32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Wyatt Johnston

Episode Date: April 5, 2023

He’s 19 years old and he’s a 20-goal scorer in the NHL. Wyatt Johnston sat down with Jeff Marek at the American Airlines Center in Dallas to talk about his rookie season, living with Joe Pavelski, being coached by Marc Savard in Windsor, his 7-point performance in junior and how he’s adjusted to being a professional. We also hear from Peter DeBoer and Joe Pavelski who speak on Wyatt and his great start in the league.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailOutro Music: Brasstronaut - HawkListen to the full track hereThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: Bally Sports, KTCK and P91The 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.

Feeds it to Suter, right side, Sagan delays, shot, score! It's Wyatt Johnston! The 19-year-old rookie in his first NHL game has NHL goal number one. That bench is there to greet him as he goes down the bump line. He is nothing short of giddy. Parents are here, not only his parents, but his billet parents. Yeah, no, this is great. You know, over the past few seasons, the Dallas Stars have done a lot of things right.

Wyatt Johnson is one of those things. Welcome to another 32 Thoughts interview podcast presented by GMC and the Sierra AT4X. Dallas selected Wyatt Johnson 23rd overall in the 2021 draft, which was kind of a gamble considering he didn't play that season due to an OHL COVID shutdown, but that gamble paid off big for Dallas. After an explosive 124-point season with Mark Savard's Windsor Spitfires,

Johnson made the Dallas Stars out of training camp and hasn't looked back. Now, you look at Dallas and you see layers of talent in different age tiers. There's the Ben Pavelski-Sagan-Suter group. There's the Lindell-Domi-Marchment-Faxa group. There's the Robertson, Domi, Marchment, Faxa Group. There's the Robertson, Ottinger, Heiskanen Group. And then there's this deeper youth movement with Johnson, D'Alandria, Harley, and then prospects coming like Maverick Bork and Logan Stankhoven.

Looks good. Also, a little bit later in the interview, you will hear Elliot Friedman talk to Joe Pavelski about Wyatt Johnson. I sat down with Johnson a couple of weeks ago in Dallas, and a special thanks to Joe Calvillo of the Dallas Stars for helping make this interview possible. It's pretty good. Pretty good. Okay, before the interview, let's catch up with Wyatt Johnson at Jason Robertson's Hockey Clinic.

Now, this is an event run by Robertson called JR's Heroes Skate. You might have brought a couple of buddies. Yeah, guys, yeah, absolutely. Here, two of my great teammates, two of my best friends on the team. We got Wyatt Johnston. Anybody got anything else?

Yeah, guys. Just want to say welcome to our house. This is awesome to have you guys out here. It's an incredible building. Let's just go have some fun, guys, and play some hockey. So let's have fun. Hope you enjoy it. It was a lot of fun catching up with this young, emerging superstar.

Here's Wyatt Johnston on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Wyatt, thanks so much for doing this. This is the night after a game against the Seattle Kraken. Big comeback by the Dallas Stars, sending it into overtime in Adam Larson. But in the process, you scored another goal. So as we record this podcast, you've now scored 21 goals in the NHL

in your rookie season. Did you have a goal in mind at the beginning of the season when you made the Stars like, I'm going to score 15 goals, I'm going to score 20 goals, I'm going to score 30 goals? Do you have any of that in your mind? Not really, no. goals I'm going to score 20 goals I'm going to score 30 goals do you have any of that in your mind not really no um I mean going into camp the goal was just to make the team and then after that the first nine games are kind of just prove myself and prove I can help the team and and be here for

you know the rest of the games and then just kind of overall my goal was just to kind of be a player that can help impact the team help the team win and yeah i didn't really kind of look too much into the numbers or kind of make kind of specific goals on you know how many goals i want to score how many points it was just kind of more i wanted to be an impactful player and you know help the team win you have been and and i wondered too back in in in training camp i think everybody in the ohl certainly wins or we're wondering like okay like spitfire is getting the kid back like what's what's happening here at what point during camp did you think i really have a shot at making this team i don't want to make this team but now i really think i have a shot at it yeah i mean i think kind of throughout camp i mean i think i

kind of you know felt good with you know kind of how I was playing throughout camp, throughout the exhibition games. I think kind of as the camp went on and you kind of, you know, you try not to look into kind of the rosters that are being put out for exhibition games and stuff. So you don't read into any of that stuff? You don't make yourself paranoid or freak out about rosters? Yeah. Yes and no. I mean, you kind of can see it and you can kind of make some guesses. So I think kind of through that,

I kind of made a few guesses, but obviously you don't know what the people are thinking who make those decisions. And yeah, I think at the end of the day, I just kind of tried to just, any chance I got, tried to make the most of it

and tried my best not to really look into really anything and just kind of play my game and see how it goes. Who was your first phone call after you made the team? My parents' first phone call I made. And then after that, it was sister, brother. Yeah. Just calling my family, letting them know it was, it was a, it was a pretty cool moment just to kind of be able to call them right after. Who cried? Probably everyone. It um you it was pretty emotional from the dallas stars practice facility in frisco texas dallas stars general manager jim nill will make the 23rd pick in the 2021 nhl draft on behalf of the dallas stars jim? The Dallas Stars are proud to select from

Windsor of the Ternal Hockey League, Wyatt Johnston. Family is pumped. Wyatt didn't play this past season. The OHL shutting down. How do you evaluate a guy who didn't play? This is an amazing story and no games except for someone had watched him in his 16 year old season trevor letowski the head coach now with the assistant coach with the montreal canadians loved him his second half of his 16 year old year just under a point per game and he started to open eyes with that great it's what you dream of especially me growing up in toronto it's what you're around for my whole life just hockey hockey hockey playing in the NHL so yeah yeah when I got that phone call from Jim Nell it

was um it was pretty special pretty emotional what did he say what can you what can you remember I mean I think he just kind of told me that you know I made the team and maybe I was on the opening night roster I think he kind of talked about how you know I kind of it was my camp that you know really helped me push me forward to you know be in that position just a bit of talked about how it was my camp that really helped me, pushed me forward to be in that position. Just a bit of a whirlwind. It was kind of blacking out, just crazy emotions. So I don't remember exactly, but I just know he just kind of let me know what was going on, and I was just so excited and so happy.

At what point in your minor hockey career, because you played Marlboros, you played with the Marlies all the way up, at what point did you think that this was gonna be like that you had a shot at like a career in hockey this wasn't just a game i wasn't just gonna have fun with my buddies but like was there a point where you said you know what this might be a job a career my life was there a certain point was there one magical year not really i mean growing up when you're a kid you kind of just think yeah i'm gonna play in the nhl like yeah you don't really know you don't know how tough it is to make it you just kind of think yeah like i'm good i'm gonna i'm gonna play in the nhl and i think it was i think my minor major year once we kind of got to the

ohl draft close to the ohl draft and i kind of realized that i was going to have a chance to get drafted pretty high to the ohl and you know play in the ohl as a 16 year old i think that's when i kind of maybe thought you know this might actually be a possibility rather than just kind of being a young kid just dreaming of playing nhl and just thinking yeah like that's just kind of what's going to happen so i think it was probably my draft year where i was kind of you know a lot older and a lot kind of closer to that goal of playing in the NHL. In your last year in Windsor, you were coached by Mark Savard.

And I spoke to Savard this morning and I said, I was asking about you, obviously. And he said, here's how I feel and here's how I felt about coaching Wyatt Johnson. I wrote it down.

I'll read it to you. I can put him on the ice and go sit in the coach's office. Not a you. I can put him on the ice and go sit in the coach's office. Not a care. Like I put Wyatt Johnson on the ice. Everything's fine. What do you think of when you hear that from your former coach, Mark Savard?

It's a pretty accomplished NHLer. I mean, that feels pretty good. It's definitely some really nice things to say. And he was awesome for me. Just, I mean, it was only one year that, you know, he's my coach, but he was amazing. He, you know, helped me so much. He gave me, you know, every opportunity to succeed. And, you know, I think he's definitely a really big part of, you know, me, you know, being able to make the NHL roster this year.

So that definitely means a lot, you know, having something like that said for him. So when I say Mark Savard and the sock, the tape job, was that from Mark Savard? Because when I mentioned it, he goes, oh, yeah, he took the sock, like my tape job, all the way, heel to toe, the sock. Yeah, well, I think, you know, you can kind of see online, since Ivy is, he likes his tape jobs, he likes to tape sticks. Okay, you the fans have spoken, and here I am.

I'm going to tape my twig so everybody the fans have spoken. And here I am. I'm going to tape my twig so everybody can get a quick bird's eye view of how we do it. I've got a Warrior stick here, an old Covert Dolomite. It's a brand new one, so I can show you guys how I do it. First off, what you're going to need for this event are scissors. For my knob, I've always liked a small roll of tape. If you don't have a skinny roll of tape, this is Johnson's tape. You take a normal roll, and you're going to have to rip it to be small if you want to do it how I do it.

This is training tape, so it doesn't stick to the gloves. It's a very soft cloth tape, not sticky. I use that, and then I got a skinny roll for my blade. Yeah, definitely a little bit of inspiration from him. Yeah, he likes to do a bunch of kind of fun things, and I kind of took a little bit off of him just trying a bunch of random tape job from him and yeah i think he he might be the guy who started doing the sock and i think he was the the first guy to do it so i have to give some credit to him

what did he teach you i mean savard had so many so many skills that players love like there's like skills like people like me or other hockey fans will look at and go like wow this guy's good and there are plays that like when i talked to i remember talking to jason york who played with uh savard in boston and we were talking about him having like savard was probably better than anybody else at taking hard rims on his backhand, spinning around and firing, and because of Savard, it's a sauce pass, firing a pass to the slot seamlessly. Those plays that players look at and go like, oh, man.

What were some of those things that Marc Savard taught you, like the hockey players play? Just a number. It's like the little things that day in, day out, you kind of pick up and learn from him. And then looking back, it's just kind of taught me a bunch of things that it just kind of seems second nature to me now. He's obviously was such a skilled player,

and you see kind of in practice playing three-on-three and stuff like that, just kind of how smart he is, how good his hands are, and just kind of the plays he makes. When he played in the NHL, by the way, he was incapable of making a pass along the ice. Everything was a sauce pass. He still liked that when he did three-on-three with him. Yeah.

Every pass. Yeah. He loves a saucer pass. He's kind of perfected it. Yeah. It lands perfectly always. But yeah, he's obviously an amazing offensive player and he definitely kind of helped me

in my offensive game a lot. You mentioned your mom and dad, Margo and Chuck. He's obviously an amazing offensive player, and he definitely kind of helped me, helped my offensive game a lot. You mentioned your mom and dad, Margo and Chuck. I want to ask you about your sister. Captain at Queens? Yeah. Tell us about your sister. Accomplished hockey player.

Yeah, she played. Quinn, right? Yeah, Quinn. Yeah, so she's three years older than me, and we just kind of both grew up playing hockey. That was kind of our life growing up. Loved it. You know, always out on the outdoor rinks playing mini sticks, playing on her backyard rink.

Yeah. So, yeah, we were just really competitive. You know, we kind of pushed each other growing up. And, yeah, she kind of moved on to play hockey at Queen's University and she was a captain there. Yeah, it's pretty cool to see kind of what she's been able to accomplish throughout her hockey career. And she's definitely helped me a lot in mine. How has she helped you? I think just the competitiveness.

You're just playing games in our backyard. She likes to keep me humble and kind of make sure I don't get too cocky or anything. But, yeah, I think the competitiveness, just kind of playing games against her growing up. None of us like losing. we're both really competitive so you know whenever we were playing anything we always wanted to win so got a little heated growing up but I think yeah just the competitiveness and you know just wanting to win and just kind of competing and you know everything we did as kids. You know there's a lot of elements of your game that are that are real good obviously and a lot of people focus on the goal scoring and that's been remarkable in your rookie season as we mentioned off the top there's a couple of other things about your game that really looks mature one you're always in the right place i don't know if that's instinct

hockey sense just from playing for so long i don't know and we saw this in the goal last night. I mean, you're in the perfect spot for that pass as it squirts out to you. Back for Ben. Across the line. Stick handles his way and then feeds it for Haskin. He's got a man to his right. It's Suter. Sends it low. Ben Johnston scores! Tremendous movement. And Wyatt Johnston runs his goal scoring streak to five games where does that come from for you like i know it's hard to ask like where do you get your hockey sense from but like you're always in the right spot it seems wyatt i think it's a combination of a number of things i think one thing's just watching video, watching other people's shifts, learning from different guys on just kind of where the open ice is and finding different spots.

So I think there's that. I think there's just kind of adjusting to the NHL game. I think as the season's gone on, I've been able to just kind of learn where the open spaces are and learn where I can get open and put myself in this position

to get the puck. Just kind of learning from guys. Obviously, Joe Pavelski, he always seems to be in the right spot. Yeah, he's kind of good. I think just learning from him, watching him, he's definitely helped a lot. And then I think some has just kind of been the way I play. I think I just like to use my brain when I play and just kind of read the ice, try to see the ice well.

So I think that's kind of helped a lot. It's like the puck follows you. It really does seem that way. Now, there's one other thing that I think a lot of us look at in your game, and that is the ability to strip pucks. You do a really good job, and we saw it in Windsor, and we're seeing it with the Dallas Stars as well. Datsuk was always the master.

He was the king of stripping pucks where does it come from for you and what like what would you say remember one of my kids said one of their one of their hockey instructors would always talk about like when you're lifting a stick always make sure you lift it at the heel so your blade is right there with the puck don't lift it high on the shaft etc when it comes to stripping pucks what's the Wyatt Johnson secret I really don't know um I think that's something that I've kind of always been able to kind of do growing up I think a lot of it's just I think just kind of the hand eye and the timing of it just kind of reading where you know guys kind of have their stick if they're kind of trying to protect it out wide that can maybe put them in a more vulnerable position I think just kind of learning and adjusting yeah I don't really know I think just coming that I

just kind of picked up along the way of playing hockey and I think one thing that's maybe helped is just playing on outdoor rinks as a kid all the time and there's just a million kids out there on a small ice surface so you kind of get used to kind of having to lift sticks and pick pucks off of guys and stuff like that you're great at it you live with the pavelskis i spoke to pete deborah yesterday and he talked about you know him and steve spot said this this is probably a the right combination Is that the Pete DeBoer plan? Yeah. The kid with the vet? You know, where we got the idea, Steve Spott and I, was actually in San Jose.

Joe Thornton used to, on a regular basis, pick up whoever we were bringing in or the young player and bring them in, give them a place to stay. If there was a young guy that had been called up that had been at the hotel too long, Joe was bringing him over to his house for dinner or inviting him to stay in the guest house. And so, you know, that's when the wheels started to spin for me that, you know, boy, if Pav and his wife Sarah would consider it. I mean, there's no better mentor for a young player, rather than living on his own mind. I can't speak for Wyatt, but from what I understand, he hadn't done a lot of cooking for himself.

He hadn't done a lot of cleaning for himself. I'm not sure he paid a lot of bills. And talking to Pav, I think it's been a tutorial, both as a professional hockey player, but as a lifestyle too off the ice. You know, how, when do you leave for the rink? What time do you eat? How do you eat? When do you go to bed?

You know, how do we travel? All those things. Just, I think Wyatt Johnson's going to look back after an unbelievably exceptional career and go, boy, I was really fortunate to have that year with Joe and Sarah Pavelski. How's that been for you? It's been awesome. Pavelski family there, they're amazing. They've just kind of made me feel comfortable at home,

made me just kind of make Dallas another home for me. So they've been amazing, just making me feel comfortable, giving me kind of everything I need to just kind of be comfortable at home and then obviously Joe is you know like we both think he's he's in a hall of famer so incredible just one thing as a player he's obviously unbelievable then also as a person he's he's been amazing he um he you know has helped me learn so much and it's been a ton of fun living with them especially um with their son Nate he's he's been amazing he um he you know has helped me learn so much and it's been a ton of fun living with them especially um with their son nate he's he's awesome you know having wyatt at the house now yeah it's it's been a fun year that way yeah and playing you know just little games and

watching him you know battle with nate and certain things and and all three of us playing a game of the pig. It gets pretty funny and we have a lot of a lot of fun times that I think we enjoy just dinner doing just hanging out the house watching different games and little things that go with all that. How's it been with Wyatt? It's been great yeah yeah I've really enjoyed it. He's a great kid, first and foremost, which, you know, makes it so much easier on, you know, Sarah, Nate, myself. Yeah. That, you know, you don't have to worry about him a whole lot. He leaves a small footprint around the house. He's there to help. He's hanging out.

You know, so all those things kind of factor into it. out. So all those things kind of factor into it and then seeing his success he's had and how he's become part of this team makes it fun to be a part of. What would you want Wyatt to take from you? Like when this year is over or eventually he moves into his own place, what would be the most important thing that you would want him to have learned from you? Oh man, i don't know if there's one thing just you know enjoy the game like we live a very special life you know as

living out our dream in so many ways and um just to not really take that for granted take care of yourself when you can enjoy it when you can enjoy. Enjoy the bus rides, the plane rides, the laughs. Because, you know, you've been around enough guys that aren't in the league anymore. And that's what everyone talks about. And you have an understanding. Like, yeah, this is a lot of fun. There's some tough days. Well, if you're going to learn to be a pro, I mean, you kind of got a great one.

Yeah. Like, you're kind of blessed that way. Like, that's's there's more to you know this anyone who listens to this podcast knows this there's more to being a professional than just what happens during the game it's like a whole lifestyle what are some of the things that

as you transition from being an elite junior player with the Windsor Spitfires to being a pro with the Dallas Stars what are some of the things that the Pavelski family, specifically Joe, has helped you with? So many things. Paying bills, cooking.

Yeah. Well, I think with Joe, obviously you can see how well he's performing at his age, and I don't think it's a fluke. I think it's due to just kind of his dedication to just the way he treats his body the kind of stuff he does off the ice just a number of just kind of recovery techniques he uses and different things and you know we've talked about a lot just different tools you can use to help recover and and just kind of using just different things doing different tests to kind of see, you know, what your body needs and what you need to recover. And yeah, he obviously taught me a lot about kind of

recovery, which I think is, it's obviously a really important part of, you know, being able to play well every night. You know, Joe Pavelski strikes me as, you know, one of these people that a lot of us really don't like because he's good at everything is that true we've all seen him play hockey if anyone's seen him golf i mean it's elite is joe pavelski good at everything yeah yes he is have you seen him struggle at any at anything no i don't think i don't think so obviously hockey unbelievable golf great golf player playing basketball in the backyard doesn't miss a shot I don't know if there's anything that he's not good at it's it's impressive you know in Windsor they still talk about that game against Sarnie I think you had six maybe seven points and it was like the puck

was on your blade the whole game like it seemed like every time you're on the ice like the puck was on your blade for the entirety of the shift. Was that the best game you ever played? Yeah, I think it definitely would be one of them. I think a number of things just kind of went right that night. I think I've had a chance to play some pretty good teammates in Windsor. So definitely helps when you have players that can put the puck in the back of the net. And yeah, it just kind of seemed like everything was going my way that night.

Just kind of the bounces, the puck was just finding me. So yeah, it was a pretty special night and everything seemed to be going well. Yeah. We talked about Joe Pavelski. I'm curious about some other players on this team because we look at Dallas and we say there's a number of windows here for the Dallas Stars. You're becoming a really huge part of this because as much as there are, you know, the Joe Pavelskis and the Jamie Benz and the Tyler Sagan, some of the more veteran players, Ryan Suter on the team as well.

There's this healthy mix of, you know, older veterans and younger high-end players yourself, Jason Robertson, Rupe Hins, Miro Haskinen, more on the horizon with Stankoven and Bork, et cetera. Who stands out to you? Like on a game in, game out, practice in, practice out basis? It's a pretty sweeping question, but are there a few guys or maybe a few skills or things that you've seen where you're like, wow, that's the level I got to get to? scene where you're like wow that's that's the level I got to get to it's a really hard question because that like every one of them has you know aspects that they really stand out in and obviously each one of those guys that you mentioned are obviously unbelievable players and yeah I think with Heiskanen he's just so effortless he he can just move around the ice i was talking to um you know our skating

coach luke chilcott and he was kind of talking about how he kind of looks like paul coffee skating up the ice just kind of so effortless strides and glide few strides and glide and yeah i mean paul coffee was my coach for four years in minor hockey so i got to see him kind of skate around the ice and i definitely see see some similarities. Just kind of effortless. He just coasts through guys. I watched his whole career. He coasted through guys. It was amazing.

He galloped behind the net and just started coasting through everybody. It was remarkable. Yeah, it's impressive. I think Heiskanen's really impressed me. And then Robertson's obviously, you just kind of see what he does on the ice. There's not many games that he's not on the score sheet, and he just kind of finds a way to put pucks in the net and make plays. He's just an unbelievably smart player.

I think Rupe Hintz, I also think he could be the most underrated player in the league. He can do everything so fast. He can score. He can make plays. He's great defensively. He can play on the penalty kill. He can really do everything. There's a lot of skill around you right now, and there's more on the horizon. I know you don't do everything there's a lot of skill around you right now and there's more on the horizon i know you don't have context for this and i know i get it and i know you're you're a rookie in the nhl but like do you ever catch yourself in moments of the day and say wow like i'm in the nhl and i've scored 20 goals and i know sometimes it's difficult

you don't have that perspective maybe until you retire. But like, do you ever catch yourself just saying like, like I'm in the NHL, man. And I'm, you know, in the conversation for the rookie of the year. Like, do you ever allow yourself to go to that place in your head? That happens, you know, probably a fair amount.

I mean, it's just, it's so crazy to me, just kind of the last, especially the last few years, like two years ago, I wasn't playing hockey, COVID, missed a full year, and now I'm just kind of, you know, living my dream and playing in the NHL. It's, you know, what I've worked for for so long, and yeah, it's just amazing. I have to pinch myself sometimes, and just, it's awesome. I've just been trying to enjoy it. It's just a dream come true. And yeah, it happens fairly often that I just kind of think,

yeah, like I'm in the NHL, it's crazy. And I don't think I've really gotten used to it yet. I hope you always have that feeling because it's gotta be really cool. Wyatt, thanks so much for this continued success. Your team's grooving. Fun to watch. Yep. Thank you very much. Listen to the 32 thoughts podcast,

add free on Amazon music included with prime. Let me ask you about Wyatt Johnson. Yeah. What were your expectations of him at the beginning of the season? Like as we're recording this right now, he's a 20 goal scorer. Yeah. When you saw him in training camp, and I know you really liked him, and I know we all remember the press conference, you stumping for him. What were your expectations of Wyatt this year? Boy, I didn't know. I mean, I've had a lot of young players. This is my 15th,

16th year in the NHL. So every year there's a young player that everyone's excited about that you put in the lineup. And, you know, I can tell you my first impression of Wyatt Johnson, I walked in, he was on the bike at development camp. He wasn't skating because he was injured or coming off an injury. And, I mean, he looked like a high school kid, you know, his physique, everything. I mean, he didn't look even close to being ready to be an NHL player. And he came back three months later for training camp or two and a half months later and, you know, started to look the part a little bit more,

even though he still doesn't. He's still a kid. I tell people it's hard to put perspective on what he's accomplished. You know, the best perspective I get is Joe Pavelski was still at the University of Wisconsin. Jason Robertson was still playing junior hockey. And this guy's scoring 20 goals in the NHL this year, and he's playing against McDavid, and I'm not hiding him defensively or for face-offs. He's an exceptional talent,

and I think he's going to be a captain of this franchise down the road. He's an exceptional kid. When you meet his family, you realize why he's probably so special. But, yeah, I didn't predict this. I'm sure as hell happy it's happened because he's been a difference maker for us and for a lot of guys in that room. That's Wyatt Johnson of the Dallas Stars. Hey, he's a rookie 20-goal scorer. Pretty nice season so far.

Hope you enjoyed the interview. Thanks so much for listening. We'll talk to you again soon. Here we are Oh, we are to stand in the arms Of a thousand streams of rain Oh, sunset