, people were surprised when he reached out
Starting point is 00:00:42 and said he wanted to come on and talk to us about his career and promote his new endeavor, which is called Atunia. I'm going to talk more about that in a couple of seconds. We were surprised. Everybody around us were surprised, but eagerly so. Like we don't hear Johnny Oduya do interviews. We didn't know how it was going to go.
Starting point is 00:00:59 Was it going to be a quick 10 minute chat, maybe a cozy 15 and wrap it up? We ended up talking for like 90 minutes and edited it down for clarity and conciseness, mainly chopping out parts by, you know, me and Elliot. But all the good Johnny Oduya stuff is in there. Fascinating guy. When he played, you know, paired with Nick Chalmerson in Chicago, as much as Keith and Seabrook got the headlines, Chalmerson and Oduya were fantastic en route to Stanley Cups.
Starting point is 00:01:23 Really good, solid, smart hockey player. One that every single team could use. Really happy to do the interview. The new endeavor he's part of is called the Tunia, which is an athletic performance brand of training apparel. So whether it's compression shirts and compression shorts and hoodies and sweatpants. And by the way, if you go to the website at tunia.com, be better than yesterday, great tag,
Starting point is 00:01:48 check out the hockey sweater. It looks so cool. With that, we'll let you get listening to it. Here's Johnny Oduya, a really fun interview. Great guy, wonderful hockey player, and businessman now, helping spread hockey all around the world. Here's Johnny Oduya on 32 Thoughts, the podcast.
Starting point is 00:02:05 Enjoy. Pleased to be joined now by two-time Stanley Cup champion and someone who now, Elliot, is dabbling in the world of fashion and clothing and athletic wear. He is Johnny Oduya and he joins us on the podcast. Johnny, thanks so much for doing this. How are you today? I'm very good. Thank you for having me. Pleasure is all ours. First of all, where are you right now? I am in Stockholm, Sweden. Stockholm, Sweden. And when we think of your career, we'll think of the two Stanley Cups, certainly.
Starting point is 00:02:49 We'll think of the time in New Jersey and we'll think of the trade that took you to Atlanta and the Chicago Cups and paired with Chalmers. And we'll get into a lot of this stuff now. But when you look back at your career now, what are some of the things that jump out at you right away? Is it just too obvious to say the two Stanley Cups? Well, good question to start with. No, I feel,
Starting point is 00:03:13 of course, that is hallmark time of my career, but I also feel very fortunate and I've been, I think I've seen anything, not everything you can see in the NHL, but I've been in small cities. You know, Winnipeg is probably the smallest one. It's also probably the coldest one. And with diehard fans. And then I was in Atlanta where it's hot, warm, and nobody cares about hockey at all. Or nobody cares about hockey at all. But compared to maybe in the fan base in canada it's completely different and big cities like new york obviously
Starting point is 00:03:51 being in new jersey old traditional sports cities like chicago i feel very fortunate i feel like i've i've done hot cold small big fans no fans, everything you can imagine. So yeah, that is what I usually, when I look back at it, I'm very happy and proud for that. I got a lot of questions I want to ask you because I texted around, I called around, I said, I need some good Johnny Oduya stories. And we'll talk about some of the stops, but I have a couple of things I have one story I need to ask you if this is true and I'm going to credit the person who told me it was Mike Rupp a great guy a great person yeah and Mike Rupp told me that it was almost
Starting point is 00:04:38 your fault and his fault that Eli Manning and the New York Giants wouldn't have won a Super Bowl. They won two together, but there was a reason almost that Eli Manning never won a Super Bowl with the Giants. And it was because one of you was driving at a crosswalk. Is this story true? Well, I can't even remember the details of this, but we did live in the same building in um in hoboken when i when i first moved down there i was one of the first guys that moved away from you know the more uh the parts up in in yeah the smaller towns around the practice rings i moved down when we moved to newark and uh i don't remember exactly if i ran over or almost ran him over at the crosswalk, but something like that. I do remember though, when they won afterwards and it was complete
Starting point is 00:05:34 chaos everywhere in the streets and everything was beautiful. But yeah, I don't have that many more details of that, but I'm going to ask Rapper about actually he said he said in a text that you and him almost killed eli manning in a car while he was on a crosswalk yeah that could have been true wait a sec wait a sec okay so i know you can't you said you can't remember everything here but if someone was going to do that would it it be you driving or Michael driving? I would probably blame that on him. And, you know, he talks a lot too. And he really gets excited. And, you know, he talks a lot when he gets excited.
Starting point is 00:06:13 So maybe we were having a deep, loud conversation. And one of us or none of us were paying attention to the road. So that could have been true. Yeah. The other story I heard, Johnny, was, and it was really funny that a few players said, wait a sec, you guys are doing an interview with Johnny Oduya? And I said, yeah. And they go, you're kidding me. And I go, what do you mean?
Starting point is 00:06:35 And he goes, there's not a guy who likes to talk about himself less than Johnny Oduya. I can't believe that he's actually doing an interview. Yeah. And that is probably true. So for me, if I could pick, I would probably not talk about myself that much. No, it's nothing against media per se. It's just, I don't really like that,
Starting point is 00:06:57 but it's good because now I can train and do that. And I think also now there's different things that I do that have a cost that I think is more important than me. So then I have no problem talking about that. And of course, the vessel is through me, so to speak. So then there's a purpose. And I love doing that, actually.
Starting point is 00:07:16 There's a couple of interesting coaches that you've had along the way. And there's one that I want to ask you about specifically as a defenseman. want to ask you about specifically as a defenseman. When you were with the New Jersey Devils, what did it mean to you or what was it like having Larry Robinson around? Elliot and I talk about Larry Robinson every now and then. I still think that he's as revered as he is in the game. I still think it should be more. I think he's one of the all-timers. What was your experience like with Larry Robinson? Well, I love Larry. First of all, he's a magnificent, fantastic individual as a person, as a human. He's just magical.
Starting point is 00:08:07 And I think coming into New Jersey in my first year, this defensive machinery, i think a few places i think in the nhl ever in time that had that kind of feeling around it and the the way they pursued and focused on the defensive game and the team game and coming in to that for me it was quite surreal in the beginning i think i really got to learn how to play defense and how to do it and of course also having marty brudor marty in the beginning, I think I really got to learn how to play defense and how to do it. And of course, also having Marty Brudor, Marty in the back. If you play good and you play smart, there's going to be no goals, you know? So it was quite interesting. And it was so many games back then we won one, nothing or two, one. And it was just, it was unbelievable, but the coaches, not just him, but the whole coaching staff at that time was something. I don't know how many NHL games they had in between them. At the time I was there, the first couple of years, I had Larry, of course.
Starting point is 00:08:55 I also had Jacques Laperrier, which was actually the D coach that I had my first year. And I love Lappy too. Just very calm, smart individual with a funny sense of humor. We watched a lot of videotapes and I watched sometimes when I didn't have a tape to watch on my games. He's like, Johnny, Johnny, you played good. Now we're going to watch the other guys. I'm like, okay, do that. So no, it was just fantastic.
Starting point is 00:09:23 So him, of course, helped me a lot. Scotty Stevens was there at that time as well. And, you know, helped out with special things every now and then. Tommy Albelin was around the team at that time. And it was just, you know, if you want to play defense, like who else is going to show you how to do that? It was just unbelievable. So I got a really good start in how to yeah really develop that sense and awareness and all we talked about all the time is where to
Starting point is 00:09:51 position yourself basically so you need to understand where to put yourself at all times and that is also some of the things i actually teach younger players now that it's not just actually teach younger players now that it's not just about how fast and where you can skate and what you can do which is something that's moving into the game more and more I like that part I think to get the hockey is getting better but there's also something around building awareness and understanding the game and developing that sense and that skill as well which yeah I was very very fortunate with that in the beginning. I'm interested in that, John. So when you teach kids, including playoffs,
Starting point is 00:10:32 you played, I think, 956 games. When you teach kids, what are the rules of defense that you teach? What do you say to them? You have to do this, and you have to know this. Yeah, we work on basic awareness, I would say. And one thing that I like to do now is I put together a mindful defense camp with one of my skills coaches, Daniel Broberg, which is a fantastic skill coach here in Sweden. And we've done these a couple of times and i told them initially i want to i want to have 12 year olds so i want to teach 12 year olds how to play nhl defense
Starting point is 00:11:11 game basically and some people are like maybe they're too young and they won't understand and i'm like no let's try it and we tried it so from 12 and then up, I wanted to bring them awareness of different situations, what can happen, and also what happens if you do a certain thing. So preparing them for different types of scenarios, basically, because some coaches would like them to, if you're a defenseman, like you to go attack fully in the corner. And some of them wants you to angle and position. And some of them wants to play overload defense. And there's so many variations of what can happen. And I want to expose them to that.
Starting point is 00:11:56 And if I can expose them to that, maybe they won't use it now for one or two years. But eventually, they're going to run into that. And having the understanding and not seeing that for the first time i think it's super important because the game now has changed you need to be ready way earlier when i came in i was 23 or 24 and i think i was the youngest defenseman on the team at that time and we had six guys in new jersey that was over 35 i think or something like that so now that the league is younger, players are younger, there's more speed, and you need to be ready way earlier. So if you're 16, 17, and you've never been exposed to any of
Starting point is 00:12:36 these things, and you think you're going to play in the NHL two years later or three years later, that I think is a challenge. And you might make it if you're one of those top 00.1% skilled defensemen that can do that. But defensive game is more than just the puck handling. And how do you do that before you used to come in and, you know, you would have two or three years in the minors and you get to learn how to play the game and, you know, that time is, uh, is basically gone now. So I think it's so much more important to learn those things way earlier and they're
Starting point is 00:13:12 adaptable. They can do it. I mean, some of them are doing better than, than some of the older players that I coach now. So it's like they pick it up so fast and they understand. So it's super, super cool. So I love doing that. What role does physicality play in all of this?
Starting point is 00:13:27 Like when you go around a bench now, like anyone can do this, go to if you're near an NHL bench or American League bench or at any level, really high level, where once upon a time we would always hear coming from the bench, finish your check, finish your check, finish your check. Now we hear good stick, good stick, good stick. Is there a role still with physicality? We know it's diminished, but what, if anything,
Starting point is 00:13:47 is the role in physicality playing defense right now? In New Jersey, we always talked about positioning first. So you can go make a hit, but you can't get out of position to do it. So if you do that, that's fine. And sometimes, of course, depending on situation in games, you can try to make that big hit, maybe with the intention of changing the momentum, for example. So then it might be useful. But if you're running around all the time and you have no control of what you're doing
Starting point is 00:14:20 because you want to collect hits, I think that's a very bad strategy for a defenseman and for me it was always more of trying to absorb hits and actually get the forwards to hit me because it's actually tough for forwards also to run around and hit people just ask any forward and you tell them to go around around and get 20 hits in a game that's super difficult to do they're going to be gassed out so for me it was almost the more people chase me and the more they hit me and if i'm smart and i can move the puck then come and hit me as much as you want you're the one that's going to get tired you know it's almost like a boxing game where you defend yourself the other guy is punching punching
Starting point is 00:15:00 punching punching you're just defending deflecting defending deflecting and then when the time is right you know you're just going to get the puck and you move it so if you're not afraid of getting hit and you know how to protect yourself and you can be smart around that i think it's a really good way and especially if you're uh you know if you're smarter or smarter but a smaller player that can move then you should use your skating b and position first. And if you can finish checks, of course, do it. But if you run around without awareness, for me, I don't think that's a good way to defend. And as you talked about with the sticks,
Starting point is 00:15:34 that was something that we talked very early on. I agree with you that this is the new hitting. And the game is so fast that it might be difficult to even get to forwards because they're so fast and getting away so it's interesting to see the development and like I said I some of my friends and other people say that they don't like it they think it's odd it's not like it used to be and there's no hitting anymore and I don't agree fully with that. I think maybe it's not as much in the regular season. But, I mean, I watched some of the playoff games. Not too many now the last couple of years.
Starting point is 00:16:13 But I think the intensity is there. And the hitting is there. And the momentum shifts are there. And, like, all of these things are still there. So, although the personnel players look different now. So, they focus on different things. Johnny, are you going to coach someday? All this stuff is so good.
Starting point is 00:16:30 I do coaching. That's what I said. I coach younger kids. No, no, no. No, no, no. I know. But I understand that. But if I'm an NHL team listening to this, I'm saying this is a guy who could work with our prospects
Starting point is 00:16:42 or this is a guy who could coach our young defensemen. Do you have any goal towards that kind of thing? No, I think my work is more outside of the teams. Of course, if there's individuals that want to reach out and do that, that's possible, and of course through the teams also. But I don't know what that would look like i kind of like it as it is now where i can do it off the grid so to speak and i love to help players so focusing on the individual players and what is needed for them and how i can support them
Starting point is 00:17:20 that's something that i i like to do and if that's true team or agent or you know whatever it doesn't really matter to me but i want to focus on the players and the ones that really wants to learn and excel and absorb new information and develop let me ask i've asked you about physicality let me ask you about shooting as a defenseman because that's changed as well like long gone are the days of the gotta have the big clapper from the point. And you're like those days it's, it's from, from a bygone era,
Starting point is 00:17:51 teaching shooting for a forward is different than teaching shooting for a defenseman. That's an Elliot and I, a while ago, we're talking to Tyler Sagan, the Dallas stars and bringing up John Klingberg. And I think you were with Dallas when John was first starting in the NHL. And listen, his reputation is like,
Starting point is 00:18:07 he shoots high from the point and it's heads up in front of the net because he'll throw them in there high. But how do you teach kids to shoot from the point? What's important in 2022? How do you shoot as a defenseman? I agree with everything you said. Oh, that's going to go right to his head, Johnny.
Starting point is 00:18:22 I just want you to know that. That's my new ringtone now, John. Thank you for that. That's great. I don't know if I'm the best person to actually talk about this because I'm not a significant goal scorer in the NHL. So that might be one thing. But other than that, yeah, I agree that it has changed.
Starting point is 00:18:44 I think you need to shoot on moving pucks. So, you know, just loading up and shooting, I think that's difficult. If you can shoot, find one-timer positions where you can shoot off the wall or off broken place or off place like that. I mean, I scored some of the goals I scored on the end of my career was just shooting off people into the net, basically. So getting the puck into the net and getting it through, that's some of the things that we're working on. And then of course, I think I take influence from these guys you're
Starting point is 00:19:13 talking about, Karl Makar or Klingberg or whoever it is that have this ability to move. And for me, that's not just the shot. That's actually how you move your feet so that is a skating practice just as much for me anyway as it is shooting the one i looked a lot at when i was younger was um it was nick lidstrom how he had the the ability to grab pucks off the wall if you're on the blue line he can grab it off the wall just take one too smooth almost like i don't know like a duck wiggle with his tail and then he would just like shoot pucks that would somebody would tip in like holmstrom was in front tipping them everything and um i tried to practice that as much as i could and now it's almost like there's a 2.0 level of that where there's multiple fakes and moves and turns and And Duncan Keat was fantastic at this.
Starting point is 00:20:06 And I watched that up front closely, of course, how he had the ability to move and move his skates and they create opportunities. So yeah, shooting off, moving pucks, I would say, yeah. Let me ask you one more super geeky question so Elliot can roll his eyes at me here. How do you instruct defensemen on what to do with rolling or wobbling pucks? Because it's one thing for a forward, like around the net,
Starting point is 00:20:32 wobbling puck, like shoot it every time because no one knows where it's going to go, especially the goaltender. So you do it. Is it the same for defensemen from farther out? What do you do with a wobbling puck? Where is the wobbling puck and where am I? You're on defense. The puck has squirted back to the blue line, but it's not flat. You're at the point and that puck has squirted to you, but it's wobbling. That's a good question. It depends. It's the read question. It depends on the speed of the puck. If it's coming really fast at me, I probably won't swat at it. If it's coming slower and I sense that if I miss it, I can get out,
Starting point is 00:21:11 then maybe I would swat at it and try to shoot at it. Yeah, I've scored some of those goals too where it's impossible for the goalie to save it. It's just bouncing and getting in there. So I would say if the puck is coming really hard, I probably will try to stop it with my body, get it down. If somebody's attacking me, which usually forwards do, if you're on the blue line and there's a bouncing puck, they should attack me.
Starting point is 00:21:35 And if they do that, then usually I would back out and then collect the puck and try to do something with it. But yeah, it's a read situation. It's difficult to know exactly what to do but yeah all right you got any more scenarios merrick that you're gonna run on here is it i like to get like hyper geeky on this kind of stuff i could i could do this all day johnny no that's good like actually i have to say i found that all really really interesting um the other thing i wanted to ask you was about is some of your travels you know know, you played in Thailand a couple of times in your career, including after you left the NHL.
Starting point is 00:22:09 And I know, and I think it was last summer, the summer before you can correct me that you and Oliver Shillington went to Kenya together and you worked on doing some roller hockey there to try to grow the sport. Um, just what was it like playing in Thailand and in some of these places where maybe we don't think about as normal with hockey, what was your experience like there? Yes, I went to Thailand during the lockout and had nothing to do, or nothing to do, but I worked out here with the team. I skated a little bit, but then as it looked at that time, we were not going to start before Christmas. I'm like, I got to do something. i found a team in thailand so a lot of suites go to thailand in the in the winter time
Starting point is 00:22:50 and yeah basically me and my friend went there we looked it up and they thought first that there was it was a joke uh that they're like why are you gonna come here but it wasn't and they were really surprised when i showed up at the airport. It's like, yeah, it's actually you. I'm like, yeah, I want to skate. So yeah, it was fantastic. It was just one of the best things I think I could have done at the time. It was a beautiful hockey community with expats and ties and everything mixed together, playing in a league.
Starting point is 00:23:23 I could have the ice for myself at times with a couple of players, worked out a lot with that. I had hockey clinics for some of the kids and skated with the other players at night that played some, you know, some shinny games and some other games they had. And I was there for, you know, a month or two or something like that. And I still have ties and friends that I still talk to now from that time, of course.
Starting point is 00:23:47 And when I have the time to come back, go back, I do that. And we had this tournament that we played and we actually won also. It was super cool. It was the first thing I won. I never won anything before. This was before the Stanley Cups.
Starting point is 00:24:02 So I was so happy that I actually got to win something in in thailand so that the the thai um was not a national championship it's more of a tournament with different teams from other cities as well actually around the southeast asia so it was great and now i think the tournament's uh growing and i've seen a lot of canadian teams signing up and go and play in there the game is growing a lot they're building one or two new rinks now i think in downtown bangkok which is great it's more than they build here in stockholm so i don't know what that says but yeah it's been really fun now i'm looking trying to get back there and hold a skills or a youth camp in um uh at some point in december this year
Starting point is 00:24:47 i hope as a new rink i think it's done by done so it's wonderful it's just it's great it's so nice to go to these different places when there's hockey community and hockey players are lovely like that you know anywhere you go you always feel like you're a part of the part of the gang and feel like you're a part of the part of the gang and it's very welcoming and happy and and it binds people together through the sport so it's fantastic and what about Kenya with with Oliver Shillington yeah so Kenya is a little bit different of a project of course they also they actually did the big the the lions there did a photo shoot not too many years ago, I think with Tim Hortons, then they brought them over from Kenya to Canada and skated with Sidney Crosby and kin and maybe
Starting point is 00:25:34 also and did a big photo shoot around that. So they had hockey there and have had it for some time. They have this old square rink in a in a hotel that hotel that they play at. When we were there this summer, that rink was closed. So we skated in the park. So they have this big parking lot in the center of Nairobi where they clear out on Sunday. So then they play roller hockey for three hours. And there was also some speed skating going on on the side and this was a um you know a base and a photo opportunity and brand building opportunity also for uh attunia the sports brand out then i'm creating and we wanted to set the base with this and it was so cool i've been
Starting point is 00:26:20 looking for projects in kenya to do some type of charity work and combine it with something. And this worked out great. I mean, my dad's from Kenya. My roots are there to some extent. And it was just a wonderful thing. And now we have this beautiful project where they already been doing this. So we just plug in and play. And we're having a photo venissage exhibition actually now
Starting point is 00:26:48 in stockholm here in two weeks where we uh we're taking all these beautiful photos of uh different environments and players and all these things and now we we're gonna do a charity event with that to try to feed the project even more so there's a lot of good things and touch points that it's very nice for me. And they're great at delicate individuals that are there are also amazing. You know, we were there, we brought these little plastic pucks, you know, the ones you use on asphalt. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And we brought those and we started to play and me and Oliver, we're kind of looking at each other like this
Starting point is 00:27:24 is going to get you know, wild and and they were holding they were holding back on us and and they were full-fledged you know blocking shots with no gear this plastic puck if you get that on your knee you break your knee like they don't care about anything and hard-on full passion just most passionate hockey players you can imagine. And some of them are from probably one of the toughest parts in the world. Uh, you know, some of the ghettos outside of, uh, Nairobi, which are enormous, you know, and they take their skates on and they skate 45 minutes to get to the park. They skate for three hours and then they go back block shots and they're like,
Starting point is 00:28:03 yeah, it's just amazing individuals. Yeah. It's not something that, something that that you see every day and i think oliver had a similar experience i think it was very eye-opening and humbling for him as well when we spoke about that and so we love to do more more more stuff like that it's very nice so yeah you know johnny like athletes are athletes if you're a good athlete you can do a lot of different things but the roller blades and and learning how to control on a stick it's so unique and so different so i just wonder for kids who've never been exposed to that kind of thing before how long does it take them to to master it or to to learn it or to become comfortable at it oh that's a good question i think it's similar to playing hockey so they're on the ice and they've been doing this for a long time so we're not the one
Starting point is 00:28:49 that started that project which is super interesting so now we just uh we supported skates uh through marsh blade was one of the sponsors for that so they gave them we you know we have like 25 pairs of skates or new new inlines that we brought down. And that was magical by itself. And then, of course, we donated jersey for them to play in. We're looking at donating sticks, getting into programs with some of them to go to school and doing all these things. So they're really good skaters. They're really, really good skaters.
Starting point is 00:29:23 There's a lot of speed skaters, too. A lot of the girls do speed skating also. So they have this big like roundabout on the other side that they do. And they're good skaters really, really, really good. So yeah, like I said, for us to just tap into that project and try to develop it further. I mean, there's talks about maybe creating a real rink, for example, wow. And, example, and getting sponsorships and stuff around that. So I think there's a lot of these places around the world where hockey is very cool and that you don't think of,
Starting point is 00:29:55 and it's a really passionate community. And for me, when I see this, this is the pure form of love for the sport. And it doesn't matter if you're in nairobi or if you're in the back street of playing street hockey in in canada somewhere for me that's the same thing that you know there's no lights there's no cameras there's no there's no media and uh yeah and and all of these things are gone obviously we we were the ones filming now but uh it's something very pure and beautiful around that and And we're trying to recreate that feeling in individuals and for me also in myself. I think the selfish purpose of
Starting point is 00:30:32 that is it really gives me a lot of joy and drive to be able to feed into these projects. You know, that's probably a good entry point then to ask you about it, Tunja. You mentioned that a second ago. This is a high-performance athletic gear that you've created. Take us through it from the root to the fruit. What's the idea and what's the execution here? Well, the first thing I learned was don't start a clothing company during the pandemic. People still need clothes, John. Yeah, I know you said that. but uh yeah it's also difficult to
Starting point is 00:31:08 produce and do all these things but no it's something i've been looking for for a long time i mean i've been in i do a lot of i wouldn't say weird things nowadays but uh i've been into this kind of holistic approach of doing things for for some now, I wouldn't say 10 years, but almost, maybe eight at least. And how do you build not just sustainable clothing for once, but how do you build sustainable players or sustainable humans or whatever you would call it? And I find that super interesting. I I mean I'm involved in a breathwork studio that we also opened here in Stockholm that it's kind of the same thing of developing individuals and obviously with clothing there's something that you wear and everybody can see so
Starting point is 00:31:57 it's kind of the marketplace or the showcase and then behind that you can build a lot of other different values and we have the the mindful approach that i love competition i think it should be there but there's also other things that if you over compete so to speak that you might lose and if you're not aware of that and then that would be a deficit i I think, in the long run. And we talk a lot about, you know, environment nowadays and also the diversity for the game. I think it's a super interesting question. There's a challenge in hockey that is, it's a beautiful community, but it's also very traditional. I actually had a
Starting point is 00:32:44 talk with Matt Sundin the other day. We had lunch and we talked about when Nike was trying to get into hockey. Nike is the biggest brand in the world. There's no other sports brand that's bigger and they could not do that. The money wasn't the problem. They didn't have the ability to get in there and expand that market and take it over. That's also true for actually brands that come from hockey. It's very difficult for them to transcend and be something outside of the sport. And for me, this is super, super interesting and something that we can work with and try to bridge this gap between what is the hockey world like and can we expand that and work with
Starting point is 00:33:26 that and push the boundaries a little bit to also make it more applicable and suitable for the rest of society. So we want to keep the traditions to some extent. We don't want to change everything, but we also want to develop all the time to become more and also attract maybe different type of individuals. So in Sweden, for example, the demographics for hockey is quite tight. And to sustain hockey and develop it, you know, in a couple of years, if we don't do that here, we're not going to have that much hockey left. It's just going to be a certain amount of people that would play and we're going to
Starting point is 00:34:01 lose a lot of talents. So we need to develop this and we need to have this different approach. And through Atunia, I can work on all these levels. I can work on, you know, the sustainability, of course, both for athletes and in the clothing, but also how do we develop the sport and really become growing the game in a good way, in a sustainable way. I think that is really important. That's something that I like to do.
Starting point is 00:34:24 So what are your short-term goals and your long-term goals there? When we look at this in maybe a year, Johnny, what do you hope to see? And maybe when we look at this in 10 years, what do you hope to see? Yeah, of course. Now I want to sell some clothes. I think that drives a lot of the products and everything that we do. So that's one thing. But of course, I want to be able to sustainably build this so we can feed into all of these projects that we do and create a picture of a hockey player that's maybe a little bit different than we're used to. So in the same way as I've been doing in Thailand, it was 10 years ago I was there and promoting the game and something happened there and this sparked something.
Starting point is 00:35:06 I think through the brand, I can do this in multiple places. And my hope also is to do it in other sports where maybe some other sports are quite traditional or heavy in some places. And you can view it in a different way and get a different look at it. And I think that's useful for the rest of the world, to get away a little bit from that traditional way of looking at hockey and how it has to be, because it could be anything and everybody can play it. And that's why I also love street. Like now also we're doing a tournament
Starting point is 00:35:36 in Stockholm this summer as well. And there we're not going to have the inlines. I want to make it even easier. Just bring your shoes, a stick, and some gloves, and you can play the game. And if we can bridge that, maybe we could get more individuals into getting interest for the sport, basically.
Starting point is 00:35:56 And also having the street vibe, then the urban community will start to also attach with the brand a little bit more. So we can live outside of the sport. That's what I'm trying to do. So I have a brand that would have the ability to bridge these two worlds. That's what I see in front of me. Did you do all the design on this?
Starting point is 00:36:15 Because the stuff looks great. Like it looks super cool, Johnny. I can't take all the credit. I have some unbelievable people that I work with. So they give me usually a lot of options and then we weigh them back and forth and creators everything from art directors to designers to production everything is yeah it's a lot of work from their end and I think the result is is good of course like everything else we're developing things all the time becoming better
Starting point is 00:36:45 getting feedback and uh yeah it's just a fun it's a fun journey it's like i said it's difficult it's difficult during the pandemic but i think we learned i think we learned a lot too during that time that uh we had to be really mindful because we can't get affected what's going on in the outside world a lot of things are uncertain. A lot of times, like now, we have a different situation here in Europe, as you know, as well. And this instability and these things that we can't affect from the outside, we had to learn to be mindful ourselves, basically, and walk the talk, not lose in focus, and doing what we feel is the right thing. We'll put some links for Etunia in the show notes. So anyone hearing this right now, we can direct them there.
Starting point is 00:37:33 I want to ask you about a couple of things about the Stanley Cup, and the first one specifically. Take us back to Game 6 in the series against the Boston Bruins. You win the Stanley Cup. It's a sudden comeback by the Chicago Blackhawks. You're on the ice. You feed Dave Boland. He scores.
Starting point is 00:37:51 Joe Bickle from Caves and Kane in 1844 in the 5th third bank third period. Gilmerson, Hawk line, right wing. Put it ahead to Boland. Racing over the Bruin line. Gave it up for a lead. He fires from the right circle. Stick save made by Rask.
Starting point is 00:38:05 Here's Oduya. Drive. They all in his car. It's Boland in front of the net. Oduya fired a shot and deflected it on Rask. He left the rebound in the paint of the crease. And there was Dave Boland to drive it home. 58 seconds away from the Stanley Cup are the Chicago Blackhawks.
Starting point is 00:38:23 They lead the Bruins 3-2. This place is stunned. And so am I. At what point after you made your pass did you think, whoa, that's a game-winning goal? Yeah, that was a weird 17 seconds. I felt, number one, I felt really good that game. I still remember the feeling I had before the game. And I don't know if it was, yeah, because I thought we were going to win, but it was just something about that game that I felt on point, really focused and super clear everything.
Starting point is 00:39:04 And the game before, I didn't. I had a tough game the game before, but we won that one. Thank God. So it was nice. But what did I think? No, I think when I shot that puck, we just looked up and it was not that much left. And I think both of me and Hammer and me or me and Kruger, we just looked at each other and nobody, we didn't really celebrate we're
Starting point is 00:39:25 like okay what's going on and this is weird and uh yeah we just looked at each other and then basically i think me and hammer were still going to be on the ice maybe crooks also actually so we just came back to the face of circle and we're like okay what the fuck's going on and it was just super weird it was so strange because it happened so fast yeah and yeah I didn't even think about what happened I think until months afterwards and you know I of course then when you win you're just you win so then you're happy but yeah I remember the the feeling of looking at the clock on top of you, in front of the goal there or on top of the back of the goal and just, okay, 17. And then just, yeah, this is not done. You know,
Starting point is 00:40:11 that was the initial thought I think I had. So when you think about your favorite memories or your favorite parts of the journey, what are the things that, you know, jump into your head, Johnny? know jump into your head johnny oh um well there's so many things wow like i said in the beginning i feel enormously fortunate that was one of the question when somebody somebody asked me i was 37 you know i stopped playing now three years ago and they're like oh you could play a little bit longer you're still in shape and you can i'm like yeah i can be greedy or I could be extremely grateful and really embrace what I got. And then for me in the next step, like I'm doing now, is that is there things here I can use that is useful for others? Then I could do that maybe instead, instead of playing until I'm 45. And there's a there's a long stretch. There's a lot of things to learn in the in the other world.
Starting point is 00:41:04 So I needed the time to do that. But I've learned, yeah, I felt very fortunate the whole time. So many different teams and winning and losing. And like I said, hot and cold teams and big, small cities, teammates, like everything's just been, I had, you know, eight, nine different type of coaches. I've learned so many things. And I remember sitting on the bench in 2015 i think it was the the countdown of the last couple of seconds and you know time just
Starting point is 00:41:32 slows down at that point and you sit there and you watch and you're just watching around like this united center the place is full everybody's screaming and i remember how slow those like 10 seconds but i was in this complete it's just this point where everything is connected to and it's quite hard to describe but it's one of the things that i i wish for everybody on this planet it doesn't matter if you play sports or whatever you do that you at some point in your life will have the feeling of that that you you can connect so many dots and that you go through this journey and when you get there it's almost like it all it all repeats itself and i don't know i don't know if that makes any sense but you get these like flashbacks and all the things you're describing I was just very at ease and very
Starting point is 00:42:25 grateful and then you know the buzzer horn the horn is the game's over the horn rings and then it's party for a week you have no idea what's going on and then life is back to normal a couple of weeks after whatever but but um yeah it was magical and I watched that I mean I I tried to watch the last Stanley Cup game that I think, whatever, usually it's like game six or five, six or seven or something like that, when somebody has the chance to win. And if I missed that, I usually watched the rerun at the end just to see that part because I relive it every time I watch it.
Starting point is 00:43:00 And I watch the players and the feeling that they have and how happy they are. And I watch the players and the feeling that they have and how happy they are. And when I talk to young individuals that might be struggling and you know, don't see their way forward or where to go, this is what I try to not speak about, but I try to live in the way that they will get that feeling from me. So that will be the part that they can see that, okay, that is why we do this. We're not in this for buying the new cars
Starting point is 00:43:30 or buying the new house or buying all these things. It's just these simple moments that will line up eventually and will give you an experience that you cannot pay for. You have to work to get it and have the experience to get it. I remember when you guys won in 2013, it was Michael Hanzus and it was Jamal Mayers. And when you won in 2015, it was Antoine Vermette. And you played for a while too
Starting point is 00:43:58 before you won the first time, but I can only imagine what it must have been like to celebrate with those players who had never won before and had been around longer. That must be the kind of person that you're talking about there as much as anybody else. Yes, I think Kimo Timonen was there too. Yes, Kimo Timonen, great guy, great guy. Yeah, no, for sure.
Starting point is 00:44:18 And I also remember, this is actually a fun story, but I remember that in 2013, we were celebrating afterwards and, you know, I was drunk and crazy and like, oh, big party time. I was hoisting around a cup in the bar somewhere and I put it down and I was up with my friends jumping around and I look over and Duncan Keith and Patrick Sharp was sitting on the bar with a beer, just like one beer, no crazy party, nothing. They won before. So maybe they were like, okay, we're tired of this. But they were sitting there and they were watching me.
Starting point is 00:44:52 And when I looked at them, they looked at me and I sensed that they were super happy. They're like, this is so fun to watch this guy having this good of a time. It's actually true. It's something beautiful around that when you you watch somebody else when you already kind of been in that space before and you don't need to jump around because you're jumping around inside anyways and you understand how happy they are and what what is going on and that is uh it's super super cool it's really nice i love that part of of the game and i would love for everybody.
Starting point is 00:45:26 Of course, everybody can't win the Stanley Cup, but there's different things how to approach that and get that into your life. Okay, I got two more for you. First of all, you talked about Duncan Keat there. He's got the reputation as being the most unreal physical conditioned athlete. But I also heard, Johnny, you were a guy who was in great shape or is in great shape, was always very careful about what you put into your body.
Starting point is 00:45:54 Did you and Duncan ever go head-to-head in fitness competitions? What is the one thing you will not eat? And who did you ever play with that you looked at them and said, I cannot believe how little you take care of yourself. That was a lot of questions though. Okay. So first of all, you versus Keith,
Starting point is 00:46:13 you versus me. We're saying Keith, I have, I wouldn't say I have no chance, but he is a physical and mental phenomenon. So I think a lot of his power is not just in his body, which it's actually in his mind and his mindset. Yeah, he's a great friend.
Starting point is 00:46:31 And I admire him a lot. I love being in Chicago for that reason. Getting in there was, you know, like this revelation and opening up for me where all of a sudden all these extreme things and weird things that I thought that I liked to do that I couldn't really do it other places then that was possible to do in Chicago and it was actually it was seen as something positive like you wanted to do something
Starting point is 00:46:56 extra to win so okay go ahead do that it was no problem so we tried the you know a lot of different things when it comes to training or food or supplements or whatever it is. So that was a really fun time. And of course, Duncan was in the forefront with some of us with that. I think me, him, Taser, Sharpie was in there too for a little bit i think and um kruger of course uh we we wanted to try to push that as as much as possible and see where how can we any edge we can find you know then we wanted to do that and and duncan was uh of course the specimen i was at the one time it was actually it's kind of funny because sometimes it would show up things that he'd been doing for like two months and I
Starting point is 00:47:45 didn't know he was doing it and I'm like oh you're doing that too and it was almost like not like when he was hiding something but but I don't know it was internal competition no no it wasn't but it was it was great it was wonderful and he's he has a lot of speed and he he can be really intense but he can last also for a long time so he can do both which is not unusual and i think that actually comes a lot from his mind as well and the way he trains and all these things so so that's super super cool and uh you know he would yeah he'd be yelling at me coming to the bench and i was tired and he was like yelling at me a lot of times especially at the end there i i took some face-offs in the defensive zone, and then I would just go change. And sometimes he was pissed off because he thought I was too slow going to the bench,
Starting point is 00:48:29 you know, after the shift. And he was yelling at me to get on the ice, get on the ice. And it was like this, it's almost like the roadrunner, you know, when you hold them up and the feet are going. And as soon as I came to the bench, he just like took off right on the ice. But he's fantastic. and what was the other question so so what what don't you eat what is like your no way i'm i'm probably more now i wouldn't say i'm more strict now yeah probably more strict now i play around more with my diet
Starting point is 00:48:59 now than during my career because i can i do different type of fasting protocols or I eat certain a certain way for a longer amount of time because I can now because I don't have to perform at that level I think that could be difficult if anybody's listened to this that that wants to play around a lot with their diet I would recommend maybe not doing too much but whatever you feel is good so i will eat basically everything it's not like oh if i eat that then i'm gonna fall apart i think that's a very bad way of approaching food i think you can eat almost everything the question is how much and how often you do it so i would not eat you know wheat products for. I don't eat that very often. Very seldom I do that. I just feel better when I don't. I sense that I sometimes get a little bit almost
Starting point is 00:49:53 like swollen and inflammation in my body when I do. I don't eat that many dairy products. I mean, other than that, I mean, I eat fish and veggies and grains, depending on like rice and quinoa, potatoes and these things, depending on how much I actually work out. But sometimes I go straight ketogenic diet where I take out almost all the carbs. So I play around. I do a lot of different things there. But it was a long time ago that I had a, you know, spaghetti carbonara, for example.
Starting point is 00:50:28 There's a long time ago. Pizza, regular pizza. I usually don't eat either. I have some gluten-free options at times that I eat, but that's mostly for the cheese. Actually. There's a lot of cheeses.
Starting point is 00:50:40 That's difficult. Sometimes I eat burgers. Good, nice grass fed burger. If there's a gluten-free bond, I can difficult sometimes. I eat burgers. Good, nice, grass-fed burger. If there's a gluten-free bun, I can do that. But a real burger, homemade, I really love that. So I don't think I'm too crazy, actually, anymore. It's not too bad.
Starting point is 00:50:54 It's not too bad. No, it's kind of normal. Not too bad. Okay. And my last one is, who was the worst at taking care of themselves you ever played with? Who was the worst at taking care of themselves you ever played with? Jesus, this is the question you're going to get haunted for, right? It's the last one, so go out with a bang.
Starting point is 00:51:15 Go out with a bang. The last question. In Chicago, we always made fun of Cipsy because he was like the human trash can. He would just put down anything he could. I don't know if that has changed now. I haven't talked to him. But yeah, I mean, Dustin Bufflin was kind of like that too. He loved to eat a lot of different things.
Starting point is 00:51:38 What a phenomenal athlete. Yeah, he is just one of a kind. Great guy too. Listen, you spent a lot of time with us today. We really appreciated this. We had no idea where this was going to go, but it went to a lot of special places. You're a really special guy.
Starting point is 00:51:54 Johnny, thanks so much. We wish you all the success with the new clothing line as well. It looks fantastic. Details will be in our show notes. Thank you so much. Take care. Be well. I look forward to catching up down the road. Yes.
Starting point is 00:52:04 Thank you for having me. Thank you. Breaking. Take care. Be well. Look forward to catching up down the road. Yes. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Breaking out of the box. Yeah. Oh, man, that was a lot of fun. Great guy. If you get a chance, check out some of his clothing brand. Atunya.com is the website. As we're in the sun, we're taking you out with something warm. Matt Berry is an artist who isn't afraid to dip his toe in several genres, from folk rock to New Age synth, even bits of country rock and psychedelia to boot.
Starting point is 00:52:36 Berry is a multi-instrumentalist whose vocals complement his lyrics. From his latest record, The Blue Elephant, here's Matt Berry with Summer Sun on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. I can walk every mile Tell me that I can fly. Oh, I, oh, I. Hey.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.