The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Jay Woodcroft

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

Jay Woodcroft joins Jeff Marek in the debut episode of The Sheet to discuss what he's been up to for the last 12 months, major takeaways from being up close and personal with superstars like Connor McDavid, the burning desire to lift the Stanley Cup again, and much more--------------------------------------------Connect with us on ⬇️Daily FaceoffX: https://x.com/DailyFaceoffInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailyfaceoff/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoff/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dailyfaceoff?lang=enWebsite: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/The SheetX: https://x.com/thesheethockeyInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesheethockey/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thesheethockeyDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Okay, let's bring on our first guest. He is the former head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. He is a former assistant coach with the Stanley Cup winning the Detroit Red Wings, former assistant coach with the San Jose Sharks. So, you know, we're going to get some Jewel Thornton stories here. And he spent the last 12 months or so canvassing the globe to learn and to learn about coaching. He is Jay Woodcroft and he joins me now on the sheet.

Jay, thanks so much for stopping by today. How are you? And I want to jump in quickly as we welcome you aboard. I love the Christmas motif behind you. First of all, let us know, like the last 12 months for you have been fascinating. Where have you gone and what have you learned? Well, hi, Jeff. First, thanks for having me on. It's an honor to be on your first show.

And I wish you great luck in this new venture. Honored to be on your first show and I wish you great luck in this new venture. You know, this last 12 months has been a time for me to get better. Essentially, that's what I've tried to do. You know, I look at having the time that I've had as almost a form of wealth. And I want to make sure I used my time wisely. And, you know, I think, you know, the first thing I tried to do was, was, uh, reflect, uh, spend some time with your family, uh, try and figure out ways to get better. You know, I was made sure that, uh, you know, I wasn't full of negativity. I don't find myself to be a resentment collector. You know, I wanted

to find, uh, you know, the good in what had happened. And rather than getting bitter, I wanted to use the adversity as a way to get better. And that's what I think you're referencing there. You know, I went over to Europe in February of last year. I spent some time with two different organizations. organizations and uh you know all i did was hang around the coach's room and enjoyed having a coffee listening to um how other people approach different problems i watched some games um and it was it was really enjoyable it came back and then was asked to go over back to europe for the world championships which was a great uh great. Anytime you go over with the people that run Hockey Canada and Scott Salmon,

his staff there, and then certainly Andre Tournier, who was the head coach. It was a fantastic experience. You learn a lot about people, a lot about the players that go over there. And I know I got better in that situation. And then, you know, heading into this year and this summer, you know, not having a team to go to in September was new to me. It's not something that I think I've ever had. Going back to when I played minor hockey as a kid,

I always had a team to go to in September. So I wanted to make sure that I was, you know, as I said, using my time wisely. I went to Europe and, you know, they had the opening of the NHL season in Prague, Czech Republic. Had an opportunity to talk to a lot of coaches over there. Talk to the coach that I used to be, you know, and offer any insights and benefits of my experience to these people that were trying to get better over there. And I got to watch the first two games of the year. But as you mentioned, I went to Philadelphia for training camp. I didn't go on the ice.

You know what, I actually made a point of sitting in the stands and just kind of watching. And what that allowed me to do, first of all, I'm very thankful that John Tortorella invited me to come so that I could watch and see how somebody else does something. But I like the fact that someone who's very well known for having these very intense, hard training camps that are legendary in NHL circles, I got to see firsthand and it spawned a whole bunch of ideas in my head.

And I know that, you know, I took some good notes and I'm fortunate that John invited me to go over there. And I know I got better during that trip as well. You know, Jay, one of the, one of the coaches that I really admire in junior hockey coach of the kitchen arrangers, you see a hocus and you know, Jay, one of the coaches that I really admire in junior hockey, a coach of the Kitchener Rangers, you see a hocus. And, you know, there's a great video on the coach's site about him talking about positionless hockey and the future of the game, etc.

I'm curious, when you traveled around Europe, what were a couple of your sort of main takeaways? Anything profoundly different that you can share with us? Well, it's a different game. And it's not the NHL. The skill level is not the same. The stakes aren't the same. The payrolls aren't the same.

But there's a lot of really good hockey people. And those people are looking for solutions that might be a little bit different problems that you find in the NHL in terms of tactics and whatnot. But when I go to Europe, I'm always enamored by the rhythm of the game. You don't see a lot of straight ahead, stop and start hockey teams play on the move. They build offenses on the move. And you know, I think anytime a national team goes over to play in Europe on the bigger ice surface, that's always something that,

that needs to be discussed and find ways to beat it. And like I said, I got to spend some quality minutes with great hockey people in both Finland and Switzerland. And I'm thankful for both of those organizations. They were both at different points in their year. And like I said, just having a coffee in a coach's room, it really brightened my day and I know I got better. With Jay Woodcroft.

Jay, I want to ask you about something. And I mentioned this off the top of the show. And every couple of days, it sort of raises its head. And some people throw their hands in the air and say, oh, they're just making this up as they go along. But I really, I try my best to understand why calls are made and i'm getting to goalie interference here i'm curious at the nhl level like as a coach when you see goalie interference live real time and you watch it on the ipad what are the sort of

the boxes that you're looking to check before you decide on I'm going to appeal this or not? Yeah, you know what? I thought in listening to your introduction, you did a really good job of that, explaining whether you're in the blue or outside the blue. That's a critical point right there. But for me, in my experience as the head coach in Edmonton, we spent a lot of time in the off season working on projects. And what I meant about that is just studying the calls that have been made throughout the previous season or previous seasons to try and get a better handle on the decision makers,

reasonings for decisions. And, you know, as new ones would pop up during a season uh always spent time with our coaching staff um discussing it and uh you know i was very fortunate i had a what i felt was the the best video coach in the league and i've had some good ones um you know in other places i had brett heimlich who works in Colorado. I had Sam Kim who works in Toronto. And these guys are stars. They're unbelievable. But I felt that I had the best video coach in the league with Jeremy Kupal.

And we had a system in place that if there was ever one of those situations would arise, we had a protocol. We followed that protocol strictly. We adhered to it and we trusted our instinct. And as a result, we did pretty well on when to challenge or when not to challenge. But a lot of that came down to his expertise and the protocols that we put in place to make sure that we were making clear headed decisions, not emotional ones. A couple of other things in the game right now that I want to get your

thoughts on. And then I want to talk about winning the Stanley Cup in Detroit. I want to talk about some Edmonton things as well. I want to talk about Jumbo in San Jose. It was a beautiful ceremony for him a couple of weeks ago. I always used to make the joke, Jay, there's only two places that do ceremonies well. One is Buckingham Palace and the other is the Bell Centre. But man, San Jose, just like hit it out of the park with that Joe Thornton ceremony. But I want to get your thoughts on attention to detail and Connor McDavid.

Now, when I was doing the pod with Elliot, we sat down with you a couple of different times. And there's one thing that you said that always really stuck with me and I've always referenced it. We're talking about McDavid and you stopped us and you said, look, one thing we need to all remember is don't be numb to what we're seeing. Like I grew up, you know, watching Wayne Gretzky. And I look back now and I'm like, how was I not more impressed? Like he was impressive. It's Wayne Gretzky, incredible things. But I don't know that the full gravity sank in while I was watching it.

And you said to us, you said, don't be numb to this. Like what we're seeing is great. Like, can you expand on that? And also, and I'm thinking of tiny little things like offsides, like things that, that McDavid pays such attention to that mere mortals probably wouldn't. Yeah. Well, I mean, obviously his talent is elite and it was special to be able to coach him for the years that I was able to coach. And that year in particular, when we sat down, I think he was on his way to 160 points in the Hart Trophy. And what he was doing was extremely special. But I think when you discuss those elite talents, and I'm very fortunate because I've been around some in Detroit and San Jose and certainly in Edmonton's organization. But I think what doesn't get talked about enough is their character and the amount of work that they put in to be as great as they are.

We're talking about the 0.01% of the 1%. And you talked about being detail oriented. And earlier you were talking about challenges and everything like that. And, you know, one time I can remember with Connor was, you know, certainly in NHL pregame skates, everyone kind of finishes their practice with a two on one drill where a goalie split and regroup and go back two-on-one. It's quite common in the NHL. It would always drive them mad when some younger players would just, you know, in order to keep the rhythm of the drill, they would go a little bit offside into their two-on-one.

And he didn't understand why. And as I started to watch, you know, he made a real point of dragging his foot to never be offside. And then sure enough, you know, a few games later, I think there was a disputed offside goal where it was him on a two-on-one. He dragged his leg and the other team challenged and maybe didn't have the proper protocol in place,

but he was on side and looked back at me and and said that's why you drag your leg on on those pregame skate two on once you know it's interesting wayne gretzky used to always say it's the most selfish play in hockey the offside and like i'm sure you probably saw the exact same thing with mcdavid like that's just like that's just it's it's it's sloppy and it's not fair to everybody else. Accurate? Yeah, I think so. You know, it's just like saying to some people, sometimes not shooting the puck is selfish.

And, you know, in certain situations, you want to make sure you don't want to kill offense. Offense is hard enough to come by in the league. And to be on a two-on-one and not have that attention to detail to make sure that you're dragging a foot or being extra careful in that situation, to me, it shouldn't just be the hallmark of the greats like Conor. Here's more of a philosophical question for you, but I know you think like this.

You're a thinker of the game and a student of the game. Do you find that, because if you look in your past, like McDavid and Dreisaitl, 13, 40, and 5 in Detroit, Jumbo in San Jose, do you find that coaches that coach superstar players

don't get as much credit as coaches that don't have superstar players in their lineup because is that a is that a thing amongst coaches is that a thing in the nhl uh i've never thought of it actually um but you raising it it make it makes me think of it um you know i i look at coaching the players that I've coached as a real privilege. As I said, they're the 0.01% of the 1%. They get you out of bed in the morning with ways to find motivation for them. My experience around those greats is that they all wanted some kernel of information

or tactic that was going to push them to reach their full potential and the team's full potential. Like I said earlier, they're all elite talents, elite, elite talents, but they're great people. They're character people, and they're driven to be their best. And, you know, as a coach in the NHL, I don't worry so much about who gets credit for what. I, I certainly, you know, put my focus on trying to get the most out of the team on a day-to-day basis

and, and try and help whatever team I coach pursue its potential. Let me fire a couple of quick ones that you hear from your, from your past. You know, there used to be a saying around the NHL that if you're going to win the Stanley cup on the road, this is the old Pittsburgh arena. If you're going to win the Stanley cup on the road, don't win it in Pittsburgh because the visitor dressing room is tiny.

Uh, but you guys did, uh, in Pittsburgh. Uh, what was the, so I was always told that there was like the tiny room celebration and then the Illich family got everyone on the charter as fast as they could to get,

to get back to Detroit. Take us back to winning the cup as a Red Wing in Pittsburgh in tiny rooms. Wow. What a, first of all, what a thrill. It's a dream come true for any hockey person to raise that trophy over your head.

And, you know, you go through the ceremony and the pomp and circumstance and families come on the ice and then you go into the dressing room afterwards and it's absolute mayhem in the greatest way possible. But what I'll always remember about that team, and specifically about winning the cup, was not all of that stuff. It was kind of when everybody

got cleared out of that small room the trainers the coaches the players all kind of made their way back to a little portion of that room a trainer's room and uh we were all together and it was great you're sitting having unbelievable conversations. There were a few adult beverages being had and, and people were relishing in the accomplishment of winning the Stanley cup. And it was funny because after a while with everybody in that small room, they realized that the Stanley cup wasn't in the room with, with that group of people. And out of nowhere, just like eight-year-olds who had won a novice hockey tournament,

everybody started chanting, we want the cup, we want the cup. And it got louder and louder. Eventually, someone brought the cup in through the threshold of the doorway and got showered with champagne and everyone was having a good time hooting and hollering and uh for me that that was really fun to see these men uh who behaving like little kids and remembering why everybody plays hockey is to win the big trophy win your last game of the year um but but for me what was really cool was when we were all in there with the Cup, they turned some music on, and it could have been We Are the Champions.

I can't even remember what the songs were, but I'll always remember that the Cup got passed from individual to individual. And it didn't matter if you were Nicholas Lidstrom, the captain of the team. It didn't matter if you were Chris Capetto, the assistant equipment manager at the time, or Pete Van Zandt, the captain of the team, didn't matter if you were Chris Capetto, the assistant equipment manager at the time, or Pete Van Zandt, the head athletic therapist,

or one of the coaches. It didn't matter who received that cup. As soon as that person received the cup with the music in the background, they raised the cup over their head, and a huge roar emanated from that room, and everybody cheered, everyone individually in that moment and that's something that I'll always always remember and I can tell you that in my career in hockey that's a moment that I I continue to chase I'm chasing that feeling. Again, it's what drives you. It's your motivational fuel.

It's what, as I said, gets you out of bed in the morning is trying to recreate that moment. And that certainly was a special one in Detroit. And I have another special one I want to tell you about too. I coached a team in the American Hockey League during the pandemic where I had that feeling again. And our team in Bakersfield, you know, it was a unique time. It was a shortened season. We were in a unique situation because our team was separated from our parent club by an international border. So there wasn't movement between players

I think the big club had 28 players or so and we were just kind of off on our own and and doing our thing against a division that had a lot of natural advantages because teams were either the American League team and the NHL team were in the same facility they can move players up and down and facility they can move players up and down and we started that year 0 and 5 and uh and then we came came out of it we i think we won nine games in a row we've ended up getting to second place during the regular season and as the regular season wore down there was a dispute between the league and some of the owners and and players of whether there should be a playoff played. And eventually that dispute got settled. But the big factor was because, you know,

there wasn't bonuses for the players and whatnot. And as I said, it got settled and ended up our division played playoffs. And, you know, I'll never forget that we played the Anaheim Ducks Farm Club, who came into our building to play a series. And, you know, their parent club hadn't made the playoffs. They'd sent down all these young NHLers like Zegras and Drysdale and Dostal and these types of guys, Sam Carrick, and they're a great team. And we won that playoff series, but we won having never led for a minute of the series. We won our games in overtime, which was a really unique. Yeah, it was a unique thing,

but I think it spoke to the people that we had on that team. But from there, we went into Las Vegas to play Vegas's Farm Club in T-Mobile Arena. And I won't bore you with the details of the series, but it came down to the final game and you know, we ended up winning. We came out on the right end of it by a goal. It was great. 15,000 people at T-Mobile arena. We go into the dressing room afterward and I'll forever keep that memory of

that team and how special they were. And the reason is, is because they were playing for the right reason. They were playing for each other. They were a team that was so strong in their relationships that they refused to cut corners or take shortcuts. And it was a victory that was really, really driven out of camaraderie. And now when I think of that situation in Bakersfield, that group that won, and then that team that won in Detroit,

I understand, you know, how getting the relationships right, getting the people side of the business right is so very important. For me, you know, hockey's a game played by people, coached by people, managed by people. You have to get your people processes right. And those are lessons that I'll take from those two teams as I move forward in my coaching career. Um, I got time for a couple more and I want to ask you, uh, I want to ask you about your

favorite hockey story ever, but before we get there, you know, yeah, I've, I always banged this drum about you is that you're constantly in a process of, of learning. Like you embrace it like that. That's, that's who Jay Woodcraft is. So I always bang this drum about you is that you're constantly in a process of learning. Like you embrace it. Like that's who Jay Woodcraft is. For the next team that you coach, who slash what are they getting in Jay Woodcraft now? Well, I think they're getting someone that is young. I'm 48 years old. I've been in the league for, you know, coming on 20 years here and I've had a unique set of experiences,

obviously, you know, came through Red Wings University at a time when a lot of coaches came through there and had the resources available to us. And I'm not just talking the ability to talk with Ken Holland and Jim Nill and, and Scotty Bowman, but the players that were there that I was able to learn from was amazing. Then spent seven good years in, in San Jose with great players and great people forever.

Remember my time there. It's where my kids were born. And then, you know, nine years in the Edmonton Oilers organization, wearing all different types of hats. I was an assistant coach, head coach in the American league, nine years in the Edmonton Oilers organization wearing all different types of hats. I was an assistant coach, head coach in the American League, head coach in the NHL. Coming up when the team was in some difficulty out of the playoffs halfway through a year, I think there were 30 odd games left.

And we were able to have the success that we were able to have. But for me, it comes down to the relationships that you build along the way. able to have. But for me, it comes down to the relationships that you build along the way. And I know you mentioned it. The work that I was able to do here over the last little while has really set me up. It forces you to refine what your core beliefs are. It helps you learn from different people. And I'm excited about bringing those communication skills and the things I've learned into my next opportunity okay you mentioned Ken home there a second okay I want to own a freestyle one here is it true that when you were coaching the Oilers when you were in Tampa if you guys had bad line

changes Scotty Bowman would reach out and give you crap. I mean, he had those habs in the 70s practicing line changes like crazy. He was the master of the line change. Is it true that Scotty Bowman would reach out to both you and Holland to give you crap for bad line changes? Yeah, that's true.

Scotty was a stickler for good line changes, and that was something that was a focal point of our team in edmonton and we try to improve on and you know we weren't perfect certainly there were times where you get caught with you know a tough line change and uh you get a scoring chance against or even you can get victimized by teams quick upping it and it was always a focal point anytime we went through tampa uh that that scotty would uh be sure to either get get to ken or myself and i'll tell you what i learned something um great at the world

championships from andre tournier who's a who's a fantastic coach and you know the what he would say in that situation uh to make sure that you don't get you-upped or victimized on a poor change, that type of thing. He had a great term that he said was, keep one dog in the fight. Always keep one dog in the fight, one dog in the fight. And I know I'm stealing that from him as I move forward. I love it. Okay, so what I want to do with every guest,

and we're going to kick it off with you, is share with us your favorite hockey story of all time. Mine involves the Flyers who have been 74-75. The legendary and late Fred Shiro is the head coach, one of my favorite coaches. I'll get into that in another program. He's the coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. They're the best team in the NHL.

They march into Pittsburgh, who are awful at that time, on a Saturday, and get scotched, like 6-2 or something like that. And the Flyers are awful. The next day at practice, not a single puck hits the ice. It's down and back, down and back, down and back. Tongues are hanging out. The guys get into the room after, and Fred walks in. And Fred says, he's looking at the guys, and he says,

I heard you coming off the ice yesterday. You made a contribution. I made a contribution on my shift. I did something on my shift. I made a contribution on that shift. And he goes, like, I heard you coming off the ice yesterday. You made a contribution. I made a contribution on my shift. I did something on my shift. I made a contribution on that shift. And he goes to the board and he draws a plate and he draws three strips of bacon and he draws two eggs. And he says, gentlemen, this is what I had for breakfast this morning. And this is what I expect out of all of you as Philadelphia Flyers.

The guy's looking around the room like, what's Freddie going on about here? Has Freddie finally lost it? And he goes, you tell me about your contributions and what you did in that game last night. And he points to the board and he said, on my plate this morning, the chicken made a contribution, but the pig made a commitment.

And that's what I expect out of you as a philadelphia flyer that is hands down jay my favorite hockey story and fred's got a million stories like that about fred jay what is your favorite hockey story wow first of all that's an unbelievable story and use it uh take it yeah i'm steal it. I'm stealing that one. But, you know, it's hard to think of, you know, just one. But you were mentioning Joe Thornton a little bit earlier. And I have some good stories from Joe and, you know, when he got feted the other day in San Jose and they did such a great job. It brought those stories to mine.

And I was telling a few friends of mine, you know, some of the things. And, you know, one of the stories that I always love, because Joe, in my opinion, is a true character in the game in the same way Fred Shiro is a true character in the game. And obviously he's had a Hall of Fame career but just a Hall of Fame person as well he approached every day with like an enthusiasm and a sense of humor that I felt was infectious and he spoke to me every day in terms of you know how to how to come to the rink with some juice.

There's so many of his, but I'll go to this one. I think it was early in my time in San Jose, we had a young, wide-eyed rookie come up to the team. It was his first experience in the NHL, and he's a little bit naive. Jumbo kind of adopted those guys. He took them in and was really friendly with them and whatnot. I think as it was said in his jersey retirement, he loved to give people nicknames. And so he decided to call this young wide-eyed rookie Meat, as in Meathead of like uh kevin costner's character uh did in bull durham to tim robbins character in the movie bull durham uh he called the guy meat and so you

call him meat all the time and it was like a running joke and whatnot then one time i i think we were in ottawa and a few players after the pre-game skate they kind of go back to the pregame meal early on their own before the bus and I think Jumbo had a lot to do with this but I know when I went back to the pregame meal you know it's in these beautiful hotel all the food is labeled you got steak you got fish you have Caesar salad and you come to the pasta and different types of pasta. And you came to the sauce option. Sure enough, there's the Alfredo sauce listed. There's the marinara sauce.

And the third sauce was this player's last name and sauce. So that was the meat sauce. And that kind of grew on its own. And, you know, I just love that story because that's who he was. He wasn't doing it to push anyone away. He was doing it to pull people in. And, you know, certainly, you know, he was a joy to be around and he deserves all the attention and, you know,

well wishes that he got on that weekend. And I'm sure the next step for him will be in Toronto at the hockey hall of fame one day. Oh, that's a, that's a, that's an absolute no brainer. Um, Jay, this has been great. Thanks so much for, uh, for stopping by. Listen, uh, success on the coaching hunt. Um, listen, you've taken over teams mid season before and help turn them around and, you know, take them to the conference. Finally, you did that with, uh,

with Edmonton. Um, we wish you all the best uh this season and beyond and uh we'll check back regularly thanks pal thanks jeff good luck with this new venture i appreciate it if you enjoyed that video and we certainly hope that you do please hit the subscribe button right there here at daily face off i will put this lineup up against any hockey lineup anywhere it all gets underway at nine o'clock eastern with morning cup of hockey that is johnny lazarus that is colby cohen then at noon it's dfo live and then three o'clock eastern the sheet get caught up on everything in hockey