The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On The Road: Adam Henrique [Episode 6]

Episode Date: November 1, 2025

On episode 6 of On The Road, Jeff is joined by Adam Henrique of the Edmonton Oilers, who opens up about his incredible journey through 14 NHL seasons — from his back-to-back Memorial Cup championships with the Windsor Spitfires, to scoring one of the biggest goals in New Jersey Devils history, and now chasing the Stanley Cup again in Edmonton.Henrique reflects on lessons learned from Lou Lamoriello, shares inside stories about Ilya Kovalchuk, and discusses what it’s like to play in a Canadian hockey market that lives and breathes every moment. He also talks about building his life in Muskoka, the balance between hockey and fatherhood, and his long-running charity golf tournament with Brandon Montour that’s raised over $500,000 for their hometown community.Time Stamps1:25 – How the offseason changes as a veteran player2:50 – Balancing hockey, family, and mental reset in Muskoka4:04 – Reflecting on the grind after a Cup Final run6:20– Henrique’s Anaheim Ducks years and leadership reputation8:15 – The Joe Thornton connection and early career stories10:50– Back-to-back Memorial Cups and Taylor Hall memories12:40 – The Taylor Hall–Travis Hamonic hit & unforgettable moments14:05 – What made the Windsor Spitfires program special15:10 – Lou Lamoriello lessons and Devils culture18:15 – Scoring the OT winner vs. Florida and the Rangers goal20:20 – Inside stories on Ilya Kovalchuk22:00 – Henrique’s golf tournament with Brandon Montour24:45 – Playing in Edmonton’s electric hockey market26:25 – The pressure and pride of Canadian hockey cities28:20 – Childhood heroes and growing up a Steve Yzerman fan30:00 – Life in Muskoka and raising a young familyThe series is presented by Airbnb Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's Not to Love about Muscoca? I'm Jeff Merrick, and welcome to On the Road cottage conversations with hockey people. And coming up on today's edition, Adam Henrique of the Edmonton Oilers. He's had a fascinating career. First of all, junior hockey, back-to-back Memorial Cup championships with the Windsor Spitfires. Rookie season with the New Jersey Devils, he goes to the Stanley Cup final. is a goal to get the Devils there. Last two seasons with the Edmonton Oilers,

back-to-back Stanley Cup final appearances. He's been that close. But between that rookie season with New Jersey and the last two seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, there's been 14 seasons worth of stories with people like Lou Lamarillo, with people like Ilya Kovilchuk, everybody that he played on with the Anaheim Ducks,

and that is a long list. And you're going to hear a lot of those stories here in a moment with my conversation with Adam Enrique of the Edmonton Oilers. I'm not the only time we've gotten right in all summer. You could have brought the entire family to this cottage on Airbnb. Adam, we're in Muscoca.

Canadian cottage country. Before we get into a lot of, of hockey in serious hockey. Oilers, you're passed with the ducks and the devils. Even before that, I want to talk about the old Windsor Arena, your back-to-back Memorial Cup champion, Windsor Spitfires. What is off-season like for you now as a veteran player versus when you first broke into the NHL

after being drafted by New Jersey? Yeah, well, the biggest difference is the kids. Are you a sports Uber yet? Not yet, not yet. But, you know, up early with the kids. and that sort of thing. That's the biggest difference. But this is our second summer up in Muscoca,

and we built the place fairly recently and I'll finish last summer, which is nice. So I think the biggest difference going in understanding and learning what, you know, I need to do in order to prepare for the following season. Now, the last two summers, fortunately, have been very short, which, you know, you always want. and it just kind of cuts into that time.

It's a quicker turnaround and right back to training, that sort of thing. And at the same time, trying to find a little bit of reset mentally. And that's kind of the challenge, really. You take a couple weeks off, but then, you know, you're right into, I've got to start training to get ready for the next season. How do you do that mentally? If you can just pick up on that, when you're a kid, it's just go, go, go, go, go. Then you get a little bit older, a little more thoughtful.

a little more aware of yourself. How do you get sort of reset mentally? It's, you know, being up here and being away is nice. And that certainly helps. And just being around some family and just trying to enjoy other things rather than thinking about hockey or the day-to-day grind of that. And my girls are, they're two and a half, one and a half now, which is great. And that really helps just being around.

then playing and then being up here, being able to go out on the water. Trying to clear out the forest. Just learning about what it takes to live in Muscoq on the day-to-day basis. But, you know, there's a lot. But it is hard. I found, you know, my rookie season went to the finals. And after that, I, the hardest thing I found for me coming back the following season was just being a little tired mentally.

You know, physically you can do a lot to, to, to, prepare yourself and rebound and get ready again, but that mental grind of it too is another aspect that you certainly have to learn to deal with. The mental grind is interesting. I can recall, geez, this is 2010, so the Chicago Blackhawks are about to win the Stanley Cup. And I remember, you know, saying,

okay, I should go back and look at the last time the Hawks won the Stanley Cup. And that was 1961, Eddie Litsenberger's team. And I'm watching videos and I'm reading interviews of like Hall and McKita and all those guys after they won that cup. And it sounds like in their mind, they're expecting, like, to run the table in the 60s.

Like, they're going to want to rip off a hole, but that was the only Stanley Cup that they won. Then it just became, like, you know, the Maple Leafs won four, et cetera. But it sounded like hearing their interviews, they thought they're going to win multiple Stanley Cup championships. When you went to Stanley Cup final in your rookie season, you scored two massive goals,

and I want to get into that too, did you think, like, okay, just reload, we're going right. back at it. Next year we're going to the Stanley Cup final. Pretty much. You know what? We came into the playoffs. I think we were the sixth seed. We weren't, you know, the top team,

but we had a veteran group and you make that run and as a young player, you're like, okay, well, we'll be back in the playoffs and have a chance again. Moving forward, however long that is. And then you start to learn the business side of

things, you know, unfortunately. And that's just part of the game I think as a young guy you don't really grasp because in June it's you know it's not the same and you come into the NHL there's there's contracts and all sorts of things um you know now with the cap teams get pushed up against a cap free agents there's so much stuff and guys move around and even from that team guys retire and you know critical pieces from the team that make those big runs now all of a sudden you got to try to fill that in with somebody else and you know was a quick turn on it. We had the lockout rate after.

And then it just, you know, the team is different. And other teams are getting better and you're, you know, maybe a little worse or, and it just, you know, those are the things you learn quickly that, you know, it doesn't happen every single year. I want to transition to the Anaheim Ducks. and before we get there, I want to read you something. So I sent someone a note saying, hey, heads up, I'm doing a, I'm doing an interview. Hang on me grab this here. Here we go.

Talking to Adam Enrique, what should I know about him from his time with the ducks? Want to guess what he said? I don't know. His high character, really a quiet leader. We didn't have a lot of leadership. And he would be one of the ones to step up, solid citizen, good old school, quiet, but solid work ethic. That true? Yeah.

Like, when you hear something like that about you and you think about like all those years playing hockey, playing with the 99s, playing spitfires into the NHL, the HL, Albany, and all that. And you get to Anaheim and there's someone like, that's the way they remember you with the ducks. How does that make you feel? Good. really good you know and for me i don't think that's ever changed you know that's always kind of been my personality or character whatever it is just kind of you know you got to go to work you got to you got to put the work in and it all took me years to learn yeah you know how to go about it how to how to do the right things day to day how to be a professional in hockey because

I never, when I was younger, I didn't know where it would go. You know, I'm just playing hockey as a young kid. Just having fun. And, you know, all of a sudden it's like, okay, well, now you go from the 99ers, AAA, there's an OHL draft. Okay. Yeah. Like, I didn't, I didn't realize that when I was young. You know, now it's.

You never thought of that? No, no, not until, you know, I was 14, I think. And, and my, my mom tells us, she's. pretty good. Some guy called the house. And he said he wants, he wants to be your, like, agent or something. She's like, I don't really know. But I'm like, well, what do you mean?

Like, you know, and she's like, I think he's Joe Thornton's brother. I'm like, really? Like, well, are you sure? And she's like, well, I don't know. I don't know. He was going to come to a game. Yeah. So anyways, fast forward.

We lost a game. So I didn't meet him. And then he's like, oh, he wants us to come to Toronto to meet him. And he's like, Joe's twin, you know? Yeah. That's mom. That's Joe's brother. like yeah yeah and uh and so john thornton became my agent and and you know but before all that

like you know we're just from a small town working on the farm like i didn't know where hockey would go yeah but my parents certainly didn't and uh all of a sudden you have a family advisor and and he mapped out the entire career i remember we're sitting in this boardroom and it was like every single team and whatever from like this point on to you know the nchel really this When you're playing with Brantford? Yeah, and we're, you know, my parents are just, you know, hardworking people. And we're like, okay, well, that all sounds nice. Like, great.

You know, whether it all would happen or not, we don't know. And sure enough, get drafted to Windsor that following year and, you know, move away from home. And same, you know, the typical kind of junior story. So I moved in with fantastic Billet family that we're very close with. close to this day and with their kids and that's something pretty special and you know a big part of what goes into every young kids journey hopefully to the NHL so there's so much that goes into really your career it's it's kind of hard to think about it as you're going through it sure and appreciate it all and like we were talking before you know just the good old days and

next you know you then you look back and like all those were the Those are the better days. Those are the best days. You don't realize in the time. No, you don't. And then because from, you know, very fortunate to be able to play in the NHL. And it's special and try not to take it for granted and try to enjoy every day. But sometimes it, you know, it becomes a job at times.

Of course. And so, you know, you try to reset and try to take it all in and enjoy it. And at the same time, you want to have that success. But, you know, playing in junior hockey is just some of the greatest. really not so not a ton of pressure just going out having fun with the guys like well and it's easy when you're back to back memorial cup champions uh with the windsor spitfires bob boogner behind the bench um maybe this is an unfair question but here i go which team do you think was better of the two that won the memorial cup the first is always special man second year you guys had camp fowler holy je yeah and man i i it's hard to say like we were the the the the paths to both were so different and I don't know if like bringing in Cam Fowler was was a huge difference maker of the second year I remember talking to someone in Windsor said you got to come watch a game this guy skates like Scott Naderbyer I'm like yeah get lost like no one skates

and I went holy jeez Cam Fowler kind of skates like Scott Naderbier yeah and so that second year can't you know Cam comes over and plays and and I think it took It took him a while to, like, to adjust and get comfortable. And DJ Smith was, you know, pretty hard on him at times throughout the season. But, but, man, he, he built him up. And Cam, by the end of that season, Cam was our guy. Cam was our best defenseman. He was just so, and he's just so steady.

You know, he just goes about his business, but he's so good. And that second year, we kind of just, we were, well, we were down three nothing to Kitchener. And, you know, we just, there's no. the team was just good, calm, you know, get the first win and go from there. And then we just reeled off like 12 or 15 in a row all the way to the Memorial Cup final and kind of walked through that tournament.

The confidence was so high with that group that, like, there was no stopping us. You got that sense watching you play. Yeah. I mean, it helps to have elite level players like yourself, like Taylor Hall, et cetera, and a great coach in Bob Boogner. Let me ask you about one moment in the Brandon

Memorial Cup I remember watching it the game against Brandon and Travis Hamm and a kid's table hall and I saw the hit I remember watching that I was like he's not getting up he pops up and like thank God

but that hit was frightening where were you when that I'm sure you remember everyone is one of those things you can't forget like where were you when it happened and what did you think because I just thought the worst

yeah I was on the ice I played with Halls in the line And, I mean, I was standing out front and I saw the hit and I was like, oh, God, it's over. Yeah. And like, and if, you know what, if it probably happened to anybody else, it probably would have been a different outcome. But Halsey, the way he is, just right back up, he's fine. He scored an incredible goal. Came back to the next shift, put it through his legs and scored a goal.

I was like, all right, we're good. We're safe. But it just, and again, that, again, one of those moments kind of along that whole run and playing in Brandon against Brandon. and that was a huge moment at the start of that game. Could have went maybe the other way. Did, and I think we won like 9 to 3 or something. And, you know, we were off. But, man, like I said, those were the best,

the best times of just playing hockey. Just fun, right? Just fun. I've seen like, I've talked to various, I'm talking to Sam Gagne about this, when he played London on the line with Patrick Kane and Sergey Kistinson. Like one of the best lines London has ever had. fun to play games.

Oh, and they were just like puck on a string, like, was that like the most, I think the question I had for Sam was, was that the easiest hockey was for you? Was playing with those back-to-back Memorial Cup champions? Was that when hockey was the easiest for you? Yeah, like in Bob and DJ and Bob Jones, you know, and like these guys ran, they ran at like an NHL team in a true professional atmosphere. Like, that's what made the difference, I think, for everybody coming in. And, you know, to be able to take their experience through their careers in Warren,

you know, they put that right into us and right into the group and right into the organization. And that was why it all took off. When I look at your time, like, no. Nobody plays in New Jersey without having a thought about Lou Lamarolo. And everyone's got Lou stories. I don't know if he was still doing the, you know, you go to the office to get your check every two weeks. I don't know if you were one of those guys that did that.

But he also coached briefly. He was also on the bench in a sort of coaching transition era there. Thoughts on Lou. Like, like, he's not from the old school. He's from the school. they burn down to build the old school. He's an old school guy. Just thoughts on Lou.

I loved him. And, you know, you hear about his rules, right? He's got all these rules and clean shaven and all these sorts of things. But he's there to teach, you know, and he teaches it a certain way. And I think the guys he had for, you know, years and years and years appreciated that. You know, the Scott Stevens teams, those teams that won, Marty Bauder was there for so long with him, Patrick Geliash, all these guys.

And he Danico. Yeah. And they won and they had success. And I think that was all because of what Lou, you know, started to build there. And those guys, I'm sure, have a tremendous around respect for him. And then it just kind of, as you go, you know, some players, they just kind of don't fit that mold where, you know, the rules and the day-to-day of what he expects.

And if you don't buy in, well, there's going to be a move-on period. And I think, you know, when you do that and he takes care of you, you're on the inside and you're his guy and you're part of one of his teams, he'll do anything for you to take care of you, you, your family. And he'll tell you that. So, you know, that part of it, you want to play for him. You know, he's always wondering what's going on, how you doing. And, you know, good or bad, he just wants you to be the best.

And, you know, I think that's why he was around for so long. And he had a tremendous amount of success over his years. And then, you know, once he moved on from Jersey, again, he carried that over into other organizations too. So, you know, I can always, again, to thank him to get my start in the NHL. And, you know, he's a big reason for that. And I think for me, I fit into that at the time, New Jersey definitely. level's kind of mold as a player. And going in there and being able to learn from him is, you know,

I still think about it going to the rink today, you know, what he would expect for me. Really? You still think about Lou. Always comes up, yeah. And, you know, you walk into that arena, he's going to pop up around a corner somewhere and get you. So you always, yeah, you always had to be on your toes going into the rink.

But he is great. I loved playing for him. And, you know, he always took care of his guys. I want to ask you about Kovych here in a second because he's one of the most interesting players of that era. But when you scored that O.T. winner against the Florida Panthers, do you think, okay, I've scored my biggest goal of the playoffs? Yeah.

Because then he did it against the Rangers to send your devils into the final. Yeah, it was special. Like, we were the sixth seed. They were the three. And I think we had more points than them. It was the old system, and Travis Ajax scored an overtime to force the game seven, so we're going back to Florida. And I remember just being, I just was like, just tired.

I'm like a young kid just trying to grind it through and, you know, just sleep as much as possible. But going into that game, or throughout that game, I guess, you know, the puck was following me around a bit, had a couple chances of score, and all of a sudden get to overtime. I remember looking at the clock going. in the second it was like past midnight it's like 8 o'clock start it's like I'm like oh my god it's getting late like this is crazy and uh you know got the turnover and was able to score it and and it just like holy the the emotions from it and from the guys and everything with it was was amazing and yeah it's like that's the biggest goal ever you know for me and and at the time

and my rookie season and how special it all was and hockey's easy yeah we're going to Going on the cup every year. Yeah. And then, you know, fast forward to the Ranger goal in that series. And to be able to do it again was, was like even crazier. My mom and dad, I remember they were sitting in, they came down to the game, the Ranger game, and we're sitting in the corner. And, you know, when you score, it's just mayhem. Yeah.

But afterwards, my dad was telling me there, he ran down to the glass. He's, like, pounding on the glass. Oh, with the fans right in there. And so it, you know, everybody's got their own little stories of those moments. And to be able to score those goals, just like crazy, crazy. What can you tell us about Ilya Kovalchuk? I just like supremely talented, obviously. But like, what do you think people have maybe either missed on Kovalchuk, your experiences with

Kovalchuk, just like supremely gifted player, obviously, really interesting personality? When I say the name Ilya Colvichuk, what do you think of? He was a great teammate. And I think that gets, it probably gets lost in everything that had happened. And I don't know the reasoning behind everything and the retirement and going back, all those sorts of things. I don't know. But my experience was he's a great teammate. And there's a lot of guys on there.

There's, you know, the dinner groups and everybody that would go out to dinner. And they'd always bring me along. go to dinner with those guys and like you're sitting at dinner with Coblechuk and Bruder and David Clarkson was there at the time and like all these guys and I'm just a young kid just again

not saying much just hanging out and so they'd always take you under their wing and then played with a line on a line with them most of that season and same thing more just you know he would talk to me as a young guy there was never any you know added extra pressure from him

just kind of go play and then for how good he was this is amazing like the things he could do I'd say he'd play 30 minutes a night sometimes his shot his talent and he's a big guy and he could move

and that was a lot of fun being able to be his teammate for a little while there in Jersey so it's but I had nothing but great things to say about him as a teammate your golf tournament with brand And then Montour. First of all, where did that friendship start and tell us about the tournament? So the friendship actually, not until I got traded to Anaheim and he was there.

And he went to high school with my brother, actually. Okay. I've heard, you know, different versions of the story, but I think Moni used to cheat off my brother's tests in high school. Has he ever copped to that? He hasn't. No, my brother tells it differently. So, but that's where the friendship started. And then the, you know, for years, guys always have their events and charity things in the summer and something that I was always interested in.

And once we started talking about it, kind of came to fruition it. When I was 15, you know, I got invited to the Walter Grexie tournament in Brantford. Wow. And as a celebrity, as a celebrity, and I'm like, you know, I'm not a celebrity. And, you know, played there for a few years. And that was kind of the, where it kind of came. from for me and to be able to give back to your community is something pretty special and to be able to do it with it with a good friend as well made it a lot easier and a lot of fun so it's uh we just

we just had our fifth year and and just surpassed over 500,000 dollars raised that's great which is you know way above where I ever expected it to go and uh we just donate back to the community all around Brant County and Burford and out on the reservation by him and you know there's nothing too big or too small that we'll donate to and then this year we're building covered benches in the Burford soccer

outdoors and all sorts of different things Brantford dance or Burford dance sorry and just everything and to be able to see it just put back into our community and really make a difference I think for the both of us is pretty special who's a better golfer you or him me

I said that real fast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what? And neither of us play a ton or take it too serious. And really the event is, again, it's turned into a huge family thing. It's the same people come out every single year and just love it and tell us how much they love coming out. And it's pretty special.

And it's certainly gone above and beyond what I ever thought it would. Listen, you play in a hockey mad market. Is it possible, or do you even think about tuning out everything around you? Even that includes what's going on at the rink at home, where, man, and you've heard it, that is one of maybe the loudest rinks in the NHL. Yeah, it's, you know, get traded there, play out the season and whatever free agency and, you know, you have options, that sort of thing. But to be able to experience that in that first playoff run,

And, you know, it's something that I haven't had. Even in Jersey, like, the fans are amazing, but in Canada. It's different. It's different. It just is. And to, you know, be walking around the city and the people just love it. Like, they, they just love the team and love the guys. And everybody was so nice around the city.

And then at the games, you know, every single person in the arena is wearing a jersey. Every single one. It's just a fashion thing. You know, it just is what it is. and they just love the team. Fresh off the runways of Edmonton. Yeah, and, you know, you get the blue collar worker. Everybody just loves the team, and it's, and that's special.

And it's not, it doesn't happen everywhere and was a big reason of why I wanted to go back there to have another chance. And, you know, I'm getting older and the career is getting shorter and shorter. And, you know, the time is now. And so to be able to experience that has been amazing. And even my family, my brothers and everybody comes to the games. and you just, it's hard to explain unless you experience it. And stand on the blue line for the national anthem and a Stanley Cup final game, like, the crowd is nuts.

Yeah. The people are nuts and it's amazing. And they just love the team. And like the city just loves it so much that, like, it really is special to play there. It's, um, it's an incredible hockey market. You're right. Like everybody's passionate.

Everybody's loud. Um, I always find that, And I think that every player should have the, I'm going to sound like an arrogant Canadian here, but like should have like the Canadian experience to know what it's like to play in a Canadian market. And they're all, the fans are crazy and loud and insane and all of like everything. They know the history of the game. They know all the players, all the backstories, all of it. Does it take a unique personality to thrive in that environment?

essentially what I'm asking, is that for everybody? Yeah, I guess it's not because, you know, I don't know why. It's, I mean, there's so many guys that grow up in Canada and have made it to the NHL that to be able to play there, it's just there's nothing like it. So, you know, you talk the pressure of playing in Canada. I don't know if it's so much just, you know, It's the pressure you got to put on yourself, too, as a player, just to perform and be able to kind of block it out. But it is hard.

It's challenging. And it's part of that. And, you know, I mean, there's so many other places that you can go that it's not there. And, you know, you get up, you go to work, do your thing, you go home, go around the city, you can do your thing. You know, people don't really recognize you and you kind of carry on. But so, but that's part of that. you know you get you only get a certain amount of time

to be playing in this league you know and some guys are fortunate to play a very long time and but to so for me to get a few years being able to play in Canada and experience it is you know pretty high on

in my career of special things to enjoy you know Who were your guys when you were a kid? So literally the entire family were just Leif, it's Leifes, but like we grew up southern Ontario. Yeah.

I liked the wings. And I think because, you know, when I was five or six years old when they were the team, and they won, and I could understand that. And Steve Eisenman was my guy. And, you know, the Russian five there, Federov, those guys. like amazing to to watch i remember we were all sitting on the couch one night like late everybody's asleep when they won the cup their first cup i think and i was still young like

to really understand it but like to to be able to have that and then that's kind of the drive and that's the dream and you know we all know the numbers of to make it to the NHL from wherever is so small but to be able to just live that and enjoy that as a young kid like not thinking about anything else you know you're all the school assignments are what do you want to do when you're older well I want to play in the NHL yeah whether or not you know sure enough along the way kids have said it teachers wow do you know do you have a plan B do you have a plan B and I actually have a picture of you know the life plan and it was again hockey hockey hockey what do you want to do at 35 I want to still play in the

NHL and I think my mom showed it to me like last year and you know I turned 35 and yeah still being at a little play so it's pretty amazing that you know that is actually happening and you know I try to remind myself of that and let me finish up on this one the Muscoca experience like Canadian cottage country it's beautiful up here you ever thought on on on on Muskoka I mean every like this populated yeah so many NHL Yeah. It's amazing. It's amazing. And I didn't grow up coming up here. You know, I didn't really know a ton of it until four or five years ago. And my wife's family, they had a ton of hockey guys that they would come up and stay at their cottages and kind of grew up in it and just loved it. Lauren loved it and loved everything about it and going to camp up here and all those sorts of things. Oh, nice. So when we finally made those decisions that come up here and check it out and, you know, my big worry was, we'll try.

training and skating. Like, where do you do that up here? And San Gagne has the Muskoka Hockey and has really solved all those issues that now you can just be here and still have everything that you need for us to prepare. You know, off ice stuff, on ice stuff. Everything is here. And that really kind of eases my mind about being up here. You know, because you are a little isolated and that sort of thing. But don't have to drive two hours to skate? No, no. And it's just, it's amazing to be up here and for you know the biggest thing i noticed too from last summer and this summer is just like the kids we're just outside all day outside all day playing at the park on the water whatever it is get the water toys out and it's just like it's amazing to be able to

to give that to them and to be a part of that and just like try to enjoy it all get away from hockey and in the rink and all those sorts of things so couldn't have you know couldn't be happy with our decision coming up here. This has been great. Thanks so much for today. Oh, this is awesome. Thank you for having. Thank you.